Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ radiator

Upgrading the sound system on your Jeep Wrangler TJ

im not worried about sparks flying around, just worried that the tiniest bit of exposed contact will cause a fire lol.

View attachment 586828

to hook up the sub, i need to cut those terminal ends off the white/black/red/brown wires and then strip just enough to hook into the quick connect plug, right?

how do i pair them up? red and black are one positive/negative pair on one side, and brown/grey as the other positive/negative pair on the other side?

Which "exposed contacts" would be pushing enough current through your enclosures to bridge, spark and start a fire ?
 
anyone been able to get better sound out of the stock sound bar in these things? i have zeroooo mid bass and its super annoying. really dont want a subwoofer.

I always wondered how well transducers would work in a TJ. Maybe that's a possibility?



In my Rubicon, I had a decently tucked away system with two Kicker 6.75" subs. One sub in the factory console spot, the other on the tail gate (left is the sub in first the pic, right is just a dummy cone). The amp mounted to the drivers kick panel hidden under the dash. It worked well for my needs.

Maybe a Rubicon console and sub pod fit in the other TJs? There's probably a thread on it somewhere.

Good luck!

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I always wondered how well transducers would work in a TJ



In my Rubicon, I had a decently tucked away system with two Kicker 5.75" subs. One sub in the factory console spot, the other on the tail gate (left is the sub in the pic, right is just a dummy cone). The amp mounted to the drivers kick panel under the dash. It worked well for my needs.

View attachment 586846

I don’t think there’s a universe where a 5.75” speaker is a sub. It’s a mid.
 
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I’m pretty confident saying that while it’s flammable, it’s not conductive.

Just don’t go filling your pods with steel wool.

heard. sorry if it was a dumb question, i'm a bit of a neurotic worry-wort and i always shied away from electrical stuff

also, can i get some confirmation on the sub wires? i've read in 2 different places 2 different configurations for the red/black/brown/gray wire. what's the way i need to hook them up to the sub terminals?
 
heard. sorry if it was a dumb question, i'm a bit of a neurotic worry-wort and i always shied away from electrical stuff

also, can i get some confirmation on the sub wires? i've read in 2 different places 2 different configurations for the red/black/brown/gray wire. what's the way i need to hook them up to the sub terminals?

No worries. Poly fill has been standard in subs for a long time. I've never heard of it being a fire problem.
 
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I always wondered how well transducers would work in a TJ. Maybe that's a possibility?



In my Rubicon, I had a decently tucked away system with two Kicker 6.75" subs. One sub in the factory console spot, the other on the tail gate (left is the sub in first the pic, right is just a dummy cone). The amp mounted to the drivers kick panel hidden under the dash. It worked well for my needs.

Maybe a Rubicon console and sub pod fit in the other TJs? There's probably a thread on it somewhere.

Good luck!

View attachment 586846

View attachment 586911

I'm currently falling down the Jeep subwoofer rabbit hole! Will the Kicker set up on your tail gate fit in the rear, drivers side floor board and allow operation of the drives seat?

I'd prefer an 8" in the center console but I can't find a box and don't know how to go about getting one 3D printed. A carpenter I AM NOT! Looking for sound quality and just enough bass to for ME to feel.
Thanks in advance.
 
I'm currently falling down the Jeep subwoofer rabbit hole! Will the Kicker set up on your tail gate fit in the rear, drivers side floor board and allow operation of the drives seat?

I'd prefer an 8" in the center console but I can't find a box and don't know how to go about getting one 3D printed. A carpenter I AM NOT! Looking for sound quality and just enough bass to for ME to feel.
Thanks in advance.

Unsure... I sold it in August :cry: so I can't eyeball it for you

HERE are the measurements from Kicker

Good luck!

Screen Shot 2025-01-20 at 5.11.31 PM.png
 
Unsure... I sold it in August :cry: so I can't eyeball it for you

HERE are the measurements from Kicker

Good luck!

View attachment 587063

Thanks for the quick response!
3 more questions.
1. Do you think you would have been satisfied with just the center console in a hard top, with a significant amount of added sound and heat insulation.
2. Do you know if an 8" ring that would allow a Kicker 8" RT to fit in the stock center console?
3. If 1 and 2 aren't viable, would a custom box for the 6.75 on one side and a matching passive radiator one the other, produce acceptable results?

I appreciate it. I won't take up any more of your time.
Not sure a bass tube in the floor board would get the quality I'm looking for, not sure about performance of subs mounted in the ski boat pods either.
 
1. Do you think you would have been satisfied with just the center console in a hard top, with a significant amount of added sound and heat insulation.
What I can say is that highway speed and road vibrations would drown out the bass, so I added the second (plus the amp had a second channel just sitting there). Hard top and stuff might have helped, but 6.75" is limited in its own ways.
2. Do you know if an 8" ring that would allow a Kicker 8" RT to fit in the stock center console?
Not sure. If you're referring to the stock sub pod itself, I don't believe so (I recall thinking something like that, too)
3. If 1 and 2 aren't viable, would a custom box for the 6.75 on one side and a matching passive radiator one the other, produce acceptable results?
Can't see why not

Not sure a bass tube in the floor board would get the quality I'm looking for, not sure about performance of subs mounted in the ski boat pods either.
Yeah, you're down the rabbit hole. Wondered about pods, too.

If I build another one, I'll play with transducers mounted to or near the seats, probably.
 
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What I can say is that highway speed and road vibrations would drown out the bass, so I added the second (plus the amp had a second channel just sitting there). Hard top and stuff might have helped, but 6.75" is limited in its own ways.

Not sure. If you're referring to the stock sub pod itself, I don't believe so (I recall thinking something like that, too)

Can't see why not


Yeah, you're down the rabbit hole. Wondered about pods, too.

If I build another one, I'll play with transducers mounted to or near the seats, probably.

im trying to understand these transducers. i understand that they convert audio to vibrations, how would this produce bass as a sound? or are you going for feel rather than sound?
 
or are you going for feel rather than sound?

Correct. They don't reproduce the sound waves, but you get vibration. I'm guessing it won't sound as full, but going down the road, the lower notes are usually washed out anyways.

Some theaters in Vegas and around the world use the same idea by attaching transducers to their seats to add the extra-sensory experience to audience members.

It's kind of a bass placebo, lol
 
Correct. They don't reproduce the sound waves, but you get vibration. I'm guessing it won't sound as full, but going down the road, the lower notes are usually washed out anyways.

Some theaters in Vegas and around the world use the same idea by attaching transducers to their seats to add the extra-sensory experience to audience members.

It's kind of a bass placebo, lol

I have them in my gaming/theater room they are impressive.

Not sure if they’d do much mounted to a Jeep seat.
 
Too weak?

Pretty sure mine are mounted to the wooded frame but my seats aren’t bolted to the floor and there’s no engine humming along nearby. I assume there’s more going on in a car seat to mitigate transmitting vibrations.

I could be wrong though and it may help find rattles too.
 
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I haven't gone down the rabbit hole on it to see what's possible as far as different units and power supplies.

There isn't much on YT about car applications, but I did see one comment where a guy said it worked well in his Jeep

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im not worried about sparks flying around, just worried that the tiniest bit of exposed contact will cause a fire lol.

View attachment 586828

to hook up the sub, i need to cut those terminal ends off the white/black/red/brown wires and then strip just enough to hook into the quick connect plug, right?

how do i pair them up? red and black are one positive/negative pair on one side, and brown/grey as the other positive/negative pair on the other side?

can someone give me some guidance on this? i'm waiting to put everything back together and back in the jeep, and i don't want to take a guess and then have to rip it all back out because it needed to be wired the other way
 
Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ radiator