# Stealthy 2012 Jeep Compass Install



## Aaron95867 (Nov 8, 2012)

Well, I'm new to the forum and decided to brave the beautiful blizzarding weather of Edmonton, Alberta to snap a few pics of my amp/sub install. My system is just a basic low-power amp/sub setup, mainly to appease the audiophile in me rather than shake houses down the street.

My main priority for this project was to maintain as much usable space as possible, and i had to mess around a bunch to get it where I wanted it, hence why you'll see multiple holes in the sub enclosure. 

Heres what the car looks like not in the dead of winter!
















The sub. Pioneer TS-SWX251 10" Downfiring sealed sub/enclosure combo.
200W RMS / 800W Max at 4ohm.
Positioned in such a way that I can utilize trunk space with the "60" of the 60/40 seats tilted down, and also get to the spare tire with the "40" tilted down. 









The amp. Alpine MRP-M500 Mono Amplifier (Class D)
300W at 4 ohm / 500W at 2 ohm









After a few amp position placements above the floor, I discovered that the amp fit perfectly into the spare tire easily with the floor down! 









The 60A inline fuse that came with the Stinger 8AWG complete wiring kit.










Overall I'm very pleased with the setup, especially considering I kept the OEM head unit and stock door speakers and had to fudge around with a lot of wire splicing for the cheap LOC unit i put in the dash. The OEM 6x9's sound so much better relieved of the burden of constant bass, and even with no headunit sub control, I find tweaking the bass levels with the HU EQ very easy. 

The only thing I may change in the future would be the addition of another 10" sub, just to experiment with running the system at 2ohm/500W, but for now, at just under $500 this will do just fine as a daily driver setup.


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## toolparabols (Sep 23, 2009)

You might run into overheating issues when summer comes with that amp mounted upside down and in a small space like that.


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## Aaron95867 (Nov 8, 2012)

Definitely something i"ll be keeping an eye on come summertime, -20C and 35C are two totally different beasts. I left enough cable for all connections to do a seat-back mounting of the amp and/or the sub should that become an issue. The floor and the rubber of the tire have about an inch between each other and the floor itself isn't airtight by any means. Does upside-down mounting cause a significant increase in heat in class D amps?


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## Aaron95867 (Nov 8, 2012)

Okay, so a quick and dirty update, the sub on the plastic flooring created an awful rattling, so I finally went and bought a drill and mounted it onto the metal back of the rear seat. And I also finally loomed and sticky-backed the rest of the cables (minus the RCA's due to so much slack). Even the bit of blue cable that's visible in this photo is now loomed. I also changed the fuse block to a MAXI type after blowing my ANL fuse from an accidental contact of the power cable to the chassis. I can't find ANL's in most stores, but most places seem to stock MAXI-types, so this was a convenience move.

The sub sounds ten times better in its new location. No more rattling and the sound fires nicely off the back seat.


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## Chaos (Oct 27, 2005)

Looks pretty good.

I drove a Jeep like that for a few months, and I definitely liked having the space for 6x9 door speakers to work with. If you ever upgrade further, it is easy to find some drop replacements or even make a simple adapter for components.


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## oldturd (Oct 31, 2009)

I love simple stealthy installs. Good job.


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## gbrockel (Dec 4, 2012)

Wow, nice job man. Im really happy i searched for stealthy jeep installs as it brought me here. And i just joined so i could respond!

2 weeks ago i bought the exact same jeep (and even more bizarre is that were in the same town) so ive been researching what i should do for audio with this thing. 

Im so so happy i found this, in fact im ecstatic, because youve actually helped me decide what im going to do for my own amp install. It also helps that youve identified the floor hatch rattling problem as i will need to deal with that as well

I agree that perhaps youll have a cooling issue. I have struggled with where im going to put the amps since i dont want to sacrifice the 60/40 storage usage.

I personally plan on having a sub, so an amp for that and a 4 channel amp for an eventual door speaker upgrade. Keep us posted on how your setup works! Any advice you provide will definently help my future work


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## Aaron95867 (Nov 8, 2012)

That's awesome! Glad I could be a good coincidence in your search! 

This setup will appease me for now, but I already want more power and upgrades.


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## Chaos (Oct 27, 2005)

If you guys were anywhere near me, I have a nice finished amp board that fits neatly around the spare tire under the storage lid that I would gladly give to another DIYMA member.


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## trotter13 (Dec 2, 2012)

Chaos said:


> If you guys were anywhere near me, I have a nice finished amp board that fits neatly around the spare tire under the storage lid that I would gladly give to another DIYMA member.


I'm in PA or NY depends if I'm at work or home.
If your close I'll take u up on that deal, but I'll gladly pay u for it.


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## trotter13 (Dec 2, 2012)

Nice job, I have a 2010 jeep compass and was wondering where u drilled the hole though the firewall for the power wire?
Thanx, TOM


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## tyroneshoes (Mar 21, 2006)

Have a patriot, same car- check my thread.

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum...llery/126258-my-most-simple-install-ever.html

BTW, I drilled though the firewall for my 4 ga.


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## trotter13 (Dec 2, 2012)

tyroneshoes said:


> Have a patriot, same car- check my thread.
> 
> http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum...llery/126258-my-most-simple-install-ever.html
> 
> BTW, I drilled though the firewall for my 4 ga.


Right, got that but where did u drill. I'm worried about drilling through something I shouldn't like wires or some module.
Tom


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## Aaron95867 (Nov 8, 2012)

I used the grommet where the air conditioning drain tube exits the car, just under the carpet behind the gas pedal. It was a tight squeeze with my 8ga cable, so if you're going any bigger I recommend not using that or you risk kinking the A/C tube.


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