[ChrisD]

Hi Chris,

I'm going also with a D amp, but a 5 channel (since there's only one sub in the Jeep). I went also with a smallish one (the Alpine PDR-V75), but there's no way to fit it in the factory space (mine's a '13 thus no Infinity amp - it has an "Alpine" instead - to the left side under the steering column. On mine under the steering column I have the factory 12V to 110V convertor box).

Hi Dan,

I was also looking into the Alpine amplifiers and almost got a PDX-V9. This would also have been nicely fit into the compartment under the steering column.
I was able to hear the Mosconi D2 80.6 in another jeep and immediately liked the sound. It is also slightly smaller than the PDX-V9. That was basically my reason for taking the Mosconi amplifier.

I already have two Tuffy boxes under each front seat. They make an good mounting platform: on the driver side I have my Yaesu FTM-400, and on the passenger I'll put the Alpine. It's nice also that it keeps the electronics elevated so that if there's water on the floor it won't short anything. Hopefully it will never get hot enough to deploy the seat mounted side airbag.

I probably would have done it also like this, but I have no room under the seats. On the passenger side is my ARB dual compressor and on the driver side is my Atlas 4 shifter under the seat. So I had to find something, fitting in the stock location.

I'll post some pics, but it will be nowhere as nice of an install as Kristopher's.

Same for me. It is way away from Kristopher´s install. I should also have some pictures somewhere and will see, whether I find them.

Any reason why you're not running the soundbar?

Basically, it was a question, whether I want to run my new front system active or passive. After hearing different configurations in a CarHifi shop JK, I decided to run the front active with 4 of the 6 channels of the amp and use the remaining 2 channels bridged for the subwoofer.
I felt, when hearing the system with/without soundbar in the demo jeep, there was no big difference. with soundbar on/off.
The shop guy also recommended me to skip the soundbar.
But the sound tuning of an active system takes a lot of time, which I was not able to do so far .

[theksmith]

Just a small feedback on my Pioneer headunit: It stopped working after 3 weeks (the display did not show anything anymore and the keys did no more work).
I sent it now back for replacement.

my Pioneer did not power on the other day with the Jeep and i was worried it had died as well! fortunately it was just a blown fuse on the Maestro harness...

it was my own wiring issue in that i had supplied power for the cameras from that same harness. the cable to my front camera appears to have shorted out somewhere. i simply unplugged that cable for now since i have not yet had time to troubleshoot where the short is exactly.


side note - i still love this whole setup with the Pioneer NEX and factory amp/speakers. the speakers (and possibly amp) were changed starting with 2015 JKs though, so perhaps if i had an earlier model i'd feel the need to upgrade too.

having the EQ in the pioneer unit has made all the difference in terms of "waking up" the stock components. i've grown accustomed to the time-aligned sound as well. even though it's only 2 channel aligned currently, it sounds so much better with TA on.

i also have the "sound retriever" option at the highest setting when using Pandora/bluetooth or MP3's. the manual says that feature "automatically enhances compressed music". i'm not sure if it's just doing additional EQ or something more, but it does make the digital sources sound "fuller" to me.

i personally like having the rear soundbar, in fact i run with the fader set slightly towards the rear (and my seat is in the farthest position back).


looking forward to hearing both of your systems once you've gotten them dialed in just how you like!

[ChrisD]

my Pioneer did not power on the other day with the Jeep and i was worried it had died as well! fortunately it was just a blown fuse on the Maestro harness...

it was my own wiring issue in that i had supplied power for the cameras from that same harness. the cable to my front camera appears to have shorted out somewhere. i simply unplugged that cable for now since i have not yet had time to troubleshoot where the short is exactly.

For me the keys did no more react and the display did no more power on. The unit itself was on, because it charged my connected iPhone. I am still not sure, what happened.

side note - i still love this whole setup with the Pioneer NEX and factory amp/speakers. the speakers (and possibly amp) were changed starting with 2015 JKs though, so perhaps if i had an earlier model i'd feel the need to upgrade too.

having the EQ in the pioneer unit has made all the difference in terms of "waking up" the stock components. i've grown accustomed to the time-aligned sound as well. even though it's only 2 channel aligned currently, it sounds so much better with TA on.

I am running it flat as far as using the EQ. I try to dial in everything with the software for my amplifier, which allows to set a parametric equalizer and so on. I now have to restart, because I am getting the Rockhard4x4 roll cage in and the tweeters are slightly playing against the crossbar at the front window. So again reset and start from the beginning...

looking forward to hearing both of your systems once you've gotten them dialed in just how you like!

Let me see, how long this takes. Probably it is a lifetime job ...

[ChrisD]

Here is a picture of the installed amplifier in stock location. We used the Infinity mount and put a metal plate on top of it, 90 degrees rotated. With this, all connectors are facing backwards and are easily reachable.

[theksmith]

great idea on how to mount/position the amp Chris!

[ChrisD]

great idea on how to mount/position the amp Chris!

Thanks, Kris !

[JeepUniq]

Here is a picture of the installed amplifier in stock location. We used the Infinity mount and put a metal plate on top of it, 90 degrees rotated. With this, all connectors are facing backwards and are easily reachable.

On my Jeep that space is already taken by the 12V 110V factory installed inverter. The factory Alpine amp is mounted further down and to the left, behind the speaker pod.

I do like how your set-up allows easy access to the amp controls. Nice!

[ChrisD]

I do like how your set-up allows easy access to the amp controls. Nice!

Thanks Dan. I routed a USB cable from the amplifier to the glove box. Now I can just connect my Windows tablet there with the amplifier control software on it and do my adjustments of the amplifier parameters.

On my Jeep that space is already taken by the 12V 110V factory installed inverter. The factory Alpine amp is mounted further down and to the left, behind the speaker pod.

Seems like in the older JK´s they did not put so many stuff in and left some room for future improvements .