Audio upgrade. Any major downside to keeping stock head unit?

[Jeagle]

I have the 7 inch screen with uconnect 4. Audio system is stock. Was looking at some of the plug and play speaker kits. Do the aftermarket head units offer any advantage over my OEM when it comes to output quality with a Bluetooth input? Does the 8.4 inch oem screen do anything different than the 7 inch? I really don't want to change the head unit. Couldn't care less about a larger touch screen, just want to make sure I'm not wasting money upgrading the speakers if what's coming out of that thing is trash compared to after marker options.

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[bd100]

7" unit w/ stock Alpine amp and sub, upgraded speakers. Sounds good even at high volume. I wish the sub had a level control, though.

 

[kennyglm]

Keep the factory head unit . All the others are junk because you loose some or all the factory settings

 

[jebiruph]

My stock 5" sounds fine with upgraded speakers.

 

[SnazzGlad]

I upgraded the dash speakers to my system that is the same as yours and it made a big difference. Especially with top and or doors off. I went with the Tera Acoustics. It’s not louder but it’s more clear and crisp. If you want loud it’s best to run an amp and sub plus change out all the speakers IMO. Factory head unit should be fine. I’m like you, I do not want an aftermarket HU.

 

[HorsesRear]

I do not know why Jeep even put a radio in my Gladiator. All I can hear are those lousy tire.

 

[blau iii]

I have the 8.4 alpine and kept it. It's only powering the top dash speakers. The soundbar and knee speakers are being run off that small kicker 50x4 amp. It's much better and I used JL c2 speakers all around. Still not quite as loud as I'd like but you can at least hear things when naked on the highway.

 

[Jeagle]

I replaced it with the uconnect 8.4 screen and it definitely improved the audio quality if anyone was wondering. Also nice to now have HD radio. Didn't lose any of my features, just took a couple hours for the backup camera app to show up.

 

[BSW520!]

I just finished a complete system in the wife’s JT and I kept the 7” uconnect. I used ampro module and installed a 4x65 highs amp for the sound bar did 6x9’s, knees pods which i changed to 6.5 and 3.5 in dash. And installed a 800x1 sub amp for a sundown 10” sub. Plenty loud and sounds great. Only thing could of made audibly better would have been adding a DSP into the mix, but as a daily driver it checked all the boxes for the wife who loves listening to music.. loud! Lol

 

[JeepDad74]

I went to Trail7 for my speaker kit and I am happy.

 

[BSW520!]

I went to Trail7 for my speaker kit and I am happy.

Yes good people i talked to their tech about their products and did do kicker KS line just went 6x9 in sound bar.

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