Jeep cherokee

Bran

I recently purchased some polk speakers and I think I made the right decision! I was reading some additional reviews and the first one was actually another 98 cherokee sport. I bought the component 6.5's (6500) and the 5.25's for the roof area. I have a 200x2 amp that I planned on using to run the front door speakers, I was doing this because the current stock (infinity sound system) sounded decent in the front but absent in the back. I assumed that this was because the doors offer better accustics then the rear roof area. The rear speakers I was gonna power off the deck a 4x52? I think pioneer mp3/cd player. I havent installed anything yet so I am looking for any suggestions to maximize the final system sound. What kinda wire should I use? should I use any sound barrier stuff? Any suggestions will be appreciated,

Thanks

Brandon

Greg Peters

Which Polks did you get?

I have a 98 Cherokee, and the 6.5s fit in the doors as well as in the soundbar in the headliner.

Definitely use something like Dynamat on the doors. At the very least put some around the speaker locations in the doors. The doors do offer better sound, as they have more room in their enclosure, and make for a better infinite baffle where the speaker mounts.

The factory rear speaker locations are not really well sealed, and the space for the speaker is rather small, making for poor mid-bass response. Stuff some polyfill into the soundbar behind those speakers and keep the lowest frequencies out of them to minimize distortion. As for head unit power for your rear speakers, the wattage suggested is really optimistic from a head unit. Feel free to amplify them if cost permits as they'll be less likely to distort- just High Pass Filter them around 120-160 HZ so they don't try to reproduce any kind of bass. The rear speaker locations are only good for rear fill, and you'll want to cut their output down with your fader anyway.

Pioneer, Eclipse, Alpine, Kenwood all make some very decent head units, and most of these make expanding your system a lot easier than the factory Infinity sound system could. If you plan on running a subwoofer, get a head unit with three sets of pre-outs and a built-in crossover, as it will make life a lot easier for planning your system.

Bran

Hey greg,

Thanks....I know that the power is lacking from a head unit, but on a budget I was trying to use what I have which is only a 2 channel amp. I figured it would do better with the 6.5 components in the front than try to throw power into that hole in the back (bad accustics and only 5.25's). That being said, how exactly do I use the dynamat? I have seen people line the outer door panel, put it behind the speaker, on the surface it mounts to? Also what is poly fill? I went right past that the first time that I read your reply, I already lined the top roof area with a dynamat like product (dont know it thats what I was supposed to do). The little amp that I have, I wanted to mount under the passanger seat...is this ok? Do I need to cut the carpet, or do you just screw it down to the floor? Is this an ok place to put an amp?

Bran

badboyspack

screw it to the floor, that will be fine

Greg Peters

Polyfill is basically white pillow stuffing (from the craft store). It will tame the speakers in the soundbar in the back, and trick them into thinking they're in a bigger enclosure than they are to even out the mid-bass response.

Dynamat Extreme seems to be available everywhere, and as long as it's clean where you install it, just peel off the backing and burnish it down. They sell a roller tool for that, but you can use what you have on hand- I used the bottom of a bottle to burnish mine down into the nooks on the inner door panel.

Start by putting it around the speaker mounting surface in the door if you buy just a speaker mounting kit. If you buy a Dynamat door kit, that should do most of the inner door panel (better), and if you have some left over, you could also do the back of the outer door skin behind speaker location as well (best).

Your Jeep should have some cut-outs in the carpet under the seat already. That's an OK place to mount an amp, provided it fits, doesn't interfere with the seat track, and that it has some room for air to circulate around your amp.

I would hesitate **** down right through the floorpan. If you remove the seat, you can seperate the layers of the thick carpet, and insert a thin piece of plywood (1/4" nor so) the size of your amp's footprint between the carpet and its backing. Screw your amp down to the plywood rather than through the floor pan. This requires you to have some height clearance to accomodate the extra 1/4", but will keep your amp from moving around just fine. Run your amp wiring under the carpet to that location, then cut some slits just big enough to feed the wire through to the terminals on your amp for a finished look.

There is room under the back seat of the typical Cherokee for an amp or two (factory Infinity amps are often on the passenger's side under the jack) and that may be a better spot if your amp fits there.