My current vehicle, Lincoln MKZ, lease is set to expire mid-June and I know that I HATE the factory stereo as it distorts at not-that-loud volumes. SO I am looking to buy in order to be able to update speakers. I am looking at either XLT or Lariat, but most likely the XLT.

I am looking for fairly simple. Was thinking factory would be easiest and they do offer a sub option, but I will assume its unimpressive. I hear of a Kicker VSS sub that seems to get good reviews, but its not out yet and I'm not really sure what to think about this.

I guess what I will end up doing is buying a aftermarket sub/amp and probably another amp to go along with aftermarket speakers. To put this in I will likely need to remove the under the seat storage correct? Is this easy to do?

What sizes are the other speakers in the truck so I can begin looking at options for replacing them? Any recommendations on equipment?
Finally, are there other things I should look at getting aftermarket as opposed to getting it on the truck, for example remote start, tonneau cover, bedliner, headunit etc?

 

https://www.f150forum.com/f118/speak...-sizes-293872/

here is some info from a previous thread

 

I have read just about every sound system thread on this board from start to end.

My conclusions are as follows.

No one thinks that the Sony system is as good as it should be.
Many like the Sony system and are satisfied with it. This would be me.
Those who want more have tried various upgrades with different amounts of success.
No one has as on now has posted a simple upgrade that makes it great.
Subs have been changed and upgraded with a slight improvement.

My advice is go and listen to one using an input other then then the radio and NOT Sirius. Use a usb drive or an IPOD. These trucks are sensitive to the sound source.

 

Thanks for the replies so far. They are a little geared for the Sony System though.

Well I'm primarily looking at the XLT which does not have the Sony system as an offer. It does have the Kicker Sub, but I'm not sure if I trust that based off the little reading I could find on that. Has anyone bought a 15 without a sub option and added one? Does it still have room behind the seat or do you have to go under?

 

Sony system or not you'll probably want to do a sub upgrade because the low end is very lacking even with the Sony or Kicker sub from Ford. That upgrade is fairly easy to do any there are plenty of under the seat boxes like http://www.supercrewsound.com/09f150screwdual.html and you can mount an aftermarket amp to the rear wall behind the seats to power it. I've not seen anyone do a sub behind the seat yet because there is very little room back there and even with low profile subs it'll be a tight fit.


As for the rest of the speakers I believe the front doors are 6X9 and the rear doors are 5". I've not done my doors so not sure how difficult they will be to do. The biggest thing to remember is to take the source signal for your amp from the outputs of the factory amp because the radios in these trucks use an encoded signal.


Good luck!!

 

Sound dampening (Water Protection) (Always a great upgrade).

Disconnecting the Sony Subwoofer, adding an aftermarket box under rear seat. Additionally there is plenty of space behind the rear seat of the supercrew for adding a modern amp with horsepower.

Replace the A pillar tweeters, not hard
Replace the factory front door 6x9s (Up to 7 Inch woofer) or with higher end 6x9 coaxial/component, using the extra tweeter (Component) surface mounted, no hard really, just take care adding/drilling cutting
Replace the center channel (3.5 inch with something better).

Add rear fill tweeters higher up or surface mount door with component kit for rear 5.5 inch doors.

Look for my mods/changeouts additions later. Will have real part number information logic behind changes and before after sound analysis and real world review, video and audio clips.

Anyone recommend some audio clips that can be used over and over =) Ill get them for a base line and reuse same thing.

The easiest and fastest way to improve the sound is to change out the drivers that come factory.

The best quick way is to add to the low end.

 

I would order the kicker upgrade, and try it.

If not happy replace door speakers and tweeters. If you are bass hungry you can upgrade the sub. Some on the forum have upgraded using stock box.

 

From my experience:

Sony encoding/electronics = good
Sony hardware/equipment = sucks

I listened to the sound system in 3 different f150's when I was thinking about buying one, and for an OEM vehicle sound system I didn't think it was that bad.

You can improve the sound by just replacing the stock speakers with similar spec units of a higher quality. The swap should be dirt simple and as long as you keep in the same speaker specs you won't need to replace amps, head-unit, etc. (I don't even know if it's possible to replace the head-units in these vehicles, with so much integrated into the unit for other things besides radio.)

 

Well I will say I'm less worried about doing anything with the head unit. I don't necessarily NEED anything flashy. Sure its cool and all BUT I don't really NEED it.

So my priority list is mainly Subs, speakers, and amps.