What Stereo?!

Wardell said:

I have the 430n with the older (2014 and earlier) Alpine premium sound system. The Alpine sound system that is available for 2015 models is supposedly improved (better speakers, an additional speaker, relocated subwoofer, etc). I haven't been able to compare them, but from what I've heard I don't think there is a significant difference in sound quality between them. Either way, mine sounds nice and really doesn't leave me wanting anything better.

Considering the Wrangler is a convertible, I personally don't think you need anything better speakers than the premium sound system you can get stock. With a hard top that isn't insulated, a soft top, or when you have the top down and doors off, you probably won't notice very much improvement due to road / wind noise or sound from the radio being lost to the environment. That said, I'm not an audiophile either, so someone who is really up on sound system tech can probably explain otherwise.

If you're asking about which head unit to go with, I guess you need to ask yourself if you want Sirius satellite radio or not, if you want nav or not, and how big a touch screen you want, and go from there. The Uconnect website goes over their specs, but in a nutshell the 130 is just a basic AM/FM radio & CD player, while the others have Sirius satellite radio, an internal hard drive for playing mp3s (etc), and a 6.5" touch screen and Bluetooth (if you have the connectivity package). The nav versions are slightly different from each other. 430n is based on Garmin software and road maps while the 730n is based on Navteq. The 730n also lets you have traffic updates from Sirius and lets you input destinations by voice, though anyone I've talked to says its voice nav is bad and it's faster / easier to pull over and input your destination by hand. The other big thing to keep in mind is that the nav systems were designed for on road use only, so while they're fine for getting around town they are useless in the field and you will likely want to get a hiking / outdoors GPS anyway (there's another thread going on that here).

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Wardell said:

I have the 430n with the older (2014 and earlier) Alpine premium sound system. The Alpine sound system that is available for 2015 models is supposedly improved (better speakers, an additional speaker, relocated subwoofer, etc). I haven't been able to compare them, but from what I've heard I don't think there is a significant difference in sound quality between them. Either way, mine sounds nice and really doesn't leave me wanting anything better.

Considering the Wrangler is a convertible, I personally don't think you need anything better speakers than the premium sound system you can get stock. With a hard top that isn't insulated, a soft top, or when you have the top down and doors off, you probably won't notice very much improvement due to road / wind noise or sound from the radio being lost to the environment. That said, I'm not an audiophile either, so someone who is really up on sound system tech can probably explain otherwise.

If you're asking about which head unit to go with, I guess you need to ask yourself if you want Sirius satellite radio or not, if you want nav or not, and how big a touch screen you want, and go from there. The Uconnect website goes over their specs, but in a nutshell the 130 is just a basic AM/FM radio & CD player, while the others have Sirius satellite radio, an internal hard drive for playing mp3s (etc), and a 6.5" touch screen and Bluetooth (if you have the connectivity package). The nav versions are slightly different from each other. 430n is based on Garmin software and road maps while the 730n is based on Navteq. The 730n also lets you have traffic updates from Sirius and lets you input destinations by voice, though anyone I've talked to says its voice nav is bad and it's faster / easier to pull over and input your destination by hand. The other big thing to keep in mind is that the nav systems were designed for on road use only, so while they're fine for getting around town they are useless in the field and you will likely want to get a hiking / outdoors GPS anyway (there's another thread going on that here).

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H8ROADS said:

It's really about the same if you ask me, I've owned both. It's fine, but if I had the choice I'd go aftermarket. The 430N, while decent, is far from good.

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srosario said:

I upgraded my stereo to a pioneer X2600bt awesome. I also did speakers and woofers

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Wethy said:

just an option.... maybe look into marine stereos, since they are designed for marine use a lot of them have sealed casings that dont allow water to get in and have a "anti rust" coating on them to help prolong life. just a thought. i dont think you'll find a touchscreen deck but its been a few years since i looked at em

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ZombieLunchBox said:

Ill check them out tonight! thanks!

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