Although I never had any real complaints about the factory Infinity stereo and 4-Speaker setup that came with my 2000 TJ... well, other than the fact the head unit looked ugly, had a stupid joystick for a balance control, lacked an auxillary input of any kind and had pathetic undersized paper cone speakers that sounded horrible... okay, truth be told, I didn't like it all but I will say that once I got a set of new speakers, the sound quality was okay and I was more than happy to live with it. Or, at least until I realized that there was no way for me to plug in my MP3 player up to it :rolleyes:

Anyway, the point of my post is to say how happy I am to hear that the new JK will be available with a sound system featuring 6-Speaker setup and a 368-watt AlpineŽ stereo with MP3 capability, front auxillary input and is SIRIUS Satellite Radio ready.





Now, I will be the first to admit that I will most likely end up swapping out the factory speaker (most likely cheap paper cones again) but with all the features the new Alpine stereo has, I have a good feeling it will be sticking around. Way to go Jeep!

 

Thats probably 380 watts MUSIC power. 380 watts MUSIC power into 2 ohms, most likely. That's 190 watts MUSIC power into 4 ohms. 95 watts MUSIC power into 8 ohms. So, assuming MUSIC power = PEAK power (its not really by the way, but valid for this exercise) 95 watts x .707 = 67 watts RMS power.

Now thats 67 watts RMS divided between two subsystems (subwoofer and the MID/HIGH speakers). So lets assume that the subwoofer gets the most power. (lets say 40 watts), that leaves 27 watts stereo/2 for each channel which means each channel gets 13.5 watts.

My '70s vintage Audiovox eight track tape player does that well. (I still have it by the way. It still worked the last time I used it out of curiosity)

The car stereo music industry has been lying to the end user through obfuscation for years. The FTC even tried to regulate and legislate understandable standards for the consumer, but lax enforcement and indifference have resulted in this WATT INFLATION market we have today.

I am looking for an HONEST manufacturer who will publish (even in the fine print) true RMS ratings for their amplifiers............

 

:eek: wow, thanks for the schooling

so, with all the cynicism you have for the car stereo industry, what would you recommend? is there a make/model out there (within relative affordablility) that you'd get instead or are they all just a bunch of hype and that the factory unit would do just fine? :rolleyes:

 

Well, sorry for the cynicism, I really do think the factory stereos these days sound marvelous. I just rail against the marketing machine that says we're all stupid and put out numbers that are at best misleading and at worse downright lies. Besides, my hearing is so bad these days (too many years in noisy computer rooms (let alone the military) that I just leave the factory stereo to do its thing. When the top is down, or the windows are down, I turn the thing off because I can't understand or even hear it most times anyway:sad: And because there are other priorities for me (winch, lift, tires, lights, recovery, armor, etc. etc. etc.) the stereo is way down my list of upgrades. I think it'll fall right after the car PC and navigation upgrades.

So I really can't recommend any one manufacturer, the only thing I can say is go listen to as many different setups that you can. Then pick the one that sounds best for you. How's that for generic advice?

 

LOL!! :o No need to apologize for being cynical - I'm right there with you, just too uneducated in these matter to know any better I guess what I was trying to say in my post was that I was glad to know that I wouldn't have to think about getting another stereo as this one seems like it would do the trick... or at least well enough

 

On my Jeeps in the past, i would immediately gut the crappy stock head unit and throw an alpine, some mb quart speakers, a small sub, and a decent amp. Made all the difference in the world. I'd still do 65mph and hear my music just fine.

On the JK's...I'd suggest minor upgrades such as non paper speakers, if it doesn't already come with some.

The factory head unit on these JK's looks really nice!

 

Where does the sub sit now? It's gone from the center console, right?

 

It sits in the rear next to the tailgate now. You can see it here:
http://www.project-jk.com/wp-gallery...g2_itemId=1223

 

Thanks for that shot, I didn't notice it the first time.

 

No problem. Actually, if you click next on the gallery, there are about 2-3 more shots of it