Has anyone replaced factory JBL AMP with aftermarket?

[CAD_GA1390]

as stated above, has anyone replaced the factory speaker amp with an aftermarket unit? i've seen the SUB upgrade with JL equipment, but nothing much on the speaker amp, which i'm looking to change as well. any input/suggestions?

 

[zopperman]

as stated above, has anyone replaced the factory speaker amp with an aftermarket unit? i've seen the SUB upgrade with JL equipment, but nothing much on the speaker amp, which i'm looking to change as well. any input/suggestions?

Sub'd.

I currently have replaced just about every speaker and done the JL sub/amp, but I'm worried about that factory amp, and when it blows, I wanna know how I'm gonna fix it. I'd imagine it would be a huge pain

 

[aha2988]

It's not as difficult as it seems, but its not simple either.

Basicly the way the factory setup works is the factory head unit sends sound signals to the factory amp which are then boosted and pushed to the individual speakers. FL FR C RR RL Tweeters and sub. The factory amp has a wiring harness plugged into it that all these signals travel into and then out of to there corresponding speaker locations.

The factory head unit does not push enough amperage to push all the speakers in the vehicle so your options are to A.) purchase an aftermarket headunit with a built in amp (as most of them have) B.) replace the factory amp

So lets say you decide to purchase a head unit with a built in amplifier to push the speaker channels. At this point you will take the wiring harness plugged into the factory amp. Cut the wires from the connector going into the amp and splice them together with the wires coming out of the amp. This is the tricky part it takes a certain tool to send a signal down each channel to identify which speaker wire is which (you may be able to find this info in a wiring diagram in a haynes manual) I did it the hard way by cuting a wire sending a low frequency signal through individual wires to identify which speaker wire was which. Once you identify the in and out wires for each speaker you just splice them together. At this point you will be removing the factory amp and will need to purchase an aftermarket amp to push the subwoofer or aftermarket subwoofer you have.

If you just decide to keep the factory head unit and wish to upgrade or change the factory amp you will need a multi channel amplifier then as well locate the individual speaker channels and connnect them correspondingly.

If you remove the factory amp and go with an aftermarket head unit. not all the wires from the connector get cut off (as a few of them are just power and ground wires.). Cap off any unused channel wires (such in my case I decided to remove the center speaker channel because after I installed the new head unit it pushed to much power to the center channel and made the sound quality suck it sounds much better without the center channel IMO) and zip tie the connector and spliced wires up into the panel you should be good to go.

 

[zopperman]

It's not as difficult as it seems, but its not simple either.

Basicly the way the factory setup works is the factory head unit sends sound signals to the factory amp which are then boosted and pushed to the individual speakers. FL FR C RR RL Tweeters and sub. The factory amp has a wiring harness plugged into it that all these signals travel into and then out of to there corresponding speaker locations.

The factory head unit does not push enough amperage to push all the speakers in the vehicle so your options are to A.) purchase an aftermarket headunit with a built in amp (as most of them have) B.) replace the factory amp

So lets say you decide to purchase a head unit with a built in amplifier to push the speaker channels. At this point you will take the wiring harness plugged into the factory amp. Cut the wires from the connector going into the amp and splice them together with the wires coming out of the amp. This is the tricky part it takes a certain tool to send a signal down each channel to identify which speaker wire is which (you may be able to find this info in a wiring diagram in a haynes manual) I did it the hard way by cuting a wire sending a low frequency signal through individual wires to identify which speaker wire was which. Once you identify the in and out wires for each speaker you just splice them together. At this point you will be removing the factory amp and will need to purchase an aftermarket amp to push the subwoofer or aftermarket subwoofer you have.

If you just decide to keep the factory head unit and wish to upgrade or change the factory amp you will need a multi channel amplifier then as well locate the individual speaker channels and connnect them correspondingly.

If you remove the factory amp and go with an aftermarket head unit. not all the wires from the connector get cut off (as a few of them are just power and ground wires.). Cap off any unused channel wires (such in my case I decided to remove the center speaker channel because after I installed the new head unit it pushed to much power to the center channel and made the sound quality suck it sounds much better without the center channel IMO) and zip tie the connector and spliced wires up into the panel you should be good to go.

This makes my brain hurt :banana:

Also, fwiw, my sound system sounds awesome with the factory amp pushing the 9 speakers.

 

[MikeInNH]

To put in Home Audio Terms.

A receiver is broken down into 3 components.

1. Tuner - (AM/FM or satellite)
2. Pre-amp - This does the switching of which source you want to use (Tuner, CD, DVD...etc).
3. Amp - Supplies the power to the speakers.

The Pre-amp sends voltage in a specific range to the amp. The more you turn up the volume..the more voltage is sent to the amp. The amp then takes that voltage and sends a amplified signal (usually hundreds of time amplified over the pre-amp) to the speakers.

The Pre-amp also selects the source (Tuner, CD, DVD)..and sends the signal to the amp.

Your Tuner or CD or DVD is the source.

A home "Receiver" has all of those components built into one unit.

Then there's a Integrated Amp, which is a Amp and Pre-amp combo.

And you even have Tuners and Pre-amp combo's.

From this discussion it looks like this setup is a Tuner/CD/Pre-amp combo. Very common in autos.

 

[ddnww]

i would not run an aftermarket sub with a stock amp..

 

[zopperman]

i would not run an aftermarket sub with a stock amp..

+1. Or the stock sub with an aftermarket amp. Mine was already going bad so I tried this and it literally exploded.

 

[MikeInNH]

i would not run an aftermarket sub with a stock amp..

Why???

 

[zopperman]

Why???

With any decent sub the amp won't have enough power for it. It's already powering 9 other speakers.

 

[ddnww]

imo ... if your going to upgrade your sound system, replace it all. head unit, amp(s), speakers, and sub. including all wiring..

 

[zopperman]

imo ... if your going to upgrade your sound system, replace it all. head unit, amp(s), speakers, and sub. including all wiring..

Yeah, agreed. Minus the wiring, the wires are fine with my new everything. I'm waiting on three more tweeters from another member then I will have done everything minus the stock amp which works fine, for now.

 

[CAD_GA1390]

imo ... if your going to upgrade your sound system, replace it all. head unit, amp(s), speakers, and sub. including all wiring..

thats my plan, which is why i'm asking the difficulty of switching to an aftermarket amp for the speakers as well as my subwoofers ill put in. already have the aftermarket head unit...speakers will be changed also

 

[ddnww]

thats my plan, which is why i'm asking the difficulty of switching to an aftermarket amp for the speakers as well as my subwoofers ill put in. already have the aftermarket head unit...speakers will be changed also

its not that difficult.. basic wiring etc.. i would recommend replacing the factory speaker wiring and power/ground wiring.

 

[MikeInNH]

With any decent sub the amp won't have enough power for it. It's already powering 9 other speakers.

That depends on the efficiency of the Sub. Has NOTHING to do with how many speakers it's currently driving.

 

[zopperman]

That depends on the efficiency of the Sub. Has NOTHING to do with how many speakers it's currently driving.

I suppose you could run a 12 dollar Walmart sub with no issues

 

[MikeInNH]

I suppose you could run a 12 dollar Walmart sub with no issues

I hate to tell you this...but more EXPENSIVE AND BIGGER woofers are the MOST EFFICIENT...Usually the cheap wallmart speakers are inefficient. Some of the best high-end professional speakers are the MOST efficient speakers on the market.

Do a google search for Altec A4 speakers. These speakers stand 8' high. Have a efficiency rating of 110db's...wattage rating is 80watts rms.....with a maximum peak wattage rating of 300watts. If you're standing less then 5' in front of them - at a mere 10 watts they'll blow your eardrums out.

 

[zopperman]

I hate to tell you this...but more EXPENSIVE AND BIGGER woofers are the MOST EFFICIENT...Usually the cheap wallmart speakers are inefficient. Some of the best high-end professional speakers are the MOST efficient speakers on the market.

Do a google search for Altec A4 speakers. These speakers stand 8' high. Have a efficiency rating of 110db's...wattage rating is 80watts rms.....with a maximum peak wattage rating of 300watts. If you're standing less then 5' in front of them - at a mere 10 watts they'll blow your eardrums out.

It seems as though were in heated agreement. That's why I sprung the extra 50 bucks for the JL sub instead of a cheap kicker.

 

[MikeInNH]

It seems as though were in heated agreement. That's why I sprung the extra 50 bucks for the JL sub instead of a cheap kicker.

There's no debate. There isn't an audio engineer in the world who thinks a speaker from wallmart is considered efficient. It's from the mindset of people who the first speaker spec they look at is wattage...when wattage is the LAST thing (in fact it's almost never viewed) from people who actually know something about audio.

Take a look at the top PROFESSIONAL speakers in the world. JBL, Klipsch, TAD, Tannoy....all of them produce high efficient speakers (95db's and above). There's a reason for that.

 

[zopperman]

There's no debate. There isn't an audio engineer in the world who thinks a speaker from wallmart is considered efficient. It's from the mindset of people who the first speaker spec they look at is wattage...when wattage is the LAST thing (in fact it's almost never viewed) from people who actually know something about audio.

Take a look at the top PROFESSIONAL speakers in the world. JBL, Klipsch, TAD, Tannoy....all of them produce high efficient speakers (95db's and above). There's a reason for that.

Like I said, HEATED AGREEMENT!!!!!

 

[tollboothwilley]

Have you guys who replaced the stock setup done anything else with the stock center channel in the dash?