Okay, let's start by me asking you a few questions, just to make sure we're on the same page, and that I'm giving you the best advice for your situation. I know you've already covered some of this, but let's get it in one place.

1) Do you intend to use existing non-sub speakers or buy new ones? Just answer old or new. If old, list what you have on next question. If new, list what you think you would buy.

2) Front speakers info listed in this order: Brand, model (if known), size, 2-way/3-way/4-way? All fully functional?

3) Rear speakers infor listed in this order: Brand, model (if known), size, 2-way/3-way/4-way? All fully functional?

4) What are your thoughts on sub size and amp power? Are you into rap, or rock? I.E., are you looking to shake cars next to you, or do you just want good clean sound?

5) What's your budget for this project. I know cheaper is always better, but give me an idea.

6) How comfortable are you with basic amp, power, and speaker wiring?

With this info, I can better give you options and make sure things are going to work together.

 

Ok ill try and answer this best i can. I cut out and put "DUAL" 6 by 9 4 way speakers. It says on the box they are 200 watts. Thats as far as the rear goes.



I have the jeep stock small size speakers in the front. I think they are 2 way pioneer speakers. Then i have the stock tweeters in the front.

My buddy is selling a 10 inch alpine sub. With a 2 channel alpine amp. With a kenwood head unit. All for 70 bucks. Now if i buy that and hook up everything, all the speakers sub and head unit. All i missing is a amp for the speakers. And i don't really have the money to buy one right now. Would that set up be good? I like to rock out sometimes in my jeep so i don't wanna have any problems with anything shutting down and going into protect mode.



I had a dual head unit and i hooked up all the speakers. And when i turned it up loud (not all the way crazy) but the speakers skipped and then went out. Maybe my old head unit couldn't support all that power? So i took it back.


As of right now i have 100 bucks and my 6 by 9s and my front set up. I hope i answered your questions, or maybe u can tell me what to do with my 100 bucks to set me up.

 

The deck is 50x5

 

50w max. Which doesn't mean ****.
If it's a reasonable brand it's probably 19ish wrms. If you want your sound loud and clean, you'll need at least a two channel amp. Amp the front two speakers most certainly. MB quart amps are great for the price. I've had luck with hifonics, although I have not messed with their newer equipment.

$100 won't get you far, unless you find used equipment. Be careful with used electronics though, no warranty.

 

The short answer is Yes you can get by without an amp and it'll sound alright.

Once you hookup a better headunit, a subwoofer and an amp, hopefully the amp or headunit has a crossover built in to take the low range off the other speakers and put it through the sub. This will be like any other "system" where people throw a amped sub in their car with a crossover and call it a day. And most people are happy with that.

 

Do you think i can buy a good head unit and a speaker amp for 100 bucks? At a pawn shop?

 

I doubt it. You can try to find one. You'll likely need a 4-channel amp, I am assuming you want all four amplified, although you don't really need to. You can get your friend's HU and amp and leave the sub off. Amp the two front speakers. If the HU doesn't have "amp cancellation" you'll likely be able to do this. If you have an "amp cancellation" device in the HU, it will shut the power off to the speaker wires and send it out the RCAs only, which means you'll only be able to power two speakers with that amp. Or you can try just the hu powering the speakers and see if it will get loud enough for your liking. If you turn it up loud enough to clip signal to the speakers and distort the sound, you will be in the market for new speakers.

What head unit do you have now?

 

Good advise thanks. My brother had a ranger and he had a 12" alpine sub with 6 by 9s in the rear and 6.5s with tweeters in front and the speakers didn't have a amp on them. And that set up sounded awesome!

 

I dont have a head unit as of right now. I took my old one back because it kept shutting off at high volume. And i read online to stay away from dual

 

Putting a good amp on your Mids isn't just about getting loud. Its a cleaner sound.
Also.. 50 watts rms from a decent amp, will sound better and get louder than 50 rmsfrom a head unit. Less distortion is always a good thing. That dual head unit was kicking off because you where clipping the internal amp, aka you had a ton of distortion.

 

+1, good = being "in" the music, not making your ears bleed. The more power the better, because clipping the signal means instant death for your speakers.

 

Okay, if you get all the stuff you mentioned for $70, and it is in good condition, then that will be a good start.

As far as your old Dual "not supporting all that power", you could have one or both of two thing going on there. The head unit IS the power; it's what supplies the wattage to your speakers. So:

1) You may not have sufficient amperage getting through the main power lead to the head unit. Stock stereo wiring on older vehicles is notoriously crappy and of smaller gauges. I wouldn't be surprised to find you have an 18 gauge power wire feeding the head unit.

2) The Dual had an amp design that was designed to shut down to prevent clipping, or it had a bad design that allowed to heat to build up and thermal safety shut the circuits down.

I'll make this easy for you. Despite what a number of people are telling you, especially with your budget, you are MUCH better off using the amp to power the sub, and then turning your bass down a bit so you don't overwork those tiny door speakers. They'll just sound like crap. A small speaker is a small speaker is a small speaker. I don't care if you throw 400 watts at it. It's still just a 5.25" speaker in an acoustically crappy door. You'll just be asking too much of a bad combination.

Install the new head unit. Keep the bass setting at somewhere between -2 and +1 so you're not over-driving the door speakers. Now, install the sub and amp. Turn the amp gain up a bit to where your getting a decent VOLUME of bass, then adjust the amp's crossover until the transition of sound from the four speakers to the sub sounds as smooth and natural as you can get it. Listen to several songs and tweak it, it will take some time and multiple adjustments till you find a sweet spot. If your 6x9's produce any decent upper lows, then your probably looking at a crossover point of around 60-75 Hz. If they don't put out decent sound lows, you may want to move the sub crossover a tad higher, but with a sub that large I wouldn't go above 95-100 Hz or it will start to make your mids sound muddy.

I do have quite a bit of experience with car stereos. As I mentioned, I worked in a stereo shop for a few years, I have read and studied books on speaker design extensively, I design conference room audio/video systems, and I have first-hand experience that applies directly to your situation with my own XJ.

When I first put the Dual head unit in and the four new Polks in mine, they had the amp on back order for a week. The Polks by themselves got loud and sounded clean, but they didn't have any real "thump." This didn't surprise me, and it's more of a problem with the doors than the speakers. When the amp came in I hooked it up the the Kicker 6.5" CompVT and... Man! What a difference! The sub took care of all the low notes that the door speakers just can't produce given their crappy enclosure scenario.

People always comment how good my stereo sounds. I have a coworker who has a 2013 Grand Cherokee with the premium Alpine system in it. He tells me mine sounds better than his in many respects, and is a little pissed at the bucks he had to pay to get his (it was all wrapped up in an options package)

Anyway, start with that scenario. If you want, you can always go back later and add a 100 watt X 4 amp for your door speakers. But if you just amp the door speakers and don't use a sub you'll be disappointed. Trust me on this one.

 

Check out this thread as well:

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f67/su...om-box-159972/

 

Thank you. you helped me out alot!

 

Thanks for singling me out.....Soooo, here we go. I see you say you know how to setup a system properly. Then you say you have a Dual headunit PUSHING 40w to your Polks? You believe its 40? How about 15w of "dirty" power going to your Polks just waiting to burn the voice coil up after some long periods of over distorted underpowered signal......That's where the amp comes into play. And its not to overpower them as you started in your decibel comparison but to get good clean power to the speakers. Not to mention IF you know how to setup a system, you will know how to set the crossover on the amp for the mids and highs to go along with the sub.

I by no means am trying to say you cant run your door and rear mids with the headunit. I actually do it for now and a lot of people do it. But I find that your post has alittle misinformation and the fact you tried to single me out I just had to post.......