Stereo Upgrade Thread
 

Ok, so I hated my factory '06 Jeep stereo. It sounded like 2 clock radios taped to the roll bar, it was horrible!

What I did, I got a pioneer deck (DEH-3200UB with iPod control because of the new handsfree laws), 200W. I also got 6.5" and 4X6" Infinity Reference series speakers.

I made brackets out of an old highway sign for the front ones to bolt in. They sound 100X better than the originals BTW.

On the back ones, I made adapter rings to bolt the new speakers to that attached to the original plastic pods with the built in interior light. They sound way better as well, especially being 2-way as I now finally get some treble out of them.

The horrible problem! The rear speaker pods are too flimsy! The top faces of the pods vibrate like crazy and I get weird resonance and muting of other frequencies. In order to try to solve this problem, I stuck Dynamat (1/8" heavy rubber like matting that absorbs sound and reduces vibration) to the inside and outside of the opposite side of the pod from the speaker and I admit it did make a large difference, but the problem is still not solved!

I am thinking the only way I am going to get this to work is to custom make some MDF boxes and go from there. That will take away the vibes from the thin plastic boxes and hopefully fix my messed up midrange sound. I also want to add some Grote 4" LED flange mount dome lamps and scrap the incandescent factory lamps. I think the Grote ones in the box would survive the vibes better and not have any rattling parts, be brighter too.

What have you guys done, anything? This is actually my family vehicle and I am really pressed for space, so I am not putting in any subs or anything at this time and trying to get the most bang for my buck with OEM replacement speakers.

Also don't get me wrong, the stereo sounds really good now, it actually has some low end and performs well, but the problem lies when the kid isn't in the Jeep and we want to crank it up, then the distortion happens.

I am also considering the possibility of amping the 6,1/2" - 2 ways as they are high power. I think they would crank pretty good then and I could get away without sacrificing any space for subs.

If anyone wants any pictures, let me know and I will take some, but I was rushed and missed taking them initially during the install, I was trying to surprise the wife for mother's day!
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Jet

Re: Stereo Upgrade Thread
 

Sweet set up! I loaded up the tj wit a jvc hands free deck, and kicker 6" speakers in the rear and 4" in the front. just used so light aluminum to re-enforce the plastic box. it seems to work but was a real pain to install. Amping the speakers made a huge difference to the sound quality too.

Re: Stereo Upgrade Thread
 

You reinforced the inside of the box or the outside? I have a bunch of 1/8" aluminum sheeting at home, (old highway signs) I wonder about making something like that work...

Re: Stereo Upgrade Thread
 

My problem was the plastic lens on the the interior light on the sound bar on my '98 tj, I thought I had blown the speakers the jeep came with (2way Rockford Fosgate 6.5"). I replaced those but was still getting a very annoying buzzing sound. removing the lens helped but it sounded like s**t as it created a large port, solved the problem with some clear silicone dabbed sparingly on the lens, not more rattle or buzzing now if i can only get all the dash plastic to stop doing the same thing!

Re: Stereo Upgrade Thread
 

I re-enforced the inside. I just cut a ring out to help support the plastic where i screwed the speakers in. It doesn't really support the box but it seemed to help with some of the vibrations. I'm sure u could "string" some aluminum supports inside the plastic speaker box.