Personally, I just can't stand the look of aftermarket stereo unit's. They only ever look good in Honda's.

I am a fan of getting the best factory unit to begin with, then You can replace the speakers if you want a cleaner sound, keeping the head unit that matches the jeep.

In my opinion you should consider adding hard top insulation if you want better acoustics in your jeep. I think the name of a company is hotheads or something like that. The jeep interior is essentially metal and plastic, making it a poor 'box' to be in with extremely loud music.

My 2 cents.

 

The price of a good Audio system is all relative to each person's personal reference and preference. Just look at this thread, some people think the OEM Infinity system sounds just fine. Others who have higher standards will say "Yuck" to that same system. If you have a top of the line audio system at home that you paid a lot of money for (ie your reference), then maybe the OEM Infinity system just does not cut it for your preference, but if you listen to music on a 1 small speaker Alarm clock at home, then the OEM Infinity system may sound awesome.

There are some single 2 channel home amplifier's where the price starts at $20K.....and there are people who buy them.

Go find a price on this baby. 2 channels, 400watts/ch
http://www.marklevinson.com/ProductDetails.aspx?prdid=2


FYI $15,000

It's like putting a 4" lift on a JK. You can get away with putting a $200 4" lift consisting of new springs and hockey pucks and it may get you where you want to go, or you could spend well over $15,000 and get one that's completely done right. They're both 4" lifts right?

 

I would go with the lift and shoes. But I think that will be the consensus on a forum full of guys that build their rigs to go wheeling anyway. As far as what the dealer said...they can probably twist anything into raining on your warranty parade. Crappy, yeah, but what are you going to do? You can go the mangnuson-moss act route...I don't know about you, but I can't afford that lawyer fee. Try a different dealership I guess until you get one that gives you the answer you want to hear and get it in writing.

 

New shoes! Stock stereo is fine..

 

Yup, nearly everyone here is likely to tell you to go big and forget the radio. On an audio forum there all going to tell you forget the lift/tires and double your budget on the radio.

Personally I think you could go pretty far with $2600 worth of wheeling upgrades but you got to go with what your going to get the most use out of. Just know that if you do any serious wheeling your likely going to damage things that you haven't protected.

The dealer is full of it with it voiding your warranty. If done right the only part of your warranty you'd void would be what you replaced. This goes the same for lifts or other modifications.

 

Oh i agree with you completely---however, i would be willing to bet that he's not getting $2600 worth of sound system components for that amount of money--probably not even close. The prices that many audio installation "specialists" charge to do even the simplest installs is ridiculous. Was just making the point that for a little of his own time, he could probably save around $1000 and put that towards doing BOTH of his 2 options.

-Adam

 

I drive my Jeep daily so the first mod I did was the stereo upgrade, I knew I'd use it alot. I just recently got in my new bumpers and sliders. My skid plate upgrades are on a short wait.

I called my dealer when I swapped my factory head unit out and asked about the warranty and he said it was not a problem, but did say it would be best not to cut the factory stereo harness. I had no intention of doing anything like that as all new speakers and head unit plugged into the factory wiring and it all worked fine. The drivers side front speaker is a booger to take out and swap but I've certainly done more complex mods in the past.

I bought a Pioneer W/ Blue Tooth and GPS that is quite Ipod friendly and I bought new speakers too and swapped it all out without cutting a single factory wire. I got a WAAAAAAAAY better system than anything Chrysler offers as stock and spent a lot less. It didn't harm my computer, nothing went crazy. But my Jeep now rocks along with my 160GB ipod and more than 11000 songs tucked away behind the dash, and I love the blue tooth phone connectivity it offered. Oh and the GPS works great although that was not a big deal to me.

Good luck with your choice.

 

Definitely, I didn't realize he was having it installed by someone else. I like doing my own installs, because then I know it's done right and if anything ever goes wrong, I know where to start looking and who to blame. I understand though, that not everyone has the know how to do it themselves. Kind of like one day I would like to get bigger tires and a lift with a new suspension, winch and skid plates but I wouldn't even know where to start or what I needed to get to ensure it was done right. That's why I hang out with all you fine folks in this forum....I'm learning about all this lift/suspension stuff and figured I can do my part and help out with the electronics/stereo stuff that I am familiar with.

I did my stereo 1st since that's what I know how to do, and figured I could hold off on the lift/suspension until I learned what I was talking about, plus get some mileage and use out of my lifetime power train warranty instead of jumping right in and voiding it.

Cheers