Kicker speaker upgrade in the roll bar

[coachump4]

Has anyone replaced their soundbar speakers with these? If so what’s your thoughts. I have the factory premium Alpine.

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[unsocbl]

I have. Makes a much richer sound stage and a modest volume increase. Not sure what you're looking for...I also replaced the dash tweeters with their KS. Good all around upgrade if a bit pricey

 

[MattHamilton]

My goal is to have the sound just a little clearer/louder. I listen mostly to 70s 80s rock, but anything can be heard occasionally coming from my radio, and of course the odd talk radio bit as well.

I'm toying with this upgrade package:
KICKER 47KEY200.4 SMART 4CH AMLIFIER WITH AUTO DSP 50X4 RMS
KICKER KSS365 3-WAY COMPONENT SPEAKER SYSTEM
KICKER KSS690 2-WAY 6X9 SPEAKERS
KICKER 51PTRTP12 SELF POWERED DOWN FIRING 12" SUBWOOFER WITH BUILT IN 500W AMP
METRA JP1010 6.5" FRONT JEEP SPEAKER ENCLOSURES
METRA JP1016 6X9 REAR JEEP SPEAKER CONVERSION KIT FOR SOUNDBAR

Do you think I'll get the results I want? I do not have the Alpine package (7" head unit).

 

[Dilly’S Willy]

Do you plan on removing the rear underseat plastic/box, tools/jack, and bolt tray? You may need to remove the seats too as the center bracket at the split is less than the length of that enclosure. I've been having a hard time finding a good downfiring 12 that fits myself.

You may want to consider building or having a custom enclosure for the truck if you want to maintain your rear seats and not have it poke out or take up the whole underseat area. I plan on building my own enclosure to use the passenger rear underseat for a Kicker L7T 10" (since the square cone is actually closer to a round 12) and the t/s specs look promising.

The real question is:
- Do you want louder with doors/top on, or off?

If you never take the doors/top off, you can get away with less for sub-bass. I take the doors/top off frequently (temps permitting) and have MTs so I need it to be capable of being MUCH louder, ALL of it.

 

[Roadmanscooter]

Dilly's Willy, I have the Alpine system and was wondering if the Kickers would be an improvement? Mostly for top/doors off and MT tires. And like the saying goes, "if it's too loud, your too old"!

 

[MattHamilton]

Do you plan on removing the rear underseat plastic/box, tools/jack, and bolt tray? You may need to remove the seats too as the center bracket at the split is less than the length of that enclosure. I've been having a hard time finding a good downfiring 12 that fits myself.

You may want to consider building or having a custom enclosure for the truck if you want to maintain your rear seats and not have it poke out or take up the whole underseat area. I plan on building my own enclosure to use the passenger rear underseat for a Kicker L7T 10" (since the square cone is actually closer to a round 12) and the t/s specs look promising.

The real question is:
- Do you want louder with doors/top on, or off?

If you never take the doors/top off, you can get away with less for sub-bass. I take the doors/top off frequently (temps permitting) and have MTs so I need it to be capable of being MUCH louder, ALL of it.

In the summer I run the softtop open when I can. I've got an hour and change drive back and forth to work (each way). The doors are on. In the winter I switch back to the hard top. I don't have any additional sound killing accessories. This was the parts list provided to me by the company I'm going to use to install the system (Audiopros in Brantford, ON); I wired up the Voswitch I have, but I think the amp/speaker/headunit is a little bit beyond me, especially if I want it to look good. They say they've used this setup before. So far we've only communicated via email but I'll reach out about specifics, like locations of components, next week.

 

[Idlethunder]

Has anyone replaced their soundbar speakers with these? If so what’s your thoughts. I have the factory premium Alpine.

I have them in my 22 Rubicon along with better dash speakers but I haven't changed the kick panel speakers. With the top and doors on the improvement is very noticable but it didn't make much difference for me when they are off. Having said that, I'm 58 with bad hearing so it might be better for you. I believe the only thing that will help for me is more power and I haven't bothered with a better amp.

 

[wadewolf]

I have already replaced all my sound bar speakers but not Infinity's not Kickers. What I would love to find is someone who makes an upgrade to the factory Alpine sub that will tighten up the bass some.

 

[BSW520!]

I have did complete system upgrades on 3 gladiators and 100% if change out all the speakers (knee,dash,soundbar) and amplify all the volume levels and sound quality is a great improvement over even the alpine.
On my sound bar and the new lower dash knee pods I did add sound deadening material and poly fill as well as tesa tape to all harnesses inside the sound bar to prevent noise.
Pulled most everything out of the wife’s gladiator and selling as I got her a new wrangler with alpine but if the stuff doesn’t sell I will retrofit what I can into it because it doesn’t even compare to what her gladiator did.

 

[WerkHaus912]

I did the complete KS package from Trail Seven. Initially I opted for the 6.5 speakers in the knee panels but honestly the sound was worse than the factory Alpine speakers that came in the truck. Come to find out, the factory sub doesn't have enough power to support the 6.5" speakers and the upgraded overhead speakers and dash speakers. I replaced the 6.5" speakers with the KS 4" speakers and the sound dramatically improved but even then, I wasn't overly impressed. It's better than the factory alpine setup but not by much. Not sure which route to go because most options that sound better require a different amp but you lose the factory subwoofer. Since I use my underseat tray for storage, my options are more limited until someone can come up with a new subwoofer that fits into the same space as the factory. MB Quart was on my list but I'm not ready to give up my storage tray yet.

 

[maninblak]

For clarity, I think you'll see some improvement. Volume is not likely going to increase, if it does it won't be much. You'll need an amplifier to get the volume up. I'm an old school audio nerd who swore i was not going to mess with the stereo in my gladiator. That lasted about a year, now the only factory audio item from my alpine factory system left is the dash screen. . YMMV of course.

 

[4-Low]

I'm waiting on the Audio Uprising kit for my Jeep right now. It's been sitting at a UPS hub 20 miles away for the last 5 days but they won't deliver it to me because of "weather". Sigh....

 

[DirkG]

I have a 2024 with the basic crap stereo (non Alpine). I'm looking to at least upgrade the dash, door, and soundbar speakers. Do you guys know if the subwoofer (which I don't have) wiring is already factory wired? Years ago I had a shop absolutely destroy my interior panels so I'm very gunshy about having to wire. Looking for plug and play.

 

[Dilly’S Willy]

I did the complete KS package from Trail Seven. Initially I opted for the 6.5 speakers in the knee panels but honestly the sound was worse than the factory Alpine speakers that came in the truck. Come to find out, the factory sub doesn't have enough power to support the 6.5" speakers and the upgraded overhead speakers and dash speakers. I replaced the 6.5" speakers with the KS 4" speakers and the sound dramatically improved but even then, I wasn't overly impressed. It's better than the factory alpine setup but not by much. Not sure which route to go because most options that sound better require a different amp but you lose the factory subwoofer. Since I use my underseat tray for storage, my options are more limited until someone can come up with a new subwoofer that fits into the same space as the factory. MB Quart was on my list but I'm not ready to give up my storage tray yet.

You can't expect the crappy OEM amp to magically output MORE power, definitely not 30w per channel more power. Get rid of the crappy oem stuff and do it right. Expecting aftermarket speakers that require 10x the rms wattage to perform AT ALL on 3 watts is absurd. Remove the OEM sub, and mount an amp on the back wall. Those 6.5" knee and soundbar speakers will outperform the stock sub when amped and tuned properly.

You wouldn't buy a civic, then expect it to tow a boat and still get 35mpg.

 

[NC_Overland]

A more efficient aftermarket speaker can play a little louder. I’m not sure if the sensitivity difference between the two, but it’s definitely possible.

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