The stock
Infinity Gold speakers clearly did not fit the bill. I decided
to replace the front components with JL Audio's best component
system, the XR650-CS, which is a 6.5 inch 2 way component system.
The XR650-CS features a massive 6.5" long throw woofer to
handle the midbass and midrange. The 1 inch aluminum dome tweeter
handles the highs.
The JL Audio XR650-CS
top of line 6.5" component system
The magnet
on the new 6.5" woofer was about 5 times the size of the
magnet on the Infinity Gold speaker, surprise surprise. The tweeters
were put into the same spot as the factory tweeters, on the top
of the dashboard allowing the tweeters to reflect right off the
glass.
All new
16 gauge wire was run to each of the components and the tweeter
crossover was set at -1.5 db.
In the
rear, the stock speakers were replaced with VR-650CX coaxials.
A 6 x 9" abs plastic adapter plate was used to mount the
new 6.5" woofer into the factory opening in the doors. Although
I wanted to go with the XS line of coaxials which are better,
the WS woofer is just too deep for the rear door of the WJ. The
VR-650CX was the next best thing and no matter, the best stuff
was where it needed to be, up front with the driver.
The XS series woofer
on the left and the slimmer VR series woofer on the right.
The VR-650CX coaxial
filled the rear nicely.
The speakers
were wired up to the 300/4 amp and the difference was clear. The
speakers had very similar characteristics and the rear was set
to a slightly lower volume to provide ample volume for rear passengers
and to provide some fill in for the front passengers yet low enough
to allow the front speakers to clearly set the sound stage. After
20 minutes of tweaking and adjusting the crossovers, I was satisfied.
I popped in some choice cd's and turned the volume up. Mind you,
the subwoofer was not yet installed. The speakers produced absolutely
smooth, beautiful music without a hint of harshness or coloration.
Voices were full and stereo imaging was great. The 6.5" speakers
reproduced an astonishing amount of bass and they could take it.
I kept turning the knob past where I would normally listen and
they stood in there, no clipping from the amp and only slight
distortion during bass heavy music at ear abusing levels. A dialed
in the high pass crossover for 90 hz and although the bass level
suffered some, all distortion disappeared at insanely high volume
levels. I planned on high passing these speakers because a sub
was to take care of the major bass frequencies. So I began to
work on the sub, I couldn't wait to get the whole system together.
Subwoofer
