DIY 3.5" JL Audio dash speaker upgrade - Wow!

Absolutely.

 

I was looking for pre wired bass blockers I could hook up with the red wolf dash connector to avoid soldering. Wondering if these would be plug and play? Anyone know?

 

Those are not plug and play. There is no plug and play harness available with bass blockers already installed to my knowledge. If you can’t solder, butt connectors are your next best option.

 

I'll just head to harbor freight and pick up a cheap soldering iron and watch some videos. Any tips? Should I purchase some helping hands to hold the wire? Thanks!

 

I’ve been soldering for many years. Best tip I can give you is best the wire not the solder. Once the wire is hot enough, it’ll “drink” the solder. You’ll understand once you see it. The only way to get good at it is to practice.

 

They have a soldering iron at harbor freight for like 6 dollars lol. I wonder if that will get the job done? I've never soldered before just watched a few videos and it doesn't look too bad. Will purchase one when the 3.5 comes in

 

The harbor freight iron is actually pretty good for the money. Has a pointed tip which is perfect for small stuff like this and it heats up quick. I don’t believe it comes with solder so be sure to get some.

 

Do you have a Micro Center near you? They have the helping hands, shrink tube, and even irons in stock. These bass blockers were my first attempt at soldering. I used the helping hands and practiced on some old speaker wire I had laying around. Practiced until I felt comfortable and went for it. Best tip I can offer is to practice.

 

Got the solder iron and red wolf harness. Will try to solder the bass blocker on tonight. I had a question though. Do I solder the bass blocker to both wires on the positive side or just one and if so which one? I see two wires on the positive side and two on the negative. Thanks for any help

 

Twist both reds together. Then solder the blocker to the pair of red wires. I’ve never use those adaptors but that’s what makes sense in my head. Front speakers are wired in series, dash and doors. That’ll complete the series circuit.

 

I didn't use the bass blockers with two wires from crutchfield. I believe the bass blockers came with the 3.5 inch speakers from Infinity. I used those and they were only one wire.

 

I'm going to use the two that came with the infinity reference. My question was if I should solder them into both wires on the positive side or just one of the wires on the positive side. Crutchfield told me there was no need to solder in bass blockers because it already has high pass filters. I'm guessing high pass filters is just the technical term for bass blocker and those high pass filters are what's Included in the box and need to be solderd. Unless the speaker itself has a high pass filter built into it and these are bass blockers. I dunno, I'm pretty stupid when it comes to audio

 

They’re assuming the factory wiring runs through a crossover which it does not. The factory capacitor is on the back of the factory tweeter and that’ll all be removed as an assembly. You absolutely should use the bass blockers which are just capacitors. Use the ones supplied by the speaker manufacturer.

 

Been listening to you from the start. You've been a big help In this thread. Got it done.

 

Glad you got it done, sorry I couldn't reply sooner, but that's the good thing about this site....plenty of help.

 

Very first post on this thread recommends some capacitors.

 

I see some people using the blue colored bass blockers which typically block 0-300 hz and others using the red colored ones which block from 0-2.8 kHz which seems to cut out most of the mid range. It looks like the blue would cut out all of the low end frequencies while still allowing most of the mid range and the red would basically turn these into tweeters. Can anyone clarify which way would be best to go. Just for clueless people like myself looking to do this mod in the future. The red seems to be marketed to 3.5 inch speakers and blue for larger speakers. Thanks for any input

 

What do adding these things do to the speakers resistance/impedance?

 

You are a freaking LEGEND..... nice writeup!!!

 

Nothing

 

Google the speaker model and look at the frequency response. Usually a 3.5 is good down to between 100-150 hz. Match your bass blocker to the spec of your given spacers. What is the model?

 

I got mine installed already with the supplied capacitors from Infinity and sounds fine. This is for a friend of mine with the same Infinity reference 3.5 3032. His speakers were used and had no supplied capacitor. All I see on my capacitor or 270uf. I'm trying to figure out a close match for him. Do you think 300hz would be a better frequency range over 600 or a different range? Reference3032- frequency response: 85-21,000 Hz

 

Infinity claims 85-21000 hz response. I’d go with a 133UF blocker which cuts you off at about 150 HZ to play it safe.

 

Thanks man, really appreciate it. So all 133uf bass blockers cut off around 150?

 

Frequency cutoff is based on speaker impedance. With the reference being 3 ohms, it’ll be in that range.

 

Ok good to know. I find this stuff interesting but it's over my head. Would love to get a crash course for a couple weeks about audio and electrical shit. I should've avoided public school and learned some usefull skills

 

I’ve been doing it about 25 years. In the early 2000s I took the MECP certification class. It was 7 weeks and I believe was about $3000 back then. No idea what it is now.

 

Probably 30% higher like everything else

 

Can these be used as a tweeter replacement, if you have a component setup like the focal istoy690 (6x9 & tweeter)?

 

Reviving.
I just looked at this entire thread. I'd be all for the 3.5" speaker install in the dash if I wasn't such an audiophile. I'll be putting a dedicated tweeter in my dash, along with a 6.5" midrange in the front doors, 6.5" coaxial in the rear doors, and a 12" sub, all powered by 2 Rockford Fosgate amps. I've already did the tailgate speaker disable, because I won't need them.