Relatively the TH is quiet - but still not high fidelity quiet.
Yes - investing in an sound system for a Wrangler is a waste.
When it comes to fidelity, louder is not better.
This is your opinion, and one that is in the minority to the extreme. Are you saying that the only vehicle worthy of an audio upgrade is a whisper quiet Lexus or something similar?
Have you ever driven with the top down on a Wrangler with the stock system? If so, you would see why audio upgrades agree very popular for this truck. I'd think someone so concerned with fidelity would see the logic in wanting to add higher wattage amps, and speakers capable of taking those watts, to a truck where combating wind noise is such a concern. Who enjoys hearing distortion when you turn your stock system up loud enough to hear your music over the wind?
Regarding fidelity and loudness: first, let me quote the very definition of fidelity, as it pertains to audio...
fidelity: Audio, Video. the degree of accuracy with which sound or images are recorded or reproduced.
So, if you are truly concerned with audio fidelity, you better make sure your audio system can play with minimal distortion at high volumes. Ever been to a rock concert? Do you think musicians are recording albums with their amps playing at whisper-quiet levels? Heck, even a simple trumpet can routinely hit at over 110db. An orchestra playing fortissimo generally measures about 90+dB at 12th row center.
Also - most audio "upgrades" are audio distorters (like sub-woofers) and I do not have a CD player - even "HD Radio" is compressed. So I do not have a fidelity source. So no fidelity source and a non-fidelity space would not benefit any from fidelity speakers.
I take fidelity serious - every time I see someone with $400 headset listening to music from a phone - I wonder if they are listening to loss less MP3s.
Some cars have specially engineered sound systems that have decent fidelity, but this is not the case with the Renegade.
A subwoofer is an "audio distorter"? What?
You do realize that it's physically impossible for the small speakers found in car doors and dashes to faithfully reproduce the lower octaves found in almost any modern recording with enough volume to be in balance with the rest of the frequencies, the way the audio engineer intended, correct? We're not sitting in a 20'x20' room, with enough space to fit large tower speakers that have their own large woofers.
Are you the kind of audiophile that thinks that any subwoofer at all is some sort of perversion of true audio bliss? If so, then this article was written for you:
http://audiophilereview.com/subwoofers/what-audiophiles-are-getting-wrong-about-subwoofers.html
It's a sad situation. Most audiophiles don't use subs, so they're missing out on great bass. Obviously, if you're using stand-mounted speakers without a sub, you're not getting deep bass. But even if you're using a big pair of tower speakers, you're probably not getting good bass. Why? Because you have to position your tower speakers where they'll deliver the best stereo imaging -- which is not where they'll deliver the smoothest bass response. Measure the frequency response in your listening chair and you'll see how uneven your bass is.
So as you can see, even if we had enough room in the Renegade for your favorite Bowers & Wilkins or MartinLogan towers, you could still benefit from a properly set up subwoofer.
As to the supposed lack of "fidelity source", you'll be happy to learn that your USB slot takes a thumb drive, which can be loaded up with some FLAC files... same quality as a CD. It's possible the Renegade doesn't decode FLAC, but even if this is the case, it has a stereo 3.5mm jack, so you can still input any high end HD source you wish, complete with upgraded onboard DAC's, or whatever you see fit.
I'm not aware of a lossless mp3, do you have a link for this? If you're refering to 320kbps mp3, this certainly isn't lossless, though there's a very interesting thread on head-fi, where guys doing double-blind tests with thousand dollor headphones, couldnm't discern a difference between 320kbps mp3 and FLAC.
As to your point of the Renegade not being one of those "cars that have specially engineered sound systems that have decent fidelity", that's exactly what we're trying to remedy
