Upgrade stereo options

[Guru]

Hey guys, I'm getting ready to address this issue with my Golden Eagle as soon as I get the new motor in.And if all goes as expected,I hope to build a custom headliner that will house a 5" in each corner...hence no cutty the factory metal.And the cab corner pocket really offer themselves to some decent speakers as well.As far as the head unit ,I plan to leave the factory am/fm/cb in the dash(if I can find someone to make it work,it will make it even better).Then I plan to build a bolt in console to house the new head unit/gps/scanner with plexi cover so its hidden.The headliner will also acommodate for some gauges.So, when it is finished I will post picks ,and if anyone is interested,and I can build them without anyone goin broke...I would be glad to push a few yalls way.Well, thats my 2 cents...just tryin to keep the ol' time FSJ hardcores from rubbin me out for cuttin up my truck and still bein able to listen to my ol' rock/bluegrass/contemporary and gospel so loud the people in the next county can hear.Oh and as far as quality best experiances have been...Blaupunkt,Alpine,and Pioneer.In that order.

[duncanstives]

Get rig of the radio, put in an amp where it went, cover it with a piece of metal, use the metal to mount something useful (winch controls, extra lights, etc) and add a 3.5mm jack to accept input from an MP3 player (wire the jack to the amp inputs). If you are feeling like a feature creep install a pot (variable resistor) between ground and the input with the center tap going to the input of the amp.... Add a nice machined metal knob and vola! Volume control!

I am doing this since my radio does not work.

[Guru]

That's pretty cool duncan ,I will be calling on you for some electronic how to's when I get to them hook ups...wiring and electronics are still pretty new to me.

[JeepStew]

in one of my other jeeps i had no radio. i drove it like that all over south carolina for years without one. i guess i just sang with the tire whine. in the current rig i barley turn it on. come to think of it, unless i am on a really long journey i never even think about it.

[RubiconMike]

My $300 Cherokee was already cut for a DIN radio, but the one that came with it had no AM/FM and the CD skipped!

I checked the local stereo big box store chain called Fry's Electronics for any specials and got a Panasonic high power AM/FM/CD/MP3 indash player with an aux jack and remote control for the enormous sum of $57. I had a pair of 5 1/4" Polk Audio two-way speaker that fit the stock location in the front doors. I then made replacement panels for the inner rear quarter panels and put in some Pioneer 3-way 6X9" from Best Buy ($65). So for a total of $122 it plays loud and sounds reasonably good.

[royaustin2000]

Custom autosound can make a shaft receiver to fit fairly reasonably , Or
Crutchfield has a model, but it's 300 bucks. I think I'm going to hack mine.

[Chuck Brown]

Originally Posted by Bev25

I'm keeping the stock radio and putting Sirius hidden in the glove box.
I thought the one speaker in the dash was really neat, but now I'm ready to actually hear the music!!!

x2 on the Sirius unit, I have Sirius in my Explorer and wouldnt trade it for anything. Ive got all my MLB games in the summer, Sinatra when Im working in the garage and Stern in the morning. Tried going back to terestrial radio when our truck was in the shop and soon got sick of the local "wacky morning zoo" guys...real fast.

Chuck Brown

[badaboom]

Interesting topic:

I haven't come up with what I am going to do as yet, for this issue.
I do know, I will be installing the factory AM/FM cassette unit as a impression, BUT IT WILL NOT BE HOOKED UP AT ALL.
I WISH to create a power supply - fuse / relay and power amplifier block
SUB-STATION behind the passenger seat.
I will need to provide most/all the plug and play options possible from there for the aft/rear of the truck and for the in-cab accessories. (Stereo IPOD, NAV, AUX speaker jacks, rear / rollbar undercarriage) you name it accessories baby. I have to check my inventory. I believe I have a pair of old KC highlights that are actually speakers for the rollbar.(go with a speaker A/B switch)

I can tell you the stock fuse block can only handle so many accessories effectively.

I will run a thick 1 guage cable split to this power sub-station to the rear of the passenger seat area in the cab. The seats I will install the back will fold up as necessary to allow for better access to this area.

Speakers will be behind the original speaker covers in the door and will appear to be nothing exciting. I have a set of Eclipse 3 Way Coaxial Speakers to place there currently.

Definately going to go with dual batteries also. INFRARSTRUCTURE baby.
All this must take place prior to installing NEW carpeting.

I'm still trying to figure out how to / where to place the second battery.

I saw something pretty kewl like a old coka-cola cooler made into a battery box maybe mount in the bed I don't know - haven't figured that out yet. (IDEAS Here??)

Alot of figuring no function as yet. Just ideas.

Keep them coming.

I like this sites information and some electrical stuff hate to sound technical LOL
http://www.rallylights.com/

[duncanstives]

Originally Posted by badaboom

Interesting topic:

I haven't come up with what I am going to do as yet, for this issue.
I do know, I will be installing the factory AM/FM cassette unit as a impression, BUT IT WILL NOT BE HOOKED UP AT ALL.
I WISH to create a power supply - fuse / relay and power amplifier block
SUB-STATION behind the passenger seat.
I will need to provide most/all the plug and play options possible from there for the aft/rear of the truck and for the in-cab accessories. (Stereo IPOD, NAV, AUX speaker jacks, rear / rollbar undercarriage) you name it accessories baby. I have to check my inventory. I believe I have a pair of old KC highlights that are actually speakers for the rollbar.(go with a speaker A/B switch)

I can tell you the stock fuse block can only handle so many accessories effectively.

I will run a thick 1 guage cable split to this power sub-station to the rear of the passenger seat area in the cab. The seats I will install the back will fold up as necessary to allow for better access to this area.

Speakers will be behind the original speaker covers in the door and will appear to be nothing exciting. I have a set of Eclipse 3 Way Coaxial Speakers to place there currently.

Definately going to go with dual batteries also. INFRARSTRUCTURE baby.
All this must take place prior to installing NEW carpeting.

I'm still trying to figure out how to / where to place the second battery.

I saw something pretty kewl like a old coka-cola cooler made into a battery box maybe mount in the bed I don't know - haven't figured that out yet. (IDEAS Here??)

Alot of figuring no function as yet. Just ideas.

Keep them coming.

I like this sites information and some electrical stuff hate to sound technical LOL
http://www.rallylights.com/

1 guage wire is WAY exessive. Accessories like that will not draw more than 30A combined even if you have a 1000W stereo... The 1000W will be PEAK power... Average will be much lower (MAYBE 100W). If you are adding a high power radio transmitter (CB with an amp or Ham radio) you might want to consider peak current up to 60A but even then 4 guage wire would be more than enough.

As for the idea in general: Sounds cool... I would put selector switches in the dash to turn on or off inputs (AUX, NAV voice instructions, Radio, etc) as well as to turn on you off outputs (interior speakers and exirior). Also make sure your inputs are in an accessable location.

[badaboom]

duncanstives

1 guage wire is WAY exessive.

I hear you I might have purchased 3 or 5 guage or something.
You understand my conceptual idea though.

I know it was large braided copper and heavily insulated, been awhile since I haven't checked my inventory for that project.

I just need to wait and see what the reality is.

But I do like the idea.

Especially since there are limits to the stock Fuse block.

[Frzad]

This is mine
http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_i...jpg?311113-008

I have 1 amplifier(fender driver side) and 4 speakers for rear , 2 front doors speakers for factory AM/FM stereo radio.
My CD player is a pioneer and my ipod is in the dash.

[duncanstives]

Originally Posted by badaboom

duncanstives

I hear you I might have purchased 3 or 5 guage or something.
You understand my conceptual idea though.

I know it was large braided copper and heavily insulated, been awhile since I haven't checked my inventory for that project.

I just need to wait and see what the reality is.

But I do like the idea.

Especially since there are limits to the stock Fuse block.

Yeah... I have a 50W VHF/UHF ham radio in the jeep... Ran seperate fused wire straight to the battery... This is the recommended way to install any high power device. The interesting exception being modern jeeps... A couple of chysler reps actually came to the dayton hamfest a couple years ago (a large gethering of ham radio operators that come to buy and sell stuff... Like 40,000+ people) and show off a couple of jeeps, the best way (and place) to install radios and head units and pointed out that that while it is possible to run a cable to the battery chrysler vehicles were designed with large loads to the "lighter" socket (in this case they did not actually have the lighter part... Just a plasistic cover.. The "smokers group" is extra.. LOL) in mind... Since I heard this I ran my VHF/UHF radio in my ZJ to the lighter and never had a problem (it draws about 10A). When i got the waggy I figured the chrysler guys statement did not refer to 20 year old jeeps so I wired to the battery.

[Randyzzz]

Originally Posted by duncanstives

1 guage wire is WAY exessive.

I did a rear mount battery in a street rod- found 1/0 welding cable for under 2 bucks a foot, it was more than enough to handle the complete electrical system. The stereo shops charge big bucks for cool colors/coatings/bling- welding cable is super fine strand, extremely flexible, and a lot cheaper.

[1977cherokeechief]

keep in mind that most stock battery cables are only 4 gauge... so 1 IMHO is way too big...

[duncanstives]

Originally Posted by Randyzzz

I did a rear mount battery in a street rod- found 1/0 welding cable for under 2 bucks a foot, it was more than enough to handle the complete electrical system. The stereo shops charge big bucks for cool colors/coatings/bling- welding cable is super fine strand, extremely flexible, and a lot cheaper.

Yep... I used to live in a solar powered house... All the batteries were wired with welding cable... That said $2 a foot still seems to steep to me for wire (though i guess you don't need much of it so its not a big deal).

[JPSwapMohn]

Wow, you folks have jeeps that are complete enough to start working on the audio system? What is that like?

Other than BEV (I would NOT cut anything on that cherokee!) and the wag formerly known as Chrom-a-nator, I did not realize any of us had "complete" projects..

I have Diamond Audio speakers in the dash and overhead bar in my YJ. I blew 3 or 4 sets of "decent" speakers just trying to hear the stereo over the road noise and finally just bought good stuff. Have not had any problems with them in 5 or 6 years and they sound good. I am definitely no audiofile and do not crank the radio unless the road noise warrants it.

I have been hypothesizing about fiberglassing some kickpanels to mount speakers. I don't think the normal ones would support them very well. I already have the double roll of raammat for the interior once I get to that stage.
Somewhere in cardomain there is a GW that a guy cut wood side panels and mounted marine sub and speakers in. I thought that looked really nice although the white speakers leave a little to be desired.. I plan something similar.
I have a center console from a S10 Blazer that has the Bose amp inside of it. May not use the console, but will be using that amp.

I had no idea about the Crystler Infinity speakers..maybe a trip to the salvage yard is in order when the weather breaks!

Last, but not least, I would LOVE to have a working AM/FM/CB unit in the stock location. I can mount a head unit in a center console easy enough. I think I read that the older CB's are higher power than the new ones as the regulations were not in place, but that may be a complete error. Anyway, I like the old stock ones for the coolness factor.

I would definitely like to see some pics of how you all have set up your systems. I am not going for 4 subs and 9 amps and all that junk, I just want a clean, quality sounding system...right after I get the drivetrain right and the bodywork and paint, and a sweet leather upgraded interior...and I win the lottery, and ... and....

OK, back to the salt mines for me..

[suzq044]

I have decided I will be hacking the center of my console- namely the glovebox & Radio area - however I will leave it "Looking stock" with a custom center piece for a GPS & Multimedia monitor; complete with 'stock looking' cover.. I just need to get out to the Jeep and do the measuring. I did a sketch of what I will be making (or have made), but my camera sucks, so I can't share. For the rest, I am still undecided, however I like my JL audio slim-line subs - just for the space-savingness. There's other ideas in the works too for Levi - but first i need to get him running.

As far as what you will be doing; i'm not sure which I would choose.

PS - I'm right with you on the Lotto thing there, JPS.

[1977cherokeechief]

Originally Posted by suzq044

I did a sketch of what I will be making (or have made), but my camera sucks, so I can't share.

are you sure it is not the sketching????







just givin you a hard time...

[twmattox]

I am working on my sound as we speak. I have 4-Pioneer 5" speakers (they are small but free). For bass, I have a Kenwood KSC subwoofer with built in amplifier that I plan on bolting in the rear where the jack goes. Had this set-up in the wife's Grand Cherokee and it sounded very nice (though would have loved larger speakers).

As far as my stereo goes...right now I am stock. However, I have an FM Modulator plugged in that lets me use my iPod. Cost $35 at the local Best Buy. Works lots better than those stupid FM Transmitters...

My only complaint is that on my '87, all the lights in the radio have burnt out. I may upgrade to something better looking...but no real hurry here.

[Crist Clapper]

Other <sharing>: I like the visual of the original. That said and wanting more... I plan on installing a concealed unit with a handheld remote control.