Greetings, Part 1
This was a simple SOUND QUALITY (“SQ”) system to engineer by myself for my complete replacement of the factory Alpine Premium surround system. The hardest part was saving up. Comprises had to take place or some stuff it would have driven me way over the top. Thus, the 2 ½ year wait from the time I purchase the JGC. The install was done during late September into early October of 2013. I am still paying off the sound system. So, no questions regarding how much did this put me into the hole ($,$$$.$$). But, yes, it is well worth it. Would I do it again? Oh Yes.
The following link is to the complete set of photographs in two (2) tabs that I have taken during this process.
Jeep Garage - Jeep Forum - 1stJeepGC's Album: Pictures of the Sound System
Speakers:
For the subwoofer, I need the rear cargo area free for as much room as possible. A custom box as much as I wanted one, was now at out of the question. So, like most of us, the JL Audio Stealthbox.
For this build, I focused on a SQ to take advantage of the 7.1 surround sound system. As those have followed my posted over the years and now, as alterative to name branded speakers, I suggested looking at parts-express.com or madisound.com. Many of those speaker drivers are shown there are manufactured by companies who are the main supplies to a majority of the speaker companies for mobile and home audio. I had my final choices now down to drivers from Scanspeak and Seas.
After consulting a colleague of mine (more on him later) in the mobile audio business, he suggested to look into Hybrid Audio Technologies (“HAT”) for the speakers. They have an excellent reputation in for SQ speakers and especially how they deal with the off-axis problems in car acoustics. We are still not sure who makes the speakers for them, but this is what I used. NOTE: For the rear door I did not want something heavy in midbass punch. I wanted the rear door to give me some midrange fill-in.
Subwoofer: JL Audio Stealthbox powered by Pioneer Stage 4 PRS-1200M mono amp
600 RMS at 2 ohms. The gains are cut back in order to prevent blowing up
the speaker
Front Door Speakers: HAT L6SE to replace the 6x9
HAT L1 Pro R2 to replace the tweeter (these are the only tweeters I use)
Powered by Pioneer Stage 4 PRS-D4200F 4 channel amp x 75 RMS
Center Speaker: HAT L3SE wide band full range Powered by JL Audio XD 600/6 x 75 RMS
Rear Door Speaker: HAT L3V2 wide band full range Powered by JL Audio XD 600/6
Rear Pillar Speaker: HAT L3SE wide band full range Powered by JL Audio XD 600/6
Stage VI - Legatia SE - The Home of the World's Finest Loudspeakers, and World Championship Car Audio Speaker Systems.
Stage V - Legatia - The Home of the World's Finest Loudspeakers, and World Championship Car Audio Speaker Systems.
The ring radiator tweeter L1 Pro R2
The L6SE for the front door
The L3V2 for the rear door
The sub
AMPS:
After going over the electrical within my model of the JGC it was a no brainer that I had to go with Class D amps. As much as I wanted to go with Class AB amps, they would draw to much power for the setup I wanted. In addition, I would have had the alternator replaced with a custom one to handle the load. Today, the Class D amps are just as efficient, low distortion and clean signal paths compared with the AB type amps. Plus the fact they draw far less power.
The Pioneer Amps were a good choice for me. I got these from a close out with the Big Box store 6 Ave Electronics that went under back in 2011. You can easily spend over $1k for Class AB or D amps. With 2 amps now, I need one more to power the rest of the speakers and that’s why I am running 3 amps. You can also use a 5 channel instead of what I did with the Pioneer’s. The other advantage of running a separate bass amp gives you more headroom to work without over taxing the power supply. This technique is very common in pro audio, as well as, for car audio SPL systems. The JL Audio I picked up at time of the install this past Fall of 2013. The JL Audio XD series is an excellent amp for the price point and now JL Audio has improved the line with Version 2 for the XD.
The factory Alpine amp was disconnected and removed altogether from the JGC. To date, I have had the JGC over to the dealer for maintaence and reprogram the FOB key. No problems were report and for the last 6 months or so, I have not had any problems.
PRS-D4200F - Stage 4 PRS Series 4-Channel Full-Range Class FD Amplifier with ICE Power Technology | Pioneer Electronics USA
PRS-D1200M - Stage 4 PRS Series Class D Mono Amplifier with 1,200 Max. Power | Pioneer Electronics USA
XD600/6 - Car Audio - Amplifiers - XD - JL Audio
The amps
see part 2 next
This was a simple SOUND QUALITY (“SQ”) system to engineer by myself for my complete replacement of the factory Alpine Premium surround system. The hardest part was saving up. Comprises had to take place or some stuff it would have driven me way over the top. Thus, the 2 ½ year wait from the time I purchase the JGC. The install was done during late September into early October of 2013. I am still paying off the sound system. So, no questions regarding how much did this put me into the hole ($,$$$.$$). But, yes, it is well worth it. Would I do it again? Oh Yes.
The following link is to the complete set of photographs in two (2) tabs that I have taken during this process.
Jeep Garage - Jeep Forum - 1stJeepGC's Album: Pictures of the Sound System
Speakers:
For the subwoofer, I need the rear cargo area free for as much room as possible. A custom box as much as I wanted one, was now at out of the question. So, like most of us, the JL Audio Stealthbox.
For this build, I focused on a SQ to take advantage of the 7.1 surround sound system. As those have followed my posted over the years and now, as alterative to name branded speakers, I suggested looking at parts-express.com or madisound.com. Many of those speaker drivers are shown there are manufactured by companies who are the main supplies to a majority of the speaker companies for mobile and home audio. I had my final choices now down to drivers from Scanspeak and Seas.
After consulting a colleague of mine (more on him later) in the mobile audio business, he suggested to look into Hybrid Audio Technologies (“HAT”) for the speakers. They have an excellent reputation in for SQ speakers and especially how they deal with the off-axis problems in car acoustics. We are still not sure who makes the speakers for them, but this is what I used. NOTE: For the rear door I did not want something heavy in midbass punch. I wanted the rear door to give me some midrange fill-in.
Subwoofer: JL Audio Stealthbox powered by Pioneer Stage 4 PRS-1200M mono amp
600 RMS at 2 ohms. The gains are cut back in order to prevent blowing up
the speaker
Front Door Speakers: HAT L6SE to replace the 6x9
HAT L1 Pro R2 to replace the tweeter (these are the only tweeters I use)
Powered by Pioneer Stage 4 PRS-D4200F 4 channel amp x 75 RMS
Center Speaker: HAT L3SE wide band full range Powered by JL Audio XD 600/6 x 75 RMS
Rear Door Speaker: HAT L3V2 wide band full range Powered by JL Audio XD 600/6
Rear Pillar Speaker: HAT L3SE wide band full range Powered by JL Audio XD 600/6
Stage VI - Legatia SE - The Home of the World's Finest Loudspeakers, and World Championship Car Audio Speaker Systems.
Stage V - Legatia - The Home of the World's Finest Loudspeakers, and World Championship Car Audio Speaker Systems.
The ring radiator tweeter L1 Pro R2
The L6SE for the front door
The L3V2 for the rear door
The sub
AMPS:
After going over the electrical within my model of the JGC it was a no brainer that I had to go with Class D amps. As much as I wanted to go with Class AB amps, they would draw to much power for the setup I wanted. In addition, I would have had the alternator replaced with a custom one to handle the load. Today, the Class D amps are just as efficient, low distortion and clean signal paths compared with the AB type amps. Plus the fact they draw far less power.
The Pioneer Amps were a good choice for me. I got these from a close out with the Big Box store 6 Ave Electronics that went under back in 2011. You can easily spend over $1k for Class AB or D amps. With 2 amps now, I need one more to power the rest of the speakers and that’s why I am running 3 amps. You can also use a 5 channel instead of what I did with the Pioneer’s. The other advantage of running a separate bass amp gives you more headroom to work without over taxing the power supply. This technique is very common in pro audio, as well as, for car audio SPL systems. The JL Audio I picked up at time of the install this past Fall of 2013. The JL Audio XD series is an excellent amp for the price point and now JL Audio has improved the line with Version 2 for the XD.
The factory Alpine amp was disconnected and removed altogether from the JGC. To date, I have had the JGC over to the dealer for maintaence and reprogram the FOB key. No problems were report and for the last 6 months or so, I have not had any problems.
PRS-D4200F - Stage 4 PRS Series 4-Channel Full-Range Class FD Amplifier with ICE Power Technology | Pioneer Electronics USA
PRS-D1200M - Stage 4 PRS Series Class D Mono Amplifier with 1,200 Max. Power | Pioneer Electronics USA
XD600/6 - Car Audio - Amplifiers - XD - JL Audio
The amps
see part 2 next