JKU Sound System Upgrades including SUBWOOFER
Thread Starter
JK Newbie
Joined: Jan 2018
Posts: 4
Likes: 0
From: The Bridge, VA
JKU Sound System Upgrades including SUBWOOFER
My 2016 Wrangler JKU Freedom Edition Oscar Mike sound system sounded HORRIBLE! There has to be a better way? Right? I read forums after forums and finally decided that sounding like a tin can was just unbearable. I am handy enough and have played for years with car audio. How hard could it be? There was a lot of info out there about what people are doing. Here is my story. Hope it helps someone out.FIRST OFF, if you are looking for a SUB BOX, hit Matt11 up. His box is awesome! I can’t say enough about something that was hand designed, handmade and bought on faith. This is a small business that he and his son work together. What is more AMERICAN than that? They were excellent to work with and the box is top notch. It sounds AWESOME and is barely visible under my passenger seat. My only regret is that I didn’t do one under each seat. The bass response is great. My wife is enjoying it too.This is for anyone that has questions on what to do and is it worth the money. I was in that frame of mind. I just wanted something better. When I bought the Jeep, it had the Pioneer AVC-NEX 8100 in it. Great, a nice head unit. That’s where it ended. There was no premium sound system. It sounded like a tin can. No bass and the sound was just plain terrible. I was used to my Dodge Ram 2500 CTD with the Infinity 9 speaker sound system with integrated sub. It sounded and still does sound great. This is what I was shooting for.I started with upgrading my speakers in the sound bar. I wanted the Polk Audio but settled for what I could get a WorstBuy. They do still sound good just not as good, spec wise, as the Polk. This was ok. I did add polyfill. It sounded better but still no bass. So I went and installed the Select Increments JKU-PODS behind the rear seats on the sound bar and added Polk Audio DB6502 speakers. Nice addition. Better sound and starting to hear some bass at high volumes. Now, I upgraded the front speakers with the Polk Audio DB6502 speakers. Man, that was a huge difference. This is where the mids and the highs were getting good. Some of the highs would make me cringe when they hit. Bass was better but still lacking.I needed an AMP before I purchased the Sub and box. I fought with this selection too. 5 channel, 4 channel and mono or just a mono. I get 50 watts per channel from the Head Unit. That still really kicks and sounds good. So, I wanted to save some of that money for the SUB and Box. I went with the Rockford Fosgate Power 750 Mono Amp. T750X1BD. It’s really small and packs a punch. I didn’t have anywhere to mount a larger amp. I saw in another post of someone that made a plate to mount under the steering wheel where the stock amp would go. I made a template out of Plexiglas then out of sheet metal painted with plastidip to give color and a little deadening. Bolted it to the square holes and it hold this amp perfectly. I am running 500 watts to a 4 ohm sub, 2 ohm DVC wired in Series to provide 4 ohm load.I read, often, that any sub was better than no sub. This is where this problem started. What to do? How much to spend? Upfiring, downfiring, rear mount or front mount. The cheaper options were to use a powered 8” under seat sub or the Select Increments under seat sub pod, also 8”. I just couldn’t see how you would get the bass that I am looking for out of an 8” sub. Then came the boxes for the REAR of the jeep. They are cheaper and can be mounted in several locations. They come in 10” or 12”, single or double. Crazy! The issue I had with that was the space behind the seat that you would give up and they weren’t protected from the weather unless you had the top on. Also, the chance of someone stealing it when you go topless. This lead back to the underseat. They were more expensive but no one was going to steal it and it offered protection from the elements. Matt had said that they have tried several subs but recommended the SunDown SD-3. I hadn’t heard of this brand so there was some research to do. I was looking at all of the shallow mount subs. So, again after reading several reviews, some with this sub and box together, I went with Matt’s recommendation. I am glad that I did. This setup is awesome and this was one heavy sub.
During my SUB Box search, I found 2 under seat that fit what I was looking for. Both were around $300. This was getting expensive and my wife was going to kill me. I really looked at the cheaper options but I really liked what the under seat had to offer. Wicked CAS ($369) was one that I reached out to. I never got a response. That was a deal killer. I had read several posts about Matt11’s boxes. A lot were older posts and I wasn’t sure that he was still making them. There wasn’t a bad review from anyone that bought one. I reached out with a PM and within an hour I had my first of several responses. I was sold. So I took a leap of faith and ordered a Passenger side box from him. I was nervous about the transaction for personal reasons. I like to know who I am buying from and be able to look them up. Again, Matt11, had no bad reviews so I took a chance. He was very responsive to my PM’s. Eventually email and then a surprise phone call before shipping. I had a chance to ask him a little about his operation and how that is going. I am so glad that I went this way. It was worth the little extra money that I spent to get the box under the seat. He included directions and is available after the sale for questions. Believe me, he heard from me often. I would recommend buying from him. Send a PM to Matt11 and just let the magic happen.In Conclusion, I hope this helps someone out when going through what I did. I would do it all over again and buy the same stuff. I would add a second sub and box if this were MY jeep but sadly this one is for my wife. I put my heart into this sound system and only get to enjoy it on the weekends. It sounds great with the Hardtop on. I still have bass with the freedom panels out and all of the windows open. Sorry, no top off review yet. I would put it up against ANY production premium sound system. The highs are crystal clear, the mids are clean an depending on the genre of music, the bass really kicks. My, non-acoustical, wife loves the new sound and like the feeling of bass in her seat. I was worried about the upfiring of the sub under the seat. Don’t worry, it doesn’t make you bounce. It doesn’t feel like a jackhammer. You wouldn’t know it was there as you feel it in all of the seats. I have started using SDS CLD tiles on the floor and doors to help deaden this tin can. It has helped with the road noise.If you want more info PM me. I have some pics along the way.
My System now:
Head Unit: Pioneer AVC-NEX-8100.
Front Speakers: Polk Audio DB6502, component 6.5"
Sound Bar: Alpine S-S65C, component 6.5”
Rear Speaker Pods: Select Increments JKU-PODS with Polk Audio DB6502, component 6.5”Amplifier: Rockford Fosgate Power 750 Mono Amp. T750X1BD.Subwoofer: Sundown Subwoofer SD-3, 10”, 4ohm DVC.MRK2 Subs (Matt11 on JK-Forums) Under Passenger Seat Sub Box.Sound Deadener Showdown – CLD Tiles on the Floor and doors. (project underway)BoomMat Hardtop Sound Deadening Headliner
During my SUB Box search, I found 2 under seat that fit what I was looking for. Both were around $300. This was getting expensive and my wife was going to kill me. I really looked at the cheaper options but I really liked what the under seat had to offer. Wicked CAS ($369) was one that I reached out to. I never got a response. That was a deal killer. I had read several posts about Matt11’s boxes. A lot were older posts and I wasn’t sure that he was still making them. There wasn’t a bad review from anyone that bought one. I reached out with a PM and within an hour I had my first of several responses. I was sold. So I took a leap of faith and ordered a Passenger side box from him. I was nervous about the transaction for personal reasons. I like to know who I am buying from and be able to look them up. Again, Matt11, had no bad reviews so I took a chance. He was very responsive to my PM’s. Eventually email and then a surprise phone call before shipping. I had a chance to ask him a little about his operation and how that is going. I am so glad that I went this way. It was worth the little extra money that I spent to get the box under the seat. He included directions and is available after the sale for questions. Believe me, he heard from me often. I would recommend buying from him. Send a PM to Matt11 and just let the magic happen.In Conclusion, I hope this helps someone out when going through what I did. I would do it all over again and buy the same stuff. I would add a second sub and box if this were MY jeep but sadly this one is for my wife. I put my heart into this sound system and only get to enjoy it on the weekends. It sounds great with the Hardtop on. I still have bass with the freedom panels out and all of the windows open. Sorry, no top off review yet. I would put it up against ANY production premium sound system. The highs are crystal clear, the mids are clean an depending on the genre of music, the bass really kicks. My, non-acoustical, wife loves the new sound and like the feeling of bass in her seat. I was worried about the upfiring of the sub under the seat. Don’t worry, it doesn’t make you bounce. It doesn’t feel like a jackhammer. You wouldn’t know it was there as you feel it in all of the seats. I have started using SDS CLD tiles on the floor and doors to help deaden this tin can. It has helped with the road noise.If you want more info PM me. I have some pics along the way.
My System now:
Head Unit: Pioneer AVC-NEX-8100.
Front Speakers: Polk Audio DB6502, component 6.5"
Sound Bar: Alpine S-S65C, component 6.5”
Rear Speaker Pods: Select Increments JKU-PODS with Polk Audio DB6502, component 6.5”Amplifier: Rockford Fosgate Power 750 Mono Amp. T750X1BD.Subwoofer: Sundown Subwoofer SD-3, 10”, 4ohm DVC.MRK2 Subs (Matt11 on JK-Forums) Under Passenger Seat Sub Box.Sound Deadener Showdown – CLD Tiles on the Floor and doors. (project underway)BoomMat Hardtop Sound Deadening Headliner
JK Freak
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 785
Likes: 3
From: Omaha
Wow, thanks for the kind words about our subwoofer enclosures. I'm proud of the work my son is doing with these to save for college next year. He has become somewhat of a fiberglass guru the last couple years. Glad you are enjoying it!!
