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Stereo system
http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=77111		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  pwrwagn [ Sun Oct 20, 2013 10:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Stereo system
My Jeep has the am/fm/cassette/single CD/sirius radio combo in it and there's NO sound at all from the left speakers.

Is it correct that there is an amp in each front door? If so, how do you replace it without paying an arm and a leg for it?

I need new speakers all the way around, as the ones that do work are horrible. But, before I tear into things, I'd like to know what I'm up against. Is the amp module a common item, or is it unique to the liberty, or are there aftermarket options?

Thanks
Author:  teckman02 [ Sun Oct 20, 2013 10:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Stereo system
are you sure that you have the infinity system it could just be a loose wire
Author:  pwrwagn [ Sun Oct 20, 2013 11:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Stereo system
teckman02 wrote:
are you sure that you have the infinity system it could just be a loose wire


No, I don't know. I am unable to find anything that tells me what I have and how it's equipped. I want to know what my options are and be prepared before I pull things apart.

The PDF I have of the service manual says "some vehicles" have amplifiers in the doors. And if there's no sound, check the fuses. Not helpful.
Author:  papaindigo [ Mon Oct 21, 2013 7:35 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Stereo system
See last week's chat on the same topic at viewtopic.php?f=5&t=77064
Author:  tech57 [ Tue Oct 22, 2013 8:45 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Stereo system
My CRD came with the standard (not Infinity) stereo and it still had amplified front speakers.
You might take a peek inside the door panel and confirm the type of speaker currently there.
Author:  pwrwagn [ Tue Oct 22, 2013 1:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Stereo system
tech57 wrote:
My CRD came with the standard (not Infinity) stereo and it still had amplified front speakers.
You might take a peek inside the door panel and confirm the type of speaker currently there.


I have ordered 4 new speakers, since the ones on the right sound absolutely horrible.

If the amp is bad on the left side, I'll bypass both of them and run directly off the radio, since according to what I can find, it does not have line level, but speaker amplification in it (RAZ code).

If the radio is bad, it still needed new speakers. If the radio is ok, then I have an adequate sounding system.
Author:  geordi [ Tue Oct 22, 2013 3:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Stereo system
Check what you may have under the back seat - there should be an amp there, that is the more likely source of the problem. Not saying the speakers would sound any better, but if the amp isn't getting enough power or the ground is bad, all manner of strange things can be happening.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Author:  usa591 [ Fri Oct 25, 2013 1:07 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Stereo system
pwrwagn wrote:
My Jeep has the am/fm/cassette/single CD/sirius radio combo in it and there's NO sound at all from the left speakers.

Is it correct that there is an amp in each front door?


No. Yes... I mean: there is probably not an amp.

I had the same problem with the factory stereo. In my experience, I took it to a shade-tree stereo shop and the stereo guy called his brother and got the same information: that there was an amp for each speaker and it would be expensive to fix.

Which now that I hear your story makes sense, in the fact that there is some model out there like that, so they weren't trying to shake me down...

HOWEVER, what I did was go home, take off the door panel and basically disconnect and reconnect the speaker. Bam--they worked. Loose connection? Possibly... Who knows. I hate electrical problems, they always seem so...moody and hard to figure out.

Take-away lesson: pull the inside panels off and double check that the speaker connections are solid. Then pull the head out and disconnect and reconnect the wiring chassis. If that doesn't work, well, then go to Plan B.
Author:  pwrwagn [ Fri Oct 25, 2013 10:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Stereo system
Ok, so here's what I've done: I pulled the passenger side panels and speakers... there IS an amp attached to the front speaker. The speakers ARE bad - as in foam roll has detached. So, I have 4 new speakers. They have non-foam rolls and non-paper cones. (Ebay, 40 bucks for 4 speakers) I've read that you can bypass the amp, and it looks like putting it back in is a pain with new speakers. So, next day I can work on it ( sunday, weather permitting), I'm going to pull the driver's side and see if there's an issue with the wires and plugs. If it's still dead after making sure it has power AND sound coming to it, then I'm bypassing both amps, going straight to the speakers. If the radio is bad, I'm still bypassing the amps and replacing the radio.
Author:  pwrwagn [ Sun Oct 27, 2013 12:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Stereo system
Well, the radio itself works fine. So, the amps are going bye-bye, and I'm bypassing them to just run straight from the radio, sans amplifiers.

Dang, it's cold outside. Frozen fingers already.
Author:  papaindigo [ Sun Oct 27, 2013 12:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Stereo system
I cannot offer an opinion on how well or not an OEM Infinity system radio will drive aftermarket speakers without the amps. I'd be curious to know.

That said it's my understanding that the amps are also crossovers such that, for example, the left side amp drives both left side door speakers and sends the high pitched sounds to the tweeters in the dash. I would imagine that you can identify and splice the wires at the amp plug to drive both the left front and rear door speakers (e.g. no need to run new wire all the way to the left rear speaker although you may need to spring for the plug in pigtail mentioned in my replacing infinity speakers writeup that I linked to above). However, absent the amps you won't have the crossover function hence the dash mounted tweeters will no longer work.

At my level of understanding of the system I could certainly be wrong but that's how it's been explained to me.
Author:  geordi [ Sun Oct 27, 2013 5:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Stereo system
A tweeter will accept the signal from the radio just fine without a crossover, it just will not be capable of audibly playing the lower frequencies that would otherwise be filtered out.

What this means is the power from the radio will still make the tweeter vibrate, but those vibrations will be too weak to hear, yet the speaker will still 'warm up' from that power. Too much power and the tweeter will eventually fail, but for all practical purposes this will never happen in the Jeep setup.

I built a set of speaker cabinets years ago, with 500 watt woofers and 75 watt tweeters. The crossover failed (Cheap crap) and I bypassed it b/c it failed at an event. Pumping at FULL POWER from my concert-grade amp, it took about 3 years for the tweeter to eventually fail. This was overdriving 500 watts into something designed for 75, and it took that long. Tweeters are tough. The ones in the car are designed for the power of the stock radio (or most other car radios) and not the massive mis-match that happened with my system. The reality is you will probably never notice the missing crossover.

FYI: I have come to believe that most stock audio systems are nearly complete crap. Even the "uprated" systems. Replacing the "Monsoon" radio (but not the amp or speakers yet) in my VW, the quality of the sound is MILES better than with the so-called "performance" system that would supposedly make an audiophile happy. All I put in its place was a Pioneer head unit.
Author:  pwrwagn [ Sun Oct 27, 2013 6:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Stereo system
Well, it works fine.

If you want, you can insert a capacitor into the circuit going to the tweeter. There's places to look up the value, but basically, you use the tweeter's impedance to calculate what size capacitor to use to block the low frequencies for whatever frequency you want it to cut in at.

I can't say how much "oomph" it has, enough to be loud inside with the doors shut and be nowhere near full volume.

I printed off two pages out of the wiring section of the shop manual, that told me what wires went where by color.

I noticed that some people thought the original stereo was "boomy". The reason it may sound that way, is because the door itself is not rigid, and can resonate, especially if the speakers you install are light. I notice some of that going on myself. The door panels vibrate with the bass notes, emphasizing some frequencies, dampening others. But that's pretty par for the course in a vehicle.

A couple years ago, I was desperately sick of listening to music on the tv or my lousy computer speakers... So I bought some closeout woofers, midranges, and tweeters from an online store. I had 35 into them all, including shipping. The woofers were a somewhat unusual style. They're also just 30watts RMS handling. I used their specifications to build speaker cabinets from 5/8 heavy duty particle board. They are over 4 feet tall, and about 30 inches wide. They look STRANGE. The midrange has its own chamber, the insides have foam and other dampening material in them, and the big cabinet is a tuned port subwoofer. They will make your ears hurt BAD at 25 hz. And they make good sound from 28 hz on up. What drives them is a cheap digital amp I got from China, and it plays the sound from the TV or my media computer. The amp is a 100W RMS amp, but current configuration will produce 65 W RMS with negligible distortion.

Watching movies is impressive, since the "explosions" are often sub-sonic hits.. and the system reproduces them well. All together, I'm into the whole thing about 185 dollars, and have some of the best sounding speakers I've ever had the chance to hear. No, they don't have the power handling to blow your hair back, but the sound level is high (they're sensitive, and produce 93db/watt) for little power and they produce better sound than I can hear. Oh, yeah - you have to have a hand truck to move them :)
Author:  orbanator7577 [ Thu Oct 31, 2013 12:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Stereo system
I installed a Pioneer cd deck with bluetooth, replaced front speakers with MB Quart components and run off a RF Punch 4 channel, rear speakers run off the deck and are stock. I built a tiny ported box for the back loaded with an infinity 8. In total, I spend about 500 dollars and it sounds pretty darn good.

Rockford Fosgate P500X4D - $180
Infinity-Reference-860W - $60
Pioneer DEH-X8500BH - $136
MBQUART PVL216 - $118
Walmart wiring kit - $20
Monster MPC I202 2C-5M - $20 x 2
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