Speakers

Hi all,

I've noticed a few threads on this site questioning what the best stereo/speaker upgrades are avail. currently for our XJ's. So, I thought I'd quickly post a personal POV regarding the best (and easiest) type of speakers and deck to suit an XJ.

FWIW, I am by no means a stereophile or professional installer - I'm just an average guy that wanted a stereo that I could turn up as loud as my ears could take, without distorting or sounding terrible. Admittedly though, I do have many years of experience in live music production and have owned a professional high-end recording studio in my hometown of Sydney, AU.

Anyway, in my personal search of trying to upgrade the stock stereo in my 93' XJ, to something that was within a reasonable budget (re : not a 10 x 18-inch sub monster system, requiring massive fabrication and modifications....) I came across what I have been using for a while now, which I think most average consumers would be more than happy with.

That system is :

Speakers : Infinity 6002i speakers mounted up front. Yes, the chassis of these speakers WILL fit into the standard front speaker location of a XJ Sport, WITHOUT cutting away any metal. HOWEVER, you will need to drill new mounting holes (4 per door in total) to make them fit, along with cutting the factory speaker connector, and soldering the new wires onto the contact terminals of the new speakers. FWIW, they fit snugly with the trim placed back over them, making them look like a factory install. However, there is a VERY slight bulge in the bottom corners, although again, it's barely noticable, and doesn't overly affect the sound quality (to my ears anyway).

Infinity 5002i mounted in the back - for my XJ, they mounted straight into the factory location in the rear hatch, making it look like a factory install, and simply required the factory connector to be cut, then the wires to be re-soldered onto the new speaker terminals. Then, they simply screwed into the factory mounting holes.

As far as I'm aware, they will also bolt straight up and into the soundbar as well.

Now, the reason why I chose Infinity's was b/c to my ears, they out-performed all of their competitors within miles of their price range (both below and above), secondly, they were a HUGE upgrade over the standard speakers, with a MINIMAL amount of effort to install them.

Admittedly, I'm sure that MB Quarts and all those competition-type systems smoke them in a sound-off, but that type of pro-perfomance comes at usually either a premium price and/or requiring a substancial amount of fabrication to make them all fit.... I purchased my speakers used on Ebay for about US$60 for ALL 4 of them, incl. shipping ! Granted, it might have been a good deal, but I've since seen many other used, but in great condition pairs go for around the same price.

DECK - I use a Pioneer DEH-4600MP. I paid about $160 for it installed, it plays pretty much ANY format except DVD, meaning that I can put over 7 hours of music (MP3 format) onto 1 CD ! This realistically eliminates the need to even use a stacker, which means saving more $$. Plus, it has the option of simply plugging in an XM satellite tuner, a great customizable equalizer (so you can fine tune the stereo to suit your speakers), about 20 preset FM stations, 10 AM presets, a detachable face and a nice-looking display at night. The only things it doesn't have is that whole automated picture-graphics on the screen when it's on, but my eyes are usually on the road when I'm in the car, not so much on the display on my CD player !

I'm sure that as time goes on, the options that this deck has will definately get cheaper, but again, for anyone wanting to get a crystal clear, affordable system that fits with minimal amount of effort, along with VERY acceptable bass (not the same as 18 inch subs but again, this system needs MINIMAL installation effort and thought), this combination really sounds great.

Anyway, in closing, I hope that someone out there finds this write up as helpful, and in no way am I writing to say that one brand is better than another or anything along those lines. This is just a personal point of view (POV), that I wished I had been able to find on the internet, before I went through all the hassle to find out about this combination.

Peace and Regards,

Quarterwave

Thats pretty much the system that I have right now except my rear speakers are Polk Audio 5.25s (only because I already had them) and my CD player is a higher end Pioneer unit (DEH-P6500). I'm pretty happy with the sound of it, I just miss having a sub sometimes but the 6.5s go low enough that I dont necessarily need a sub, I just miss having one sometimes.

Oh, and I agree on not having to cut any sheet metal for the 6.5s to work, all I had to do was drill soem new holes.

I have the EXACT same speaker setup on my 98 XJ as the original poster does. The Infinitys are by far one of the Best if not the very best speakers out there. Made by Hardon, who also does all of JBL's speakers. (another terrific sounding speaker IMO)
I have mine hooked to a Blaupunkt Tampa Bay Cd player, am/fm tuner.
No external amps. Smooth clean sound with bass just punchy and deep enough to satisfy anyone.
Very clean install with no other BS to mess with.

I went the most cheapest route possible. I often wheel alone and did not want to have a huge amount of money invested in a stereo that might get ripped off if I had to leave my rig on a trail cause it broke down or I got so stuck I had to get help. Which I try to avoid when I wheel alone. Anyway I bought some 6.5 and 6x9 coaxials from bazooka for something like 40 bucks for the two pairs. Brand new and saved me like 200 bucks. I bought a pioneer 3600 deck and two rolls of tsunami speaker wire. I have way less then two bucks in the whole system including some dynamat and materials for the two boxes in the cargo area. The sound is awesome and I am happy because it sounds so good for such a cheap price. The 6.5's are a bit bigger then most and I did have to get a spacer and do some cutting on the doors.

Right now I am working on buying some new materials that will block road noise. The Dynamat Extreme is like 9-12 dollars per square foot depending on where you buy it. Dynaliner Max runs about 15 dollars per square foot.
This stuff runs well under half the cost of Dynamat, is not tar based, and weighs between 1 and 2 pounds per square foot depending on type. I am waiting for some samples to arrive so I can test them and see how well they work. If this product works as good as claimed... I am going to see about buying a roll and testing it in some vehicles (my jeep and diesel).

Quarterwave, that was the exact speaker configuration I was going to use on my '98. I had heard great things about Infinity speakers and was anxious to hear how they sounded in a Cherokee -- even the factory Infinity system in my friend's Grand Cherokee sounded very nice.

However, I chose to abandon that idea because I have a fair bit of stereo equipment that's been sitting in my basement for three years... three amplifiers, an electronic crossover, wire, etc. It's a shame to let this stuff go to waste, and it's just not cost-effective to sell it.

I'm going to try a set of component speakers from CDT Audio. I was able to purchase them at half-price for about $150 online. I intend on molding one subwoofer into the "void" in the rear passenger-side panel... again, just because I already own it.

Now, I understand this is a lot more involved than simply replacing speakers, but I figured I'd give it a go. I'm in no way a car audio nut, either; I just want some decent sound. This also serves as a test... it'll be interesting to see if component speakers are really all they're cracked up to be.

Hey folks.

FWIW:

I am not a professional audiophile either, but I have spent more than my share of time in designing and fabricating car audio systems. I did it as a hobby and to make some extra cash while in college and just for fun.

The equipment listed is a nice upgrade to factory stuff, but as most of you guys know.. it is what it is.

A couple of super simple guidelines for those who would like to build a really nice sounding system.

1) Excellent equipment in with a bad install can sound like crap.
2) Bad equipment in an excellent install can sound awfully darn good!

3) If you REALLY want good sound, don't buy Japaneese speakers. Not for their quality (which is perfectly good). You don't want them because they are typically tuned for Japaneese music (go figure ). Japaneese music is NOT "our" typical music. Japaneese music is filled with squelches, squeeks, and in general is fast and high pitched. Americans and Europeans tend to listen to "well rounded" music, with roughly equal highs and lows. Concidentally, all the best speakers and audio reproduction equpiment come from the USA and Europe (with exceptions of course).

4) It's not a rule, but when it comes to stereo stuff, you tend to get what you pay for. Like I said, bad equipment in a good install can sound good, but it's tougher.

5) The stock locations in a 97+ XJ aren't bad locations. The front is pretty good.

6) Sound matting is your friend and can cure a variety of ills!

7) Amplifiers are your friend. An amp that drives 35 watts per channel is likely to be around 7x more powerful (and measureably cleaner) than a headunit that CLAIMS to put out "35 watts per channel".

Those are some basic tips, as I said, for what it's worth .

For anyone curious, my current system:

Front and rear is a pair of Boston Acoustics 5.5 Pro's,
A pair of MB Quart 6" subs tucked under the front seats for front the soundstage and a JL Audio 8" sub in the rear hatch. All powered by a trio of Precision Power amps.

I've built a pretty good system into my XJ for a moderate amount of money, and the one thing I've learned is that the stock locations on the newer XJ's for the rear speakers really suck. Its not that the location is bad, its that they are mounted in the headliner which flexes a lot. My rear speakers make the headliner vibrate, but don’t make much bass.

So far I have stock head unit and stock infinity amp. From there I have some cheep pioneer 6.5" in the back, and Boston SL60 components in the front. Also have an Infinity Perfect Kappa 12" sub driven by a 400watt RMS Kenwood amp mounted across the void on the passenger side in the cargo area. Next on the list is probably a Cadence A400 amp to power the new Boston SL60's I just installed and a 1F cap. Mostly because I’m not convinced that the stock amp is really putting out its 40watts and that I’m pretty sure it’s not as clean as it should be. I know the Cadence amp is overkill, but I'm getting it used of a friend of mine who used to have a very expensive system in his Tahoe.

Sub, Amp, and Wiring = $400
Pioneer speakers = $40
Boston SL60's = $300 (ouch)

Those Boston's sound awsome and make more sound at the same vol level than any other speaker I went and listend too. They dont clear the windows without using the provided spacer, but then the door panel doesnt fit back on all the way, which isnt noticeable at all. Major problem is that I'm not happy with my install of the tweeters. Anybody out there have pictures of their component speaker install? I'm looking for ideas so i can redo them and make them more asthetically pleasing.

sweetjeep said:

7) Amplifiers are your friend. An amp that drives 35 watts per channel is likely to be around 7x more powerful (and measureably cleaner) than a headunit that CLAIMS to put out "35 watts per channel".

Click to expand...

Most new head units are moving to be CEA-compliant, therefore the specs given will be the true RMS values. - (they will have a CEA-compliant logo on the box or somewhere)

-adding an amp is a night and day difference when compared to a head unit.