bb123

What's going on fellas.

I have a 2015 Super Crew and am sick of the stereo system. The deck is horribly under powered giving the speakers a hindered sound. When you turn the volume all the way up the bass is somehow turned down due to lack of juice to push volume and bass.

I was going to replace all 4 door speakers.

I saw the Ford Kicker kit but I think it's only for certain models and won't sound all that great from what I heard. Although, that's one persons opinion.

I was going Kicker myself with their best KS series. The problem with KS is that they don't make them in "components". So instead of the speaker being in the door and the tweeter attached being on the door pillar, the tweeter and speaker are on the same unit in the door.

I was told by the stereo shop to buy the model down. Not the low end DS, but the middle model CS. He said, the CS is just the speaker and the tweeter will fit in the pillar. He said when you have a tweeter build into the speaker, it restricts flow and movement of the speaker thus taking away from the mid-bass.

He also told me to buy two pairs of components. Once the front is installed they will do the rear and make a little cut out with a locking clip that will lock the tweeter in place giving you 4 kicker and 4 kicker tweeters as connected "component" speakers. Now, we connect it to a 4 channel 400-600watt RMS Kicker Amp and we're ready to roll.

I was advised that even this basic setup will be better than the kicker upgrade offered by Ford.

The only think I'm lacking is the sub which I'm not sure I care enough about it anymore as much as I did 25yrs ago. I was adviced to buy a mono amp and a flat sub in a truck box and it'll out perform the ford conversion with no problem. The only thing is yes, you get what you pay for and a box, sub, new amp, etc would be a little costly so for now I'll just stick with the door speakers.

My question is:
1) what do you think about the setup I'm planning
2) what if I did this setup but with a Ford kicker upgrade sub installed only?
3) are the factory kicker upgrade door speakers powered by an amp?
4) are the factory kicker upgrade tweeters upgraded?
5) Just to be clear, I'm searching for 5x7/6x8 speakers, right? As these are the same size per se...
6) Any other comments/suggestions?

king nothing

Your front speakers are the absolute most important part of your stereo. I would put a nice set of components in the front and a cheap pair of coaxials in the rear. Actually, I dont even run rear speakers in any of my systems but outside of car stereo forums that advice falls on deaf ears. I wouldnt use oval speakers. You can make adapter plates and use a 6.5 speaker. Alot more selection of speakers.

bb123

Don't the 6x8 have more surface area therefore produce more bass?

Wyo11Scab

iTrader: (1)

It would be hard to get any real bass out of a 6x8.

bb123

But it would be strong than the 6.5" right? This would avoid having to build the bracket explained by King, right?

Wyo11Scab

iTrader: (1)

It is up to you. It all depends on your budget and how "great" you want it to sound. My ears think the 6x8s sound fine.
Just don't use the stock ones.

jkenprice1

I did the 6x8's in the rear and 6.5 components in the front. I made the brackets, that's a pretty simple job, but you can buy them from Crutchfield. They actually include them if you buy speakers from them. I'd recommend buying better speakers for the front doors. There are several brands that will sound a lot better than Kicker.

king nothing

There are very few quality 6x8s on the market. You will have a much better selection of 6.5 speakers. Higher quality speakers can take more power and have higher excursion, trumping the cone area "advantage" of the 6x8.

I am often guilty of recommending equipment that I would use that might be more high-end that your average person needs or wants

I would not use the cheap plastic brackets from crutchfield. I prefer to make mine from at least 3/8 material

bb123

Thanks guys!

What do you thinking about the kicker kit with subs and amps?

jkenprice1

Here's my opinion. I have the complete kit in my truck. I upgraded the front speakers to JL 6.5 components. This system sounds a lot better than stock If you can get the complete kit for $375, I'd do it You can't do anything else of equal quality for that price. If you want better sound, your going to spend a lot more money. That being said, If I were to do it again, I'd go with a more powerful system, A 400-500 watt amp for the doors and a 400-500 watt amp for the sub, and better speakers. Not to be louder, but to have cleaner, more accurate sound reproduction.