Average Oregonian
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I recently went through the first major audio upgrade on my Gladiator and am extremely happy with the results! I wanted to share my build in case it is helpful for others researching their upgrade.
What I had/have: 2021 Gladiator with 8.4” Uconnect and Alpine factory audio
Previous upgrades: Terra Acoustics Front Stage 3.5” Upgrade, MOPAR/Kicker OEM 3.5” Rear Soundbar Upgrade, stock audio otherwise.
I had previously done the front and rear 3.5” upgrades, which was a huge help with the desperately-lacking mids and vocals on the factory system. However, it was still limited in many ways, including total volume and bass response — the factory Alpine “sub” barely deserves to be called as such. I also wanted to de-equalize any inherent EQ or bass roll-off built into the factory signal and retune for the correctly-flattened input signal. I did not want to replace the factory 8.4” unit nor did I want to cut any wires, drill any metal, trim any plastic or otherwise. Retaining the Uconnect HU was important to me for the seamless integration with SiriusXM, SiriusXM Guardian Services, Apple Carplay, Steering Wheel Controls, HVAC controls, high-def backup camera, etc. Every aftermarket / restyling headunit I have seen for JL/JT makes some type of compromise in functionality or OEM integration (though the Alpine restyle and Stinger HEIGH10 are very impressive units).
In case anyone is curious how the factory Alpine system works. It is listed as a 552w 12 channel amp for ~46w max per channel (likely around 23w RMS per channel). The front stage is a set of 3.5” widerange/tweeters on the dash and 4” mids in the knee panels with active crossover in the amp and separate wiring for each. The rears are the same quad speaker config in the sound bar for 8 active channels total for the front/rear main stage. The remaining 4 channels of the amplifier are active and power the quad voice coils on the factory sub. Both of the 3.5” Alpine factory speakers I measured with a DMM came out to 3.6 ohm impedance after charging, so 4 ohm nominal — the previous information I’ve read about them supposedly being 2 ohm appear to be inaccurate. As I understand it, the non-Alpine base system utilizes parallel speaker wiring between each 3.5” and 4” pair with capacitors / bass blockers for each speaker to provide highs and lows as needed. Upgrading that to a active system with DSP would be more difficult due to the lack of separate speaker wiring for each speaker location.
Enter Musicar NW of Portland, OR and an Audison DSP Amplifier - based upgrade…
I contacted my buddy Sean at Musicar Northwest to discuss my various ideas and goals. He patiently quoted me a variety of options and explained the pros and cons of each decision I needed to make. Upgrading OEM amplified systems is one of their specialties (they do a lot of high-end German cars and Teslas and so forth) and he helped me confirm all of my research and assumptions regarding how to upgrade a Jeep in the least-intrusive manner possible. They tend to deal in higher-end brands such as Morel, Focal, Audison, Hertz, HELIX, BRAX, etc., but he was happy to follow my requests for various components (as long as it was something he felt comfortable recommending/using himself).
Newly installed major parts:
This effectively replaces the active factory amplifier with an active 8 channel amplifier and a mono amplifier for the subwoofer stage. The newest Audison bit DSP software allows for custom-assigning individual outputs based on individual or summed inputs, de-equalizing and flattening the factory headunit output, removing any factory time correction, complete crossover and EQ tuning, per-channel phase correction, etc. It’s a very impressive bit of kit, especially in the right tuning hands. Sean initially recommended HELIX DSP amplifiers (amazing in their own right), but I preferred the small footprint and clean install packaging of the Audison components. The Audison rep for Elettromedia also lives here in Portland and I always like supporting the local guys
Everything is tied together with an incredible install and final tune by their amazing installation and tuning staff. Pierce and TJ did an amazing job on my truck; by far the cleanest and most thoughtful install I’ve ever had on the variety of vehicles I’ve owned and upgraded over the last 25 years. The attached pictures of the work in progress do not do their talents any justice. Thanks to the plug-and-play products and careful install, everything is completely reversible if desired in the future.
The Metra amp racks and JL fuse holder bracket for JL/JT make things that much easier for us Jeepers; it’s nice to have a vehicle that is supported so thoroughly by the aftermarket. These kinds of easy solutions for things like fuse and amp mounting give the installer more time to focus on the finer details. The second fuse holder position on the bracket is still available for a future project, such as a high-power inverter or onboard air…or more stereo
The Fox Acoustics enclosure is nicely constructed, but does not include any provisions for mounting, which would be concerning during any kind of evasive maneuvers, offroad inclines or an accident. One benefit of the Fox box versus other pre-fab options is that it retains the OEM hardtop hardware box whereas others require moving it; there’s also a bit of room on each end for odds and ends under the seat. Pierce was able to utilize existing OEM fastener locations to mount the box on the passenger side through the bottom wall of the enclosure under the woofer, and on the driver’s side with a custom aluminum bracket down to a factory attachment point. This kind of clean and seamless custom bracketry is why I love a highly-skilled boutique shop like Musicar; their standards are far higher than mine and they have the unique tools and resources to quickly produce just about anything. Custom CNC aluminum parts and 3D-printed doodads are commonplace to their installs.
Another nice touch was their utilization of a open high amperage lug within the factory power distribution box to minimize any extra attachments at the top of the battery.
The PAC Audio interface and Audison amps integrate perfectly into the OEM system with absolutely no hiss, turn-on/turn-off pops or otherwise. I’d never know any of it was there if it weren’t for the significantly-elevated audio quality and much-bigger thump emanating from the back seat. The only visible part of the install is the small bass knob mounted to the front of the shifter console. It is as if the factory system is still in place but with a nuclear reactor powering it
The only downside is the predictable bummer of the loss of most of the underseat space; front seats for amps and rear seats for the sub. You could certainly do a similar upgrade with a smaller and/or single amp as well as a smaller sub configuration if you wanted to keep more interior space available.
I’m absolutely stoked with the final product and definitely did not think that a Jeep could sound this good with stock / mild speaker upgrade, even with the Sunrider top flipped back. It’s easy to get a lot of volume in the rear of the cabin with a sound bar full of 6.5’s and lots of wattage, but doing it with a correct front stage and correct processing/tuning makes all the difference in the world for making it sound great. I am looking forward to a second final upgrade including upgraded midrange front speakers in the knee panel and sound bar with a retune for the finishing touches. Thanks to everyone at Musicar for an A+ install, and to a variety of different threads in these forums for helping me research my decisions.
Other fun links:
https://instagram.com/musicar.nw
https://terraacoustics.com/products/jeep-front-soundstage-upgrade-jl-jt (Front dash 3.5” 2-way upgrade)
https://www.jeepworld.com/products/kicker-rear-fold-down-speakers-77kick25ab-mopar (Soundbar 3.5” 2-way upgrade)
What I had/have: 2021 Gladiator with 8.4” Uconnect and Alpine factory audio
Previous upgrades: Terra Acoustics Front Stage 3.5” Upgrade, MOPAR/Kicker OEM 3.5” Rear Soundbar Upgrade, stock audio otherwise.
I had previously done the front and rear 3.5” upgrades, which was a huge help with the desperately-lacking mids and vocals on the factory system. However, it was still limited in many ways, including total volume and bass response — the factory Alpine “sub” barely deserves to be called as such. I also wanted to de-equalize any inherent EQ or bass roll-off built into the factory signal and retune for the correctly-flattened input signal. I did not want to replace the factory 8.4” unit nor did I want to cut any wires, drill any metal, trim any plastic or otherwise. Retaining the Uconnect HU was important to me for the seamless integration with SiriusXM, SiriusXM Guardian Services, Apple Carplay, Steering Wheel Controls, HVAC controls, high-def backup camera, etc. Every aftermarket / restyling headunit I have seen for JL/JT makes some type of compromise in functionality or OEM integration (though the Alpine restyle and Stinger HEIGH10 are very impressive units).
In case anyone is curious how the factory Alpine system works. It is listed as a 552w 12 channel amp for ~46w max per channel (likely around 23w RMS per channel). The front stage is a set of 3.5” widerange/tweeters on the dash and 4” mids in the knee panels with active crossover in the amp and separate wiring for each. The rears are the same quad speaker config in the sound bar for 8 active channels total for the front/rear main stage. The remaining 4 channels of the amplifier are active and power the quad voice coils on the factory sub. Both of the 3.5” Alpine factory speakers I measured with a DMM came out to 3.6 ohm impedance after charging, so 4 ohm nominal — the previous information I’ve read about them supposedly being 2 ohm appear to be inaccurate. As I understand it, the non-Alpine base system utilizes parallel speaker wiring between each 3.5” and 4” pair with capacitors / bass blockers for each speaker to provide highs and lows as needed. Upgrading that to a active system with DSP would be more difficult due to the lack of separate speaker wiring for each speaker location.
Enter Musicar NW of Portland, OR and an Audison DSP Amplifier - based upgrade…
I contacted my buddy Sean at Musicar Northwest to discuss my various ideas and goals. He patiently quoted me a variety of options and explained the pros and cons of each decision I needed to make. Upgrading OEM amplified systems is one of their specialties (they do a lot of high-end German cars and Teslas and so forth) and he helped me confirm all of my research and assumptions regarding how to upgrade a Jeep in the least-intrusive manner possible. They tend to deal in higher-end brands such as Morel, Focal, Audison, Hertz, HELIX, BRAX, etc., but he was happy to follow my requests for various components (as long as it was something he felt comfortable recommending/using himself).
Newly installed major parts:
- Audison AF C8.14 bit 8ch DSP Amplifier (65w x 8 @ 4ohm)
- Audison AP F1D Mono Amplifier (800w @ 2ohm)
- Morel Ultimo TI SC102 10” Subwoofer (2 ohm)
- Fox Acoustics Gladiator Underseat Ported Subwoofer Enclosure (10” sub, vented)
- PAC Audio AP4-CH41 OEM Interface Adapter (Front/Rear/Sub RCA outputs)
- PAC Audio APH-CH03 OEM Amplifier Harness Adapter (PnP into factory speaker wiring harness)
- Metra Jeep JL/JT Underseat Amp Rack x2
- JL Audio JL/JT Fuse Holder Bracket and Fuse Holder
This effectively replaces the active factory amplifier with an active 8 channel amplifier and a mono amplifier for the subwoofer stage. The newest Audison bit DSP software allows for custom-assigning individual outputs based on individual or summed inputs, de-equalizing and flattening the factory headunit output, removing any factory time correction, complete crossover and EQ tuning, per-channel phase correction, etc. It’s a very impressive bit of kit, especially in the right tuning hands. Sean initially recommended HELIX DSP amplifiers (amazing in their own right), but I preferred the small footprint and clean install packaging of the Audison components. The Audison rep for Elettromedia also lives here in Portland and I always like supporting the local guys
Everything is tied together with an incredible install and final tune by their amazing installation and tuning staff. Pierce and TJ did an amazing job on my truck; by far the cleanest and most thoughtful install I’ve ever had on the variety of vehicles I’ve owned and upgraded over the last 25 years. The attached pictures of the work in progress do not do their talents any justice. Thanks to the plug-and-play products and careful install, everything is completely reversible if desired in the future.
The Metra amp racks and JL fuse holder bracket for JL/JT make things that much easier for us Jeepers; it’s nice to have a vehicle that is supported so thoroughly by the aftermarket. These kinds of easy solutions for things like fuse and amp mounting give the installer more time to focus on the finer details. The second fuse holder position on the bracket is still available for a future project, such as a high-power inverter or onboard air…or more stereo
The Fox Acoustics enclosure is nicely constructed, but does not include any provisions for mounting, which would be concerning during any kind of evasive maneuvers, offroad inclines or an accident. One benefit of the Fox box versus other pre-fab options is that it retains the OEM hardtop hardware box whereas others require moving it; there’s also a bit of room on each end for odds and ends under the seat. Pierce was able to utilize existing OEM fastener locations to mount the box on the passenger side through the bottom wall of the enclosure under the woofer, and on the driver’s side with a custom aluminum bracket down to a factory attachment point. This kind of clean and seamless custom bracketry is why I love a highly-skilled boutique shop like Musicar; their standards are far higher than mine and they have the unique tools and resources to quickly produce just about anything. Custom CNC aluminum parts and 3D-printed doodads are commonplace to their installs.
Another nice touch was their utilization of a open high amperage lug within the factory power distribution box to minimize any extra attachments at the top of the battery.
The PAC Audio interface and Audison amps integrate perfectly into the OEM system with absolutely no hiss, turn-on/turn-off pops or otherwise. I’d never know any of it was there if it weren’t for the significantly-elevated audio quality and much-bigger thump emanating from the back seat. The only visible part of the install is the small bass knob mounted to the front of the shifter console. It is as if the factory system is still in place but with a nuclear reactor powering it
The only downside is the predictable bummer of the loss of most of the underseat space; front seats for amps and rear seats for the sub. You could certainly do a similar upgrade with a smaller and/or single amp as well as a smaller sub configuration if you wanted to keep more interior space available.
I’m absolutely stoked with the final product and definitely did not think that a Jeep could sound this good with stock / mild speaker upgrade, even with the Sunrider top flipped back. It’s easy to get a lot of volume in the rear of the cabin with a sound bar full of 6.5’s and lots of wattage, but doing it with a correct front stage and correct processing/tuning makes all the difference in the world for making it sound great. I am looking forward to a second final upgrade including upgraded midrange front speakers in the knee panel and sound bar with a retune for the finishing touches. Thanks to everyone at Musicar for an A+ install, and to a variety of different threads in these forums for helping me research my decisions.
Other fun links:
https://instagram.com/musicar.nw
https://terraacoustics.com/products/jeep-front-soundstage-upgrade-jl-jt (Front dash 3.5” 2-way upgrade)
https://www.jeepworld.com/products/kicker-rear-fold-down-speakers-77kick25ab-mopar (Soundbar 3.5” 2-way upgrade)
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They also took the time to hard-wire the speaker adapters to the new speakers to eliminate the unnecessary spade connectors...they plug in just like a factory speaker would 
