Need help with replacement speakers

[02heep]

I have a 02 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Previous owner replaced stereo with alpine head. 2 1/2" speakers in dashboard are blown. There are no additional amps beyond the in-dash alpine unit. There is no sub.

QUESTIONS:

1 - I disabled the 2 1/2" dash speakers so they don't rattle. The front door speakers don't seem to be as loud as the rear door speakers. Could it be that a crossover limits the front door speakers and sends much of the signal to the dash? Or is it more likely that the dash speakers and the front door speakers both get the same signal? Do you think dash speakers are important to overall sound, or would good door speakers be enough?

2 - System lacks any punch. Son thinks it needs a sub. Best Buy believes it needs a better head unit. Should I invest in sub or replace Alpine? With what? I don't like the idea of losing cargo area to put sub in.

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[mylows10 5,000+ posts]

which alpine deck .the frt doors are very important speakers for the frt stage.you can also do an 8 inch sub for a little bass ,it wont take much room

 

[pro-rabbit 5,000+ posts]

I would just upgrade the speakers themselves. There are a few things you can do to make it all work better. If you end up looking at a sub, of course you have amp/wiring/sub/box to look into, but if you keep everything scaled down smaller just to get a little more lowerend out of it, you won't be to bad on budget or the space it takes up.

I'm not sure I would be shopping at BestBuy though. We have "fixed" several of their installs over the years. Not saying all are bad, because some do actually have good salesmen and installers, but the vast majority do not.

Here is a better method to figure out what you may need to do.

1. What unit do you currently have?

2. Are the speakers replaced or stock? If they are not stock, what are they?

3. What are your goals for the audio in the truck? Just to work and sound good, or do you want that little something "extra" in it?

4. Ensure you have a budget to work with. Even it is small, it is better to go into something like this with an idea of what you want to spend and try your best to stick with it. If not, you may end up spending far more then you thought you might...happens all the time though, so if it does do not feel bad haha.

 

[shackles 10+ year member]

Why is it that electronics places are always trying to sell you on a new HU? There must be big profit in those.

IMO If your just looking to make the system work and sound ok then replace the wrecked speakers and upgrade the factory ones which are probably cheap and past their prime. For 2 1/2" ones, either don't use them or put caps inline with them for high midrange duty only. They may add spaciousness to the sound stage.

If you want to add a little punch get a space saving sub and an amp which will give you the thump that small speakers can't.

Here's the smallest 10" sub unit that I could find and with moderate power (360WRMS), and a moderate cost which pumps out some pretty decent lows. Not earth shattering but clean. You wouldn't want too much anyway without upgrading everything else too. It all fits in the very limited space behind the seat in my crewcab.