2020 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon - Budget Build

[Fasthotrod]

My wife and I decided to get a Jeep so that we could enjoy the great outdoors, meet new people, and have fun off-roading. The stereo is your typical 7" LCD with Android Auto and sat radio, but nothing fancy. As a source unit, it's decent... so I figured some speaker upgrades might make things sound a bit better.

I installed a set of Hertz 3.5 co-axials into the dash... but without additional power or a decent high pass crossover, they didn't really do a good job at making things sound 'better' to my ears.

Dash speaker install:







It sounded better, but I knew I needed to tame them down as they were more efficient than the rest of the drivers, and without a crossover and receiving full signal, they would distort at moderate volume levels. I bought some caps to make a 6dB 1st order crossover, and some power resistors to try and tame them down a bit... but didn't get to it right away.

I saw DavidRam's Wrangler build and got the itch for something else. (Beautiful install by the way... go check it out if you haven't seen it yet.) Why not do a budget build, see how far it goes?

I use this Jeep to go out in the rocks, mud, water, etc... so I didn't want to dump a bunch of $$$ into a high dollar system. (I have another vehicle for that... maybe more on that one later?) So I figured right off the bat I needed more power, a crossover, a sub... maybe a DSP?

So I got to ordering some parts...

[Fasthotrod]

I saw that a company made a sub box for the Wrangler JK that used the area above the rear wheel well... I figured that was pretty cool and used the space efficiently. So I took some measurements and figured I might be able to squeeze in a 12" sub in there. So I got busy making some sawdust:

[Fasthotrod]

I traced the wheel well on to the back of the box to make the extension out over the wheel well, then trimmed it out and built the back of the box:





I took some careful measurements, and set the hole for the subwoofer in place:

[Fasthotrod]

I got the face of the box made up, then test fit the sub:



Remember when I mentioned the careful measurement for the sub... this was why:





I used a router and a round over bit to take the edge off of that lip inside the box.

[Fasthotrod]

I decided to go with the Dayton Audio HO 12" DVC sub for this build. It gets decent reviews, so I figured why not? I modeled the sub in WinISD and decided to go with a ported enclosure. It's tuned to about 27 - 29 Hz if memory serves me correctly.



I set the port dimensions to 3.5" x 4" to try and eliminate port noise due to high velocities of air in the port. From there, I took the box to the local bed liner shop (Bulletliner in OKC) and had them spray the box for me:

[Fasthotrod]

From there, I turned my attention to the amplifiers and DSP. I wanted something small and cheap... something that if it gets wet and goes BOOM, I'm not out a lot of $$$. So I found these little Soundstream marine grade amps and figured they would power the front and rear speakers. With COVID kicking everyone ass right now, it's difficult to get some things... so I bought what was available at the time. I also saw the specs on the NVX amplifier and it's smaller footprint and figured it would be good for one 12" sub, or two if I decided I need a bit more bass. I got the amps, and started to lay things out:



That cubby in the back of the Wrangler is pretty deep, so I figured I could layer the amps and the wiring in there to hide a few things. So I made the mounting board for the amps:



...and started mounting the power distribution under there:

[Fasthotrod]

Speaking of power distribution, I figured I'd need some juice at the back of the Jeep for tunes, and maybe some additional accessories. So I decided on some 1/0 AWG power and ground wiring, with a 250A breaker under the hood. I made a quick bracket for the breaker and mounted it next to the battery:



I ran the power wire down next to the inner fender liner and across the top of the frame towards the back:



I found a spot on the frame near the back of the Jeep with a M12 x 1.5 threaded nut, so I cleaned off the paint and connected the ground wire there:

[Fasthotrod]

Both the power wire and the ground wire are tied up back there, and pass into the cabin through a couple of bulk head connections:

[Fasthotrod]

I don't have the pics of me tearing apart the dash board and cursing like a sailor... but in the front I pulled the factory bass pods out and installed new pods with some JBL 6.5's for mid bass. I lined the pods with Rammatt inside, and sound deadening outside. I ran the wiring to the speakers and signal from the HU to the amps.

It doesn't look like much, but here's the final product:







Last night I setup the DSP so that the sub plays 30 - 90 Hz, 24dB LW crossover on high end, 12dB on low end. JBL 6.5's are playing 90 - 500 Hz, 24dB LW crossovers on both sides. Hertz co-axials are playing 500 - 20k Hz. 24dB LW crossovers.

I did a few quick measurements for distance and set the delays, but I haven't really messed with it or dialed it in yet. I haven't bothered with the EQ settings yet either... but damn if it doesn't sound a LOT better now. That Dayton sub plays pretty deep... and based on how it sounds so far, I might not need that other sub box back there. (But I'll probably do it anyway, because BASS.)

Hope you have enjoyed my little budget build so far... any questions/comments, let me know below. Thanks!

Mark

[reithi]

Awesome job......simple and clean.