I have been searching and looking but have not been able to fine a thread or answer to my question… (Sorry if duplicated).

I have a 2011 JK Unlimited with a 430RHB HU infinity system. I would like to upgrade the sound system, but was not looking to replace the HU yet. I do need to upgrade in steps because of the limited amount of funds available. Is it better (or can) the AMP be upgraded first then the speakers? Or is it a better approach to upgrade the speakers then the AMP? I have little to no sound system building experience. I am not sure what all would be needed and which steps to do first. Please help me out.

Thanks!

 

I replaced my speakers first, it sounded better and worse at the same time. Being that in about 5 sound system setups I have had I have never has an amp on my internal speakers and did not know what I was missing. My stages were speakers, head unit, amp

 

I have an '11 JK with the Infinity system.
The stock speakers really are great. The head unit is garbage. I replaced my head unit with a Pioneer AVH-x3700. I currently have the factory amp and speakers in place. The rear speakers are wired directly to the head unit to allow me to have fade control.
The front sounds pretty darn good.
The sub is good and may be all you need. You can definitely feel it and hear the difference.
The rear simply doesn't have the power to compare to the front. With little background noise you can adjust the fader to balance it with the front and the combination is great, but only at "normal" volumes.

My next step is the Alpine PDX-V9 amplifier and probably JL Audio C2 speakers.

If I could do it over I would NOT do it in phases. Just buy a new head unit, iDatalink, Amp, Amp wiring kit, speakers and speaker wire. Do it all at once. Far less work.

As to doing it in phases, the hardware the stock/factory system uses is unique. If you want to replace the amp and keep the factory speakers you will need to do some rewiring and I don't think you will have fade control unless you get an amp that takes speaker level inputs.
The speakers are not the problem in my experiencing, so replacing them won't gain anything in my opinion. The speakers sound horrible only because of the horrible signal sent to them.
If you must do it in phases Id replace the head unit and use and iDatalink to tie it into the steering wheel controls and factory harness. This gets you a better signal and all the great features of the aftermarket head unit.
The next change would be an aftermarket amplifier and running new wire to the speakers. Not sure how to wire the front speakers though since they are components.
The next phase would be speakers.

 

Thanks GBodybanks & BBrown626 for the replies....I am still at a loss! BBrown626 did you wire your rear speakers up to give you the additional control? I will look into head units to compare. So...If i start with the speakers and work back to the head unit (speakers, amp, head unit or speakers, head unit, amp) I am assuming I can put in speakers and have not issue with the current amp and head unit. I know the sound may not improve much but will not have any issues as I move to the head unit and amp. I am okay with doing some rewiring as long as I know exactly what to rewire (i.e. which wire etc). Do you have any other recommendations?

Thanks for the input!

 

BBrown626,

I have been looking at head units and wondered if the Pioneer one you mentioned is a direct replacement (plug and play) with the stock cable harness? All I would need to get is the iDatalink to go to the steering wheel inputs? Are you aware of other head units that are compatible?

 

I was in a very similar situation as yours, I replaced just the sound bar speakers and I liked them so much that I wanted more.

I wanted to keep my stock HU as well but after all the considerations I decided to do the whole thing at once, do it right one time and forget it. It just didn't make sense to get speakers, run then off the stock HU because it would sounds terrible... If I amp it it's a lot of wasted labor and use an inverter .. But that would later be tossed away in and would have to do double the work.

 

can you explain exactly how you wired your speaker inputs to your harness or headunit. I installed the pioneer 4100 and my understanding is because i have the factory amp i can only run 2 channel. So therefore i need to wire my front inputs to the resr to achieve full sound. My music sounds good but calls, bluetooth and siri are so distorted. Is my wiring right or is there somethig im missing about how to wire.

 

I've said it once and I'll say it again. The head unit is NOT the problem. Honestly, it rarely is on most modern systems. There's just not a lot you can do wrong when building a modern head unit. The problem comes from the amp which has a built in DSP. The factory amp on most cars is designed to shape the audio for it's environment. Consider the 430RHB head unit is used in several Chrysler products. They're not going to make a custom version for each one. Instead they make a specific amp for the number of drivers in each vehicle and tune the amp accordingly and use it as the crossover. By removing the factory amp and installing an aftermarket one all of this is eliminated. There's no reason to ditch the factory head unit if you're happy with it's look and feature set.


There's no such thing as a "plug and play" aftermarket head unit with VERY rare exceptions. That being said there are a ton of wiring harnesses available from companies like Metra and PAC that make the job of replacing a head unit nearly painless. The iDatalink Mastreo is an excellent product and their website is very helpful in letting you know which components you'll need to make it work. The iDatalink can work with a variety of head units from companies like Kenwood, Pioneer, and Alpine so don't feel locked into the Pioneer world if you find another head unit you like more. If this is your first time replacing your head unit or doing any major audio work on a vehicle I also recommend using Crutchfield. They can tell you exactly what parts you'll need to get to make your head unit work, provide you with excellent instructions, sell at competitive prices, and usually have free shipping.



I'm really not sure what you're trying to say at the end here. An inverter? There should be no need for an inverter on any audio setup. Unless your setup is a boom box and you're plugging it in to save the batteries.

 

Sounds like you're having a bluetooth syncing issue, not an issue with your speakers. Have you tried "forgetting" the connection in the phone and recreating the profile?

 

its not only bluetooth its also when hooked up to carplay. I feel either 1) im having a connection issue with my speaker wiring but insouble checked my connections or 2) the factory alpine amp isnt communicating properly with the new pioneer headunit. So before replacing the amp has anyone else had the same issues with distortion?