GEN 2 Speaker Recommendations for 800/801 with Kicker Powerstage

Talbor · Mar 29, 2018

Coming from a Jeep Wrangler, the sound system in the 800A trim with no factory Kicker sub sounded great at first. But after a few months, I started to want some bass. With two kids in car seats and using the area under the seats as storage, I wanted to go with something behind the rear seats to maintain cargo volume.

I initially looked at the ford dealer offered sub. Seemed like a good deal from some places for less than $500. Then I checked out the Kicker Substage. Same enclosure with a 200W sub vs the dealer offered 100W. That then lead me to the Powerstage - the 200W powered sub with a separate 200W 4-channel amp and DSP to power the door speakers. The reviews were awesome but the price was high - $1250 nearly everywhere. I found it from a small online vendor for $850 shipped and crossed my fingers it wasn’t a scam. Still not cheap, but for a clean install without sacrificing cargo volume, I was interested.

Well, after having it installed for a week, I gotta say the reviews aren’t lying - it’s a great setup. Too good. So good the 200W 4-channel sub has blown my rear factory speakers. I kinda figured that would happen since they’re 25W speakers receiving 50W and I wasn’t about to keep it below 2/3rds volume.

So now I’m in the market for some new door speakers and was wondering if anyone could share some recommendations. I’ve read good things about the Infinity REF-9623xi speakers. Anyone have any good recommendations of speakers that would go with this Kicker system?

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Jeff-Ohio · Mar 29, 2018

Talbor said:
Coming from a Jeep Wrangler, the sound system in the 800A trim with no factory Kicker sub sounded great at first. But after a few months, I started to want some bass. With two kids in car seats and using the area under the seats as storage, I wanted to go with something behind the rear seats to maintain cargo volume.

I initially looked at the ford dealer offered sub. Seemed like a good deal from some places for less than $500. Then I checked out the Kicker Substage. Same enclosure with a 200W sub vs the dealer offered 100W. That then lead me to the Powerstage - the 200W powered sub with a separate 200W 4-channel amp and DSP to power the door speakers. The reviews were awesome but the price was high - $1250 nearly everywhere. I found it from a small online vendor for $850 shipped and crossed my fingers it wasn’t a scam. Still not cheap, but for a clean install without sacrificing cargo volume, I was interested.

Well, after having it installed for a week, I gotta say the reviews aren’t lying - it’s a great setup. Too good. So good the 200W 4-channel sub has blown my rear factory speakers. I kinda figured that would happen since they’re 25W speakers receiving 50W and I wasn’t about to keep it below 2/3rds volume.

So now I’m in the market for some new door speakers and was wondering if anyone could share some recommendations. I’ve read good things about the Infinity REF-9623xi speakers. Anyone have any good recommendations of speakers that would go with this Kicker system?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You have peaked my interest. How hard was the intstall? How long did it take? I do a lot of work on my ATVs, but I have zero electrical talent.

lawdog · Mar 29, 2018

Talbor said:
Coming from a Jeep Wrangler, the sound system in the 800A trim with no factory Kicker sub sounded great at first. But after a few months, I started to want some bass. With two kids in car seats and using the area under the seats as storage, I wanted to go with something behind the rear seats to maintain cargo volume.

I initially looked at the ford dealer offered sub. Seemed like a good deal from some places for less than $500. Then I checked out the Kicker Substage. Same enclosure with a 200W sub vs the dealer offered 100W. That then lead me to the Powerstage - the 200W powered sub with a separate 200W 4-channel amp and DSP to power the door speakers. The reviews were awesome but the price was high - $1250 nearly everywhere. I found it from a small online vendor for $850 shipped and crossed my fingers it wasn’t a scam. Still not cheap, but for a clean install without sacrificing cargo volume, I was interested.

Well, after having it installed for a week, I gotta say the reviews aren’t lying - it’s a great setup. Too good. So good the 200W 4-channel sub has blown my rear factory speakers. I kinda figured that would happen since they’re 25W speakers receiving 50W and I wasn’t about to keep it below 2/3rds volume.

So now I’m in the market for some new door speakers and was wondering if anyone could share some recommendations. I’ve read good things about the Infinity REF-9623xi speakers. Anyone have any good recommendations of speakers that would go with this Kicker system?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Check the "Stereo Upgrade for under $500" thread...several have used Pioneers with good success, and a few of us later have gone with JBL GTOs...you can put last year's models...939 6X9 and 629 6.5s in for $150. Similar/almost identical to the Infinitys...any of those would be a sound upgrade.

Talbor · Mar 29, 2018

Jeff-Ohio said:
You have peaked my interest. How hard was the intstall? How long did it take? I do a lot of work on my ATVs, but I have zero electrical talent.

Really simple install. Took me less than 2-1/2 hours start to finish. No electrical skills needed - it’s all plug and play and bolt on.

This 6 minute video runs through the whole process. https://youtu.be/l0oJTcz1CKg

My tips:
- To run the wire through the firewall grommet, puncture a hole with a small knife, feed a straightened out wire hanger through the hole from the cabin into the engine bay, use electrical tape to sufficiently secure the power wires to the wire hanger, then pull the hanger and wires through to the cabin. It took me a while to figure this out - knowing this you could probably shave 30 mins off my time!
- Get a set of those plastic trim prying tools. I scratched some of the dash trim pieces little and wish I would’ve forked over the $10 for them.
- Use painters tape to protect the sliding door for the USB compartment below the A/C controls - mine got scratched when I removed the CD player unit.
- Find one for cheap!

---------- Post added at 02:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:12 PM ----------

lawdog said:
Check the "Stereo Upgrade for under $500" thread...several have used Pioneers with good success, and a few of us later have gone with JBL GTOs...you can put last year's models...939 6X9 and 629 6.5s in for $150. Similar/almost identical to the Infinitys...any of those would be a sound upgrade.

Thanks for the tip!

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Digger · Apr 2, 2018

In my 17 with the 802A pkg I installed that same Kicker sub and I also replaced all 7 other speakers with Kicker's KS line and it was worth every penny of what I spent. It sounds tremendous now. My wife drives my truck to work on Mondays only and on the 2nd Monday after the install she came home and gave me the "remember when I asked you why you need to change all of your speakers?" and then she said can I do the same in her 17 Jeep Unlimited because her Jeeps system sounds like shit in comparison to my truck now

blk91gt · Apr 3, 2018

Where did you find it for $850.00 if you don't mind me asking?

I did the Pioneer speakers and am pleased, but with 200w they would be much better.

ron.bumpus · Apr 30, 2018

i recently installed the powerstage in my 18 / 801a
it was a great improvement over base but not great.

i went and replaced the stock speakers with the Kicker KS line. and was not happy with them UNTIL........

so tooling around with Forscan, there is a setting to change the "EQ" settings.
Looking at the codes
in the ACM module 727-01-02 x*xx xx EQ Selection #
0=EQ Selection #0, 1=EQ Selection #1, 2=EQ Selection #2, 3=EQ Selection #3, 4=EQ Selection #4, 5=EQ Selection #5, 6=EQ Selection #6, 7=EQ Selection #7, 8=EQ Selection #8, 9=EQ Selection #9

So the stock settings is #4 i went through each one and changed mine to #7 and all i can say is i am happy now

made a world of difference. you can especially tell with the rear speakers which were low and flat when set to rear only. the #7 setting definitely woke them up. now i will install the new Component fronts and test.

I figured i would share this for anyone who has the powerstage with base radio.
Cheers...
RB

blk91gt · May 3, 2018

How did you get the power stage to work with the start stop technology or do you not have that. I am interested in this set up but it says it wont work if you have start stop technology.

Talbor · May 4, 2018

blk91gt said:
How did you get the power stage to work with the start stop technology or do you not have that. I am interested in this set up but it says it wont work if you have start stop technology.

I disabled it with Forscan and replaced the button with a hazard light only button I bought online from a wrecked F150. You would never even know the truck had stop start.

ron.bumpus · May 8, 2018

Talbor said:
I disabled it with Forscan and replaced the button with a hazard light only button I bought online from a wrecked F150. You would never even know the truck had stop start.

Same here, I have Auto Start / Stop disabled using Forescan.

GEN 2 Speaker Recommendations for 800/801 with Kicker Powerstage

Talbor

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Jeff-Ohio

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lawdog

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Talbor

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Digger

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blk91gt

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ron.bumpus

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blk91gt

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Talbor

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ron.bumpus

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