Aside from those I'm looking into getting a good headunit, possibly one with screen nav but preferably something that lets me use my ipod to control the music instead of having to use the headunit.
Of course I'll need an amp to match up with the rest and that's where I'm most clueless. Overall looking to spend $800-$1100 at most. Stock speakers for now. Until a few other things are out of the way at least.
Any suggestions or links are greatly appreciated :thumbsup:
Ask yourself, do you really need nav? Because judging by the looks of your WK, you off road a lot. Nav units will only give you directions on marked roads. I'm sure you also have a GPS device anyway. JL is not a bad start for subs. Go with their amp or a JBL amp. Now, as far as I know, these new JL and Alpine micro amps are supposedly pretty good but I'm a bit leery about them as I'm old school and find it bard to believe these things can pump good juice.
A good headunit for the money by far is the on I have, the Alpine CDA-117. It will charge and control your ipod/iphone as well as bypass the crap audio settings and churn your tunes through its own procesor , a 24kbps Burr-Brown unit.
I've said it time and again, a headunit is the single most best upgrade you can do.
Best place to start is either Crutchfield, Abt or Amazon and always read the product reviews. Find a head unit and google the product number for additional price and review compassion from other sites. Always make sure that the seller is an authorized manufacture reseller.
I agree that the key to any system design should be center around the HU, whether or not it has navi. It boils down to how many sources and extra features you want and the pre-outs voltage in the audio out section of the HU. The rule of thumb for the voltage is the higher the number, the easier it is to get a cleaner signal to the external amps. And later down the road, if want additional processing in terms of a digital sound processor or a traditional analog eq, the voltage paring will be a factor. For sound quality, Pioneer, Alpine and Kenwood's Excelon line are my top three picks for now. Something in the line of $$-$$$ should work with out Navi. A navi HU with any kind of sound quality you are looking at $800 or better. A suggestion would be get a head unit that is navi - ready and latter you can add the external navi unit if you want. External Navi units are getting better now that 6 months ago.
For the 2 sub's you are looking at, you must get a least a very good mono amp that can handle the power requirement. Today, the digital mono amps have come a long way and IMO they are just as equal to the analog A/B type amps.
Of course you will need a least a 4 channel amp to handle the rest of the speakers. That you can save some money on unless you go for high end speakers later, then you will have to spend $$$$ or greater on a multi channel amp.
You must save money in your budget for the wire harness, face plate connections, power connections to the battery, a capacitor, rca cables, etc. Your budget of $800.00 - $1,100.00 might be tight.
What you said about HU's totally fits the CDA-117. Its bad ass and have like 5v outputs IIRC. It will do bluetooth AD2P, hands free, USB thumbdrive connections and steering wheel controls. Too much to list.
II you have the factory radio with the steering wheel control, you will loose that function unless you install one of the 3rd party connectors for the aftermarket HU you select. When you change an aftermarket radio that has steering wheel control already, you have check if the 3rd party controller will work with the new HU, otherwise you have to update it as well.
Best for now.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Jeep Garage - Jeep Forum
1.7M posts
176.1K members
Since 2009
Jeep Garage is where you can talk about all your favorite jeeps including the Cherokee, Liberty and Grand Cherokee.