Factory Alpine Premium sound system

[red/green hawk]

I had a 2020 Gladiator with the stock system and now a 2021 with the Alpine system. The sub and amp are the obvious upgrades, but the 4 inch "woofers" are upgraded from a paper cone to a decent synthetic with a rubber surround while the 3.5 inch "tweeters" look totally different. The sound is improved, but the "woofers" still sound muddy. I replaced all of those speakers with Rockford Fosgate component speakers and gained clarity, but lost bass and some volume. I think they are still underpowered.

Does anyone know the specs on the Alpine speakers and amp? I see someone mentioned earlier that the Alpine system is 2 ohm. If that's true, that would explain a lot of the bass and volume loss. Anyone know how many watts are going to each speaker? The amp is listed as a 9 channel amp with 500+ peak watts. The tech people at Crutchfield think about half of that power is going to the sub. If the remaining power was divided equally to all remaining 8 speakers it should be about 20 watts RMS/speaker. If it really is a 2 ohm system then my speakers are probably getting less than 10 watts RMS each and they can handle 40 watts RMS.

It is a 2 ohm system per Insane Audio tech support. They designed their head unit to be compatible with both basic and premium options. Their head unit has a built in 4 channel 45 RMS per channel output rated for 2 ohms.

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[jjdustr340]

I had a 2020 Gladiator with the stock system and now a 2021 with the Alpine system. The sub and amp are the obvious upgrades, but the 4 inch "woofers" are upgraded from a paper cone to a decent synthetic with a rubber surround while the 3.5 inch "tweeters" look totally different. The sound is improved, but the "woofers" still sound muddy. I replaced all of those speakers with Rockford Fosgate component speakers and gained clarity, but lost bass and some volume. I think they are still underpowered.

Does anyone know the specs on the Alpine speakers and amp? I see someone mentioned earlier that the Alpine system is 2 ohm. If that's true, that would explain a lot of the bass and volume loss. Anyone know how many watts are going to each speaker? The amp is listed as a 9 channel amp with 500+ peak watts. The tech people at Crutchfield think about half of that power is going to the sub. If the remaining power was divided equally to all remaining 8 speakers it should be about 20 watts RMS/speaker. If it really is a 2 ohm system then my speakers are probably getting less than 10 watts RMS each and they can handle 40 watts RMS.

From JL forum but should be the same...

 

[YayMud!]

It is a 2 ohm system per Insane Audio tech support. They designed their head unit to be compatible with both basic and premium options. Their head unit has a built in 4 channel 45 RMS per channel output rated for 2 ohms.

Thanks for confirming the 2 ohms. That answers a lot of my questions about the sound quality. So if you got Insane Audio's head unit would you need to keep the factory speakers or are there any 2 ohm options? I don't see any on Crutchfield's site that fit Gladiators.

From JL forum but should be the same...

Thanks for the info. If that is right then RMS should be about 23 watts/speaker. We guessed about 22 watts/speaker so we were pretty close. That is the first I have heard that it is a 12 channel amp with 4 channels dedicated to the sub. It sure does not seem to hit as hard without the factory speakers. I guess they were doing more work than I give them credit.

 

[Erievon]

Couple all that with the jeep not being an ideal sound stage.

 

[BrentMG]

I have the premium speakers I pulled sitting in my garage. I'll take a picture of them in the morning, to include the number. FWIW, I have the seven inch screen with the sub.

 

[red/green hawk]

Thanks for confirming the 2 ohms. That answers a lot of my questions about the sound quality. So if you got Insane Audio's head unit would you need to keep the factory speakers or are there any 2 ohm options? I don't see any on Crutchfield's site that fit Gladiators.

You can use 4 ohm speakers but you will get only 1/2 the power. And if you have the basic system the sets of speakers run parellel so basically you are only getting about 12 watts per speaker. JBL makes a 3 ohm speaker, but still....this is why I got an 8 channel amp and consequently running all new speaker wire to each speaker. Aftermarket speakers while maybe better quality will not really sound better than factory speakers on the factory set up because of the higher resistance.

As an aside this is one thing that really grinds my gears. Why would Jeep design a system on a vehicle that is heavily modified with a system that is incompatible with aftermarket parts? Basically everything out there is rated for 4 ohms: head units, amps, speakers, etc. Question answers itself. They want you to spend extra on the mediocre Alpine upgrade.

 

[BrentMG]

 

[md_adirondacks]

those 3.5" speakers look identical to mine, and I have the 8.4" screen.

 

[BrentMG]

those 3.5" speakers look identical to mine, and I have the 8.4" screen.

I have the premium, just smaller screen.

 

[md_adirondacks]

I have the premium, just smaller screen.

my bad, didn't realize that combination was possible

 

[YayMud!]

You can use 4 ohm speakers but you will get only 1/2 the power. And if you have the basic system the sets of speakers run parellel so basically you are only getting about 12 watts per speaker.

When you say the speakers run parallel do you mean that the basic system has only one channel dedicated to each speaker location and then splits the power between the two speakers?

I am 99% sure the Alpine system has a dedicated channel for each and every speaker, but I am not sure if any more or less power is going to the different speakers in each location (3.5" and 4.5") or if the same power is sent to each speaker. Logically, I would think at least slightly more power would be sent to the larger speaker. Anyone know?

 

[red/green hawk]

When you say the speakers run parallel do you mean that the basic system has only one channel dedicated to each speaker location and then splits the power between the two speakers?

I am 99% sure the Alpine system has a dedicated channel for each and every speaker, but I am not sure if any more or less power is going to the different speakers in each location (3.5" and 4.5") or if the same power is sent to each speaker. Logically, I would think at least slightly more power would be sent to the larger speaker. Anyone know?

I know these are JL wiring diagrams but they will be the same.

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/JL-Wiring-Diagrams/AUDIO-SYSTEM---BASE.pdf

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/JL-Wiring-Diagrams/AUDIO-SYSTEM---PREMIUM.pdf

Yes the base system has 2 speakers per channel. You're right. The premium has 1 speaker per channel. Not sure what the output is but it will be x watts RMS per channel no matter what the speaker size is.

 

[YayMud!]

I know these are JL wiring diagrams but they will be the same.

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/JL-Wiring-Diagrams/AUDIO-SYSTEM---BASE.pdf

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/JL-Wiring-Diagrams/AUDIO-SYSTEM---PREMIUM.pdf

Yes the base system has 2 speakers per channel. You're right. The premium has 1 speaker per channel. Not sure what the output is but it will be x watts RMS per channel no matter what the speaker size is.

Too bad the wiring diagrams do not show power outputs, but they do demonstrate the parallel wiring you were talking about of the stock system vs. one channel per speaker and 4 channels dedicated to the subwoofer.

I am having a difficult time finding the power outputs on each channel and the power capability of the Alpine speakers too. Do you think that each channel for every woofer and tweeter is getting the same power (except for the sub)?

Logically, I would think the woofers would get more power, but I doubt that Jeep and Alpine spent the time changing the power outputs between the different speakers if they did not even include crossovers in the system.

 

[red/green hawk]

Too bad the wiring diagrams do not show power outputs, but they do demonstrate the parallel wiring you were talking about of the stock system vs. one channel per speaker and 4 channels dedicated to the subwoofer.

I am having a difficult time finding the power outputs on each channel and the power capability of the Alpine speakers too. Do you think that each channel for every woofer and tweeter is getting the same power (except for the sub)?

Logically, I would think the woofers would get more power, but I doubt that Jeep and Alpine spent the time changing the power outputs between the different speakers if they did not even include crossovers in the system.

I don't know the output. But I think the sub has 4 channels feeding it and 8 for the remaining speakers. Every channel should have the same output. The amp has to be at least 40 watts RMS per channel, probably 50 though.

 

[YayMud!]

I don't know the output. But I think the sub has 4 channels feeding it and 8 for the remaining speakers. Every channel should have the same output. The amp has to be at least 40 watts RMS per channel, probably 50 though.

It was listed above from the JL forums that the peak output was 46W per channel or 23W RMS. However, this is at 2 ohms so with my 4 ohm speakers I am probably only providing them about 10+ watts or so RMS and they can handle 40W RMS. It sounds like a 4 ohm 8 channel amp with 40W RMS should do the trick.

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