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Speaker Upgrade...Done.
I installed new Sony 5x7/6x8's into my 2010 SCREW yesterday and I gotta say that it was fairly easy! The door panels come off and back on really easily! The only issue i had was the left rear door handle nut clip fell out at some point and I had to improvise with a different clip that I had in the basement. I looked everywhere for the lost clip and it just disappeared. I even took off the bottom of the door insulation to search the inside of the door cavity. Nothing! But anyway, that was a minor issue...everything worked out for the best.
Now about the sound...there is a definite increase in sound quality and loudness but the bass response is just not there...the stock radio just does not have enough output to do the job. The bass just starts to flutter as you go up in volume...I still have to keep the EQ set at half point for it to sound good. I can go to half volume at this setting with little loss in sound quality. The stock speakers could not do that! So for those hoping for a miracle by replacing just the stock speakers...it's not going to happen! But if you are like me and just want a little more from the stock system...go for it! You'll be happier with aftermarket speakers! If you want to rock the neighborhood, plan on adding amps and subs! The stock setup isn't going to jam like that. :thumbsup: |
Did the same thing with some Polk Audio speakers in all 4 doors, same results and for less than $150.00
Definitely money well spent. . |
Did mine too yesterday with Kenwood Excelon speakers. Definite improvement over stock, but not enough base, for sure. That's largely due to the HU capping the bass at around half volume. After that, you are only increasing midrange and treble, which sounds awful. Of course the other limiting factor is that they are smaller speakers. That HU shuts down the bass to protect those small stock speakers because it wouldn't take much to blow one. After having an Infinity system stock in my Dodge (the only thing Dodge did right on that truck), I am pretty disappointed in Ford's stock system.
My biggest question after getting into the doors and seeing how much space is available, is why didn't Ford go with proper 6x9s? |
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I still have stock speakers but I installed an in line 4 channel alpine amp on the stock head unit and all I can say is wow! Next I'm going to match it up with alpine type r's 6x8 in all doors.
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Originally Posted by Nayriles89
(Post 2914019)
I still have stock speakers but I installed an in line 4 channel alpine amp on the stock head unit and all I can say is wow! Next I'm going to match it up with alpine type r's 6x8 in all doors.
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Originally Posted by Nayriles89
(Post 2914019)
I still have stock speakers but I installed an in line 4 channel alpine amp on the stock head unit and all I can say is wow! Next I'm going to match it up with alpine type r's 6x8 in all doors.
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Buy the harness for it, match colors and butt connect.
Same as an aftermarket hu install only you keep the hu and this goes in. May need an alternative power source. |
When you switch or the head unit, you're getting alot more control, a much cleaner output signal, and typically, 50 watts per channel, so more power per channel too.
I've been shopping new head units this morning, and both Kenwood and Alpine have some awesome options that would be great choices. Trying to decide which to go with is the hard part! |
Speaker Recommendations
Thanks to a member on here, I'm getting the Advent Nav unit for the F150. Pretty excited about it.
Can you guys recommend speakers for it next? My music is classic rock and country. Not into the Sub harmonic thing but I do test the bass on songs like AC/DC "Hells bells" and Billy Idols "White Wedding" loud as possible. I like the tighter thump than the shake that most have these days. I don't have a sub or amp. Hope to get the the best I can with plug and play door speakers. Then an amp if needed. I do like to crank it up occasionally. Thanks, Lenny Forgot to add. It specs as 180 watts peak power. 45w x 4. |
Anyone do the 4 channel amp on the 13 with 4 inch screen.
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Originally Posted by Nayriles89
(Post 2914019)
I still have stock speakers but I installed an in line 4 channel alpine amp on the stock head unit and all I can say is wow! Next I'm going to match it up with alpine type r's 6x8 in all doors.
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Originally Posted by NastyFFX4
(Post 2914305)
Do you have to run a separate power?
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I did a write up on how I did it. I'll try and find the link. It was actually pretty easy! No separate power or cutting into the stock wiring harness. Everything is a straight plug and play. Except for landing a ground. The amp was even small enough to fit behind the head unit.
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Originally Posted by Toddman34
(Post 2914319)
Theres a Entire write up, on what to use and what all you need in the Stereo/Audio section! I looked cant find the Thread, sorry...:blush:
Originally Posted by Nayriles89
(Post 2914354)
I did a write up on how I did it. I'll try and find the link. It was actually pretty easy! No separate power or cutting into the stock wiring harness. Everything is a straight plug and play. Except for landing a ground. The amp was even small enough to fit behind the head unit.
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I'll just do another write up with pics on here.
This is the amp I used and the two wiring harnesses. Alpine makes two of these amps, one is a 445-a and the one that I used, a 445-u. The difference is the 445-a just has wires out of both ends and the 445-u has RCA jacks out of one side meant to plug straight into aftermarket head units and the 445-u has built in crossovers. That's why I went with the 445-u. By using the two wiring harnesses you can simply unplug the factory wiring harness from the back of the head unit and plug in the amp to the back of the head unit on one side and into the factory wiring harness on the other. |
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The first thing I had to do is cut the RCA ends off of the amps harness. There are 4 RCA connectors, one for each speaker. My truck also has factory theaters. I'm guessing these are just tied in with the front door speakers.
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You'll take the aftermarket harness that will plug into the back of the head unit and splice the matching speaker outputs into the RCA wires. Everything is color coded. Don't worry about the other wires right now.
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What are the part#'s for the aftermarket harness...
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This may be the way to go.
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You'll do the same thing to the other side. The yellow wire with the fuse block on it is coming out of the amp. This is the power from your battery. You'll get this power from the head unit itself. I got a little ahead of myself in this pic but what I have to do is tie the yellow from the harness on the head unit side of the amp with the yellow on speaker side harness, and the fused yellow wire out of the amp all together to share that same power.
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Now for the rest of the wires on the harnesses. Some of them you'll use and some of them you won't. These wires are things like your illumination, ignition power, and things like that. These wires do not go through the amp. The only thing you want to amplify are your speakers! So all you have to do is splice the ones that you need together on the two harnesses. All of the others you can just wire nut them and forget about them. Then take all of your ground wires from the amp and both harnesses and tie them together with a common ground. Now just plug it in!!
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Originally Posted by Toddman34
(Post 2914390)
What are the part#'s for the aftermarket harness...
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Originally Posted by Nayriles89
(Post 2914427)
I'm not sure.. You can go to any audio shop and tell them what your doing and they will give you what you need. If I was patient, I was going to order this one. You won't have to do all of the splicing between the harnesses like I did.
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Originally Posted by Toddman34
(Post 2914452)
So with this harness theres No Splicing, just all Plug N Play???:unsure:
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Originally Posted by Toddman34
(Post 2914452)
So with this harness theres No Splicing, just all Plug N Play???:unsure:
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Originally Posted by Nayriles89
(Post 2914500)
No. There is still some splicing to do! With the other harness, you would cut off the small ends to splice into the amp, but you wouldn't have to do all of the splicing between the two harnesses like I did. Those wires are already connected on that harness.
In my thinking, if you weren't installing a subwoofer at the same time, you could still run the wires while installing the head unit, thus making the subwoofer install plug and play later, if you decide to upgrade. I'm liking this one looks great, especially at that price! http://www.crutchfield.com/p_113DPX5...T.html?tp=5684 http://www2.crutchfield.com.edgesuit...DPX500B-F.jpeg |
Originally Posted by sullyman
(Post 2914519)
This is why you just buy a good head unit - no splicing required, and you have a built in 200w amp, without needing run additional power wires.
In my thinking, if you weren't installing a subwoofer at the same time, you could still run the wires while installing the head unit, thus making the subwoofer install plug and play later, if you decide to upgrade. I'm liking this one looks great, especially at that price! http://www.crutchfield.com/p_113DPX5...T.html?tp=5684 http://www2.crutchfield.com.edgesuit...DPX500B-F.jpeg |
Originally Posted by sullyman
(Post 2913730)
My biggest question after getting into the doors and seeing how much space is available, is why didn't Ford go with proper 6x9s? |
Originally Posted by RocketFoot
(Post 2913708)
I installed new Sony 5x7/6x8's into my 2010 SCREW yesterday and I gotta say that it was fairly easy! The door panels come off and back on really easily! The only issue i had was the left rear door handle nut clip fell out at some point and I had to improvise with a different clip that I had in the basement. I looked everywhere for the lost clip and it just disappeared. I even took off the bottom of the door insulation to search the inside of the door cavity. Nothing! But anyway, that was a minor issue...everything worked out for the best.
Now about the sound...there is a definite increase in sound quality and loudness but the bass response is just not there...the stock radio just does not have enough output to do the job. The bass just starts to flutter as you go up in volume...I still have to keep the EQ set at half point for it to sound good. I can go to half volume at this setting with little loss in sound quality. The stock speakers could not do that! So for those hoping for a miracle by replacing just the stock speakers...it's not going to happen! But if you are like me and just want a little more from the stock system...go for it! You'll be happier with aftermarket speakers! If you want to rock the neighborhood, plan on adding amps and subs! The stock setup isn't going to jam like that. :thumbsup: |
Originally Posted by Biglurp
(Post 2914930)
your clip is probably stuck to the speaker magnet.. that's where ours dropped to.
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:thumbup1: subscribed
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just installed kicker 6x8's, kicker 300wx4 rms amp and a lcq-1 over the weekend. ill tell you what the amp to the door speakers makes a huge difference. i decided to got this route because it keeps the stock headunit look to the truck. if you are going to just put new speakers in you wont notice a huge difference because the stock system just doesnt have enough power. i would recommend amping them.
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You're exactly right on that point. The stock head unit can't move those better speakers. Specifically, the magnet on the primary speaker requires more energy to move them. The midrange and tweeter cones require alot less energy, so your sound becomes out of balance very quickly as you increase volumes on better speakers without proper levels of power.
The stock head unit is stock going to cap sub 80 hz frequencies, as it's designed to protect your stock paper cones from blowing. So, you are still not going to achieve balanced sound beyond the 40 to 50% threshold. Beyond that, you are only increasing the midrange and treble frequencies. The only way to fix that is to have enough amp that you never need to turn the volume up over the 40% mark, or replace your stock head unit. |
Originally Posted by caperj
(Post 2914183)
Anyone do the 4 channel amp on the 13 with 4 inch screen.
I will also try to provide a step by step write up just in case it may be different from the older trucks, I already have the shop manual with wiring diagrams so it should be a breeze to do this mod. . |
LCQ-1 beauty... http://www.audiocontrol.com/712451/p...-AccuBASS.html
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Originally Posted by fringe_remnant
(Post 2916586)
LCQ-1 beauty... http://www.audiocontrol.com/712451/p...-AccuBASS.html
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I've got a JL cleansweep if you're interested. We were going to use it in mine but ended up just amping the speakers and adding 2 8" sub's instead.
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Does anyone know how many watts I need for a 12 inch Rockford fosgate sub? With the stock head unit
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Whatever the RMS rating is for that particular sub.
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...
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Liking this upgrade. Def on my to do list. Best Buy in Canada want almost $200 for this amp so I'll be looking for alternatives.
Any suggestions for a reasonably priced better plug and play amped sub to go with this upgrade? |
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Originally Posted by caperj
(Post 2914183)
Anyone do the 4 channel amp on the 13 with 4 inch screen.
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