Madman7395

Hello, I want to start off by saying I am a newbie. The only thing I know about speakers is that my stock Jeep JK 2-door X's speakers sound like crap. Now the question is; what would you guys recommend for a speaker upgrade? I am not looking at completely decking out my jeep just some nicer speakers would be nice. I defiantly do not want to go into Amps and Subs and stuff like that. I am currently looking at the JEEP WRANGLER JK KICKER SPEAKER UPGRADE and Polk Audio DB651 6.5-Inch Coaxial Speakers, Which one would you recommend over the other? If not these two, what kind? once again I am trying to keep it affordable.

Thanks

Phishy

I can't speak to the kickers, but I have the Polk DB651s in the front and the sound bar and I'm very happy with them. I got them on crutchfield, $150 for all 4, they were buy one pair get one pair 50% off. If you are replacing the 6.5's you should also do the tweeters while you are at it. Of all the stock speakers in the non infinity system I think the tweets are the worst offenders as far as sucking. I put in the Polk DXI1000. I believe they were right about $50 from crutchfield.

I am also running an aftermarket HU, so I'm pushing a bit more power to the speakers than your stock HU will, but I'm sure they will be a vast improvement.

JK Jonesy

I installed the Polk DB6501 component speakers the front and DB651 coaxial speakers the rear. While the Polk speakers are a huge improvement over the stock speakers, the stock head unit is still the weak point. Currently I have the rear speakers shut off, to get a little more juice to the front.

Since the Polk speakers are 4ohm (instead of 2 ohm like the stock speaker) you have to turn the head unit up more to get the same volume, which increases distortion. I'm going to change out the head unit and add an amp (like Alpine KTP-445U).

If I had to do it over again, I would consider going with the Polk MM6501 (which are 2.7ohm) and not get any rear speakers. Am I happy with the DB6501 and DB651? Absolutely. And I hope to be even more impressed after upgrading the head unit and amp.

fstopme

When was that sale? I'll have to keep my eye on them. Did you have to cut or alter anything stock on your ride? The site says some minor cutting or trimming may be needed to make them fit.

k0260

yeah I'm in the same boat and wonder how the 'plug and play' kicker 6.5's work for everyone. Seems like every online store has them, be nice to hear some feedback..

Crazecodyk

I upgraded with pioneer all around..6 3/4 component up front and 6 3/4 coaxial in the sound bar.

JK Jonesy

I didn't have to do any cutting of the Jeep when I installed my Polks. The Polk speakers will come with a bracket to adapt to the existing speaker holes in both the roll bar and in the dash. While 2 of the holes lined up perfectly, I did have to drill a new hole in the speaker bracket for and trim off some of the bracket tab for the fronts and rear to get it to fit perfectly. Very minor surgery. A dremel definitely helped though.

I also chose not to use a wiring harnesses, so I did have to cut off the existing plugs and used some connectors. Getting the dash apart is kind of a PIA, but it was a pretty easy job overall.

Don't forget the polyfil!

TJM12

Lots of threads on here about the kicker upgrades. Most people say they are a good upgrade for the money. Of course it's not to hard to improve over stock sound. I know the op wanted to keep it simple but one of the best ways to improve sound quality is to invest in power, so a good multi channel amp will transform your experience.

Phishy

The above is exactly, to a T, what I had to do to install my Polks. It was real easy. I didn't have a dremel, I just put the bracket in a vice and used a hand coping saw. The mods to the bracket were about as simple as it gets. You'll realize exactly what you have to do when you line them up. It's two holes drilled in plastic and I believe 2 tabs cut off for the rears. The polk DXI Tweets on the other hand require one of two things to install, modify the tombstones, or do what I did, take the guts out of the stock speaker and mount the polk bracket to the clip in housing of the stock tweeter. I think it looks good and was quite easy to do.

Phishy

I got lucky, I didn't know the sale was ongoing, just got on the site to pick some speakers and they happened to be on sale. I think it was about a month and a half ago.