1st post! questions inside!

himynameisscott · **Posted:** Fri Apr 05, 2013 7:31 pm

Hello everyone! 1st post here at lost. Ive had a 96 cherokee for a few years but never really messed with it. Sold it today and bought a minty 05 Liberty CRD Limited. 1 owner, dealer serviced ect.

So far loving the drive, my other vehicle is a 06 VW TDI so im somewhat familiar with the diesel concepts but, still learning the quirks of this Jeep

Im going to be ordering the GDE eco Tune in a few days to start off, any tips on this? seems to be the best option.
I will tow the occasional light duty trailer with a lawn tractor or 4 wheeler but rarley and not very far, mostly looking for mpg increase and power upgrade.

two small issues with my crd so far.

1. the cigar lighter under the radio isnt working, fuse located in the drivers side door panel is good. but no power to lighter.? any advice?
2. The left side speakers have no sound at all, i checked the balance settings on the stock 6 disk head unit and they appear to be correct. but yet no sound?

sorry if the questions are repetitive. just exciting to be a new member and to enjoy this CRD!

Thanks again

-Scott

kjjet · **Posted:** Fri Apr 05, 2013 7:43 pm

Welcome... The Good news is that's your only problems and better news you have a VW for a backup car.

GDE ECO tune is what I have. Much better throttle response, Power, MPG and most important no EGR. Only down fall's upon starting you get almost a 1000 RPM spike and the engine will run a little ruff at idle until it warms up.

Good luck with your CRD, I'm sure we will be hearing more from you.

papaindigo · **Posted:** Fri Apr 05, 2013 8:56 pm

1. Go to Sir Sam's NOOB guide and download a copy of the FSM. There is a diagnostic procedure for checking that lighter in the manual, just search for "lighter"
2. Do you have the "premium" sound system? Are both the front and rear speakers on that side dead? Make sure the balance and fader are set to the "center" settings and then run the sound up high; if the left speakers start working then the speakers are bad. If not and you have the premium sound system it's possible you have a bad circuit or the amplifier attached to the front left speaker is dead. If it's the latter the design is stupid and your best bet may be a new after market radio and new speakers without the OEM amps.

himynameisscott · **Posted:** Sat Apr 06, 2013 8:59 am

thanks!

yes i do have the premium, and the settings are correct. its not just one speaker all 3 on the left are out.
where is the left side amp located?

Hexus · **Posted:** Sat Apr 06, 2013 9:17 am

himynameisscott wrote:

thanks!

yes i do have the premium, and the settings are correct. its not just one speaker all 3 on the left are out.
where is the left side amp located?

Inside the radio.

papaindigo · **Posted:** Sat Apr 06, 2013 9:34 am

I'll be the first to confess that I'm not the best on electronics, especially on computerized vehicles, and that the wiring of the premium sound system and how sound is transmitted from the radio to the speakers is a bit of a mystery to me but here is what I can offer:
1. I asked about boosting volume because stoutdog's right front speaker occasionally would not produce any sound unless he "goosed" the volume at which point it would work fine. However, the dash mounted tweeter and the rear speaker on that side worked fine.
2. the premium sound system has 2 amps that are physically mounted on a bracket attached to the left and right front speakers inside the door. Stupid design and further complicated by the fact that, while the amp is held in place by 2 torx bolts, that neither the front speaker nor the amp is available as a separate unit (e.g. you can only obtain an amp/speaker replacement as a single unit - ca. $160 from a dealer and ca. $100 via http://car-part.com/ although I suspect you could do better at a local auto salvage yard). The amps serve as a "choke" point in the speaker system, as I understand it, in the sense that the signal is routed to the amp from the radio and from there to the 2 door speakers on that side and via a crossover the "high" signals are sent to the dash tweeter. Hence I'd speculate, given that you have no sound on that side, that a) there is no signal to that side from the radio either because of a radio problem or a wiring problem or b) the amp is dead hence no signal to the speakers on that side.
3. there is a rather large multi-wire plug going to the amp that may be loose, although it does have a catch lock that should be engaged. I presume there is someway to test whether there is a signal coming out of the radio and going to that plug but I cannot offer any advise on how to do the test.

The amps are encased in a solid block of what appears to be resin with some heat sink fins and shouldn't die but I suppose it is possible. The more common problem with those speakers is the "surround" foam goes bad in which case you can go online and get a foam surround repair kit or you can replace the speakers like I did per viewtopic.php?f=45&t=73768 . If the amp is bad but you do have a sound signal from the radio head to the amp I'd lean toward dumping the factory system and getting a new head unit from like Crutchfield along with new door speakers (I suspect but don't know that you can splice into the existing factory harness for new speakers) but that will leave your dash mounted tweeters not working unless, way out of my league, you add an aftermarket amp/crossover. If you have no single between the head unit and the amp you are on your own to look for a wire break.

Hope this helps at least a little bit.

PS - hexus he says he has the stock 6 CD head unit (RBQ) with the premium (6 speaker) sound system which is the same unit I have and the amps are in the door on the speaker. FYI that's the same amp arrangement that's on stoutdog's 06 with the OEM remote CD changer. As far as I know all the OEM premium speaker systems are setup the same way regardless of the radio head unit. IIRC there is a bit of an amp in the head unit but the premium sound system has the speaker mounted unit to serve as a cross over and an amp to drive the premium speakers.

Sir Sam · **Posted:** Sat Apr 06, 2013 10:53 am

the premium speakers have the amp built into the speaker, they have a pretty high failure rate relative to normal speakers, you will need new speaker units.

Hexus · **Posted:** Sat Apr 06, 2013 11:25 am

To be honest I thought they were in the radio because I didn't realize they were in the speakers.

I've blown my door speakers 3 times, and my passenger side speaker is currently blown and I'm deciding what to do with it.

I did not realize the amp was in the door or in the speaker, go figure, I just replaced them in kind.

I have the '06 Limited as well, with the 6 CD Changer.

papaindigo · **Posted:** Sat Apr 06, 2013 11:58 am

The premium 6 speaker Infinity sound system was a option (RCJ) that as far as I know was independent of the radio head unit. It supposedly (snicker) came with better speakers that had more omph because of the auxiliary amp much like adding a amp to an after market radio and speaker system. You don't "need" the amp but it gives the system more power.

Take a look at my post at viewtopic.php?f=45&t=73768 for a picture of the front premium speaker with the amp mounted on it.

I don't know that the amp itself has a high failure rate but I do know that the associated speakers are prone to decay of the foam surround at which point they begin to buzz. The speakers I installed have much more durable cones and surrounds than the OEM paper and foam so if the amps hold up I should be fine long term.

himynameisscott · **Posted:** Sat Apr 06, 2013 4:34 pm

Awesome! such a good batch of info to start with! ill do some further testing and report back, but im gussing ill prolly end up just getting all new speakers and a aftermarket head unit.

himynameisscott · **Posted:** Sun Apr 07, 2013 2:06 am

UPDATE

The connections on the cigar lighter were indeed loose. It has been adjusted and is working fine.

The left side speaker issue was due to the driver door speaker harness being improperly connected.

all is well.

Im going to order a re-foam kit on ebay for 1 speaker tomorrow.

One question though Is there a way to run a aux input on this headunit
? just a simple headphone jack for phone/ipod ect? thanks!

himynameisscott · **Posted:** Sun Apr 07, 2013 8:32 am

1 more additional question. if i separate the amps from the speakers in the front can i install them on a set of aftermarket speakers? say a set of alpines, and just mount the amp in the door? i have read some conflicting info on this, and looking for clarification.
thanks again!

woodtick · **Posted:** Sun Apr 07, 2013 8:42 am

Yes they are mounted to the speakers with screws,and can be mounted tothe doors and used with aftermarket speakers. But find out if they work first. I actually like the factory head unit. Sounds nice, works with steering wheel controls, and is less of a theft item than after market head units.

My :2cents:

papaindigo · **Posted:** Sun Apr 07, 2013 9:43 am

Yes. Scroll up to my previous post for a link to a how to replace the premium door speakers and keep the OEM amps. For what it's worth if you do replace the factory head unit the Axess steering wheel control interface that Crutchfield carries works great.

woodtick · **Posted:** Sun Apr 07, 2013 9:51 am

papaindigo wrote:

Yes. Scroll up to my previous post for a link to a how to replace the premium door speakers and keep the OEM amps. For what it's worth if you do replace the factory head unit the Axess steering wheel control interface that Crutchfield carries works great.

Cool!

I did not know that such an interface existed.

Sir Sam · **Posted:** Sun Apr 07, 2013 10:57 am

you can also get an ipod/iphone/aux in interface kit for the headunit, I think they cost about $80 last i looked, so with great headunits that have all sorts of other options like bluetooth music streaming mp3 playback etc, you get a better bang for your buck by replacing it.

papaindigo · **Posted:** Sun Apr 07, 2013 11:35 am

I don't even want to know the time/energy/$ I invested in the iPod to radio issue:
1. OEM in dash 6 disc RBQ radio paired with Mopar iPod adapter. Never really, in my opinion, worked well with the iPod and the head unit controls never really could be used to change tunes playing from iPod. I think this has been discontinued and in any case there is chat that it will not work at all with newer "i" things
2. Sony CDX-GT820IP iPod compatible head unit and PAC steering control. Steering control kept forgetting, don't have a clue why as its memory is supposed to be unaffected by any power loss and it was wired to always on power anyway, what steering wheel controls were supposed to do what AND programming those controls was a bear. Radio does ok but Sony admits they did not quite get the iPod integration fully right so the radio sometime randomly comes on in radio or iPod mode even if a) the radio was off when the ignition was turned off or b) the radio was on but in a different mode when the ignition was turned off. In addition the radio to iPod cable was wired to the back of the unit and has a huge head that makes it hard to route to another location.
3. Sony MEX-BT3900U head unit (iPod compatible via front mounted USB connector plus has standard 1/8" front mounted aux jack and will play from any MP3 player via USB or aux jack) and Axxess steering wheel control. No problems with either unit and the Axxess does not require programming to work with steering wheel control although installation instructions were a bit murky (if anyone wants I can supply an edited version). You can control iPod from head unit or iPod, I do the latter, and the head unit has BlueTooth but I don't use that much except for phone.

himynameisscott · **Posted:** Sun Apr 07, 2013 5:22 pm

Most importantly Im just looking for a plain old mini headphone input, to listen to both my phone and iPod.
but i have read that due to the 6 disk changer option, that the aux in (which goes in the back) wont hook up b.c of the changer? can anyone PERSONALLY CONFIRM this? I dont need a cord that charges or anything, just simple audio in.

I read the about posts regarding the removal/mounting of the amps my concern is will the speakers sound ok, coming from a 2.5 ohm amp. most new speakers are 4 ohm? Can any audiophiles confirm this as well?

the oem unit actally sounds decent, ive had more then enough cars so far and this one is actually quite balanced but i need the line in.

himynameisscott · **Posted:** Mon Apr 08, 2013 9:04 pm

UPDATE:

I purchased a set of infinity primus speakers for the fronts. (280WT 80 RMS) The are 3ohm vs the 2.5 oems. I removed the stock amps from the oem speakers and spliced in the new speakers. I mounted the amps inside the door, it did take a little trial and error to find the right spot to ensure window clearance.

They sound great, The plan now is to order a refoam kit and freshen up the oem speakers and throw them up on ebay. I figure since there backordered everywhere someone can pull there amps off theres and bolt them right up and enjoy.

still looking for part#s and clairfication on a aux cable that will plug directly into the stock 6 disk. any help plz?

jinstall · **Posted:** Mon Apr 08, 2013 9:36 pm

Never heard of Infinity Primus car auto speakers and I'm pretty familiar with Infinity's entire line of auto and home speakers since the 1980s. I currently own about $3000 worth of it now. Normally their line consists of Reference or Kappa line of mobile audio. There used to be a Beta series that was high end but that line dropped around 2000. Still have those somewhere in a box.

1st post! questions inside!

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