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amschind
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There are 6 components to good audio. You CAN go way beyond them in price and performance, but in a vehicle you're not gonna notice. In no particular order:
1) Good speakers; all you need is reinforced plastic cones and wattage matched to your source
2) Decent Source; we are practically limited here to the stock receiver outputs, but in general they are good enough to not be a limiting factor. This was an issue with analog broadcast radio and tapes, but with digital everything it's essentially taken care of without intervention.
3) Enough Power; you need enough power to drive your speakers, and the stock amp's 14w RMS won't cut it. 5 channel digital amps are cheap, and I love my Rockford 5x750W. It can't annoy the neighbors and send old folks and small children fleeing, but I'm at an age where I want quality over hearing impairment.
4) Split Channel Speakers; you need tweeters and subs. A 2 way or component setup is fine for the woofers and tweeters. The core idea here is match the speaker with what its designed to do well: a 1" tweeter CAN produce at 50 Hz sound, but it won't do it well. This leads to....
5) Filters; You are likely to be power limited. Lower frequencies require more power. Therefore, to make the best use of your separate speakers AND limited power, you need to 1) have high and low pass filters so that the sub gets low frequency, the woofers and tweeters get mids and highs (the tweeters and woofers generally handle that themselves). Further, go on youtube and listen to 10-100 Hz pure sounds. You may be surprised at what you cannot hear. Take that information and set the high pass filter on your subwoofer channel so that you are not using limited wattage on sounds that YOUR ears do not detect. It's easier to test yourself than to look up and the cost is only time, so there's no reason not to do this; it is the cheapest way to "increase" the power of your amp's sub channel. Bear in mind that a decent amp will have this option built in, so it's not a separate piece (though it can be if you want to splash out more $). When I first tried to do this on the cheap, my thought was to use Crutchfield bass blockers on the factory head unit outputs to the woofers. For whatever reason, they were effective from 1Hz-20kHz, so that's not really an option.
6 Soundproofing; probably the most difficult, potentially the most expensive, and maybe the best upgrade. Costs money, time AND weight. All car audio systems have a white noise soundtrack played over them called "Road noise". A $10k system that sets off car alarms and constitutes "probable cause" on its own maybe doesn't care, but if you're listening to music at sane volumes while the vehicle is moving, road noise is a big deal. There is no such thing as too much Dynamat.
1) Good speakers; all you need is reinforced plastic cones and wattage matched to your source
2) Decent Source; we are practically limited here to the stock receiver outputs, but in general they are good enough to not be a limiting factor. This was an issue with analog broadcast radio and tapes, but with digital everything it's essentially taken care of without intervention.
3) Enough Power; you need enough power to drive your speakers, and the stock amp's 14w RMS won't cut it. 5 channel digital amps are cheap, and I love my Rockford 5x750W. It can't annoy the neighbors and send old folks and small children fleeing, but I'm at an age where I want quality over hearing impairment.
4) Split Channel Speakers; you need tweeters and subs. A 2 way or component setup is fine for the woofers and tweeters. The core idea here is match the speaker with what its designed to do well: a 1" tweeter CAN produce at 50 Hz sound, but it won't do it well. This leads to....
5) Filters; You are likely to be power limited. Lower frequencies require more power. Therefore, to make the best use of your separate speakers AND limited power, you need to 1) have high and low pass filters so that the sub gets low frequency, the woofers and tweeters get mids and highs (the tweeters and woofers generally handle that themselves). Further, go on youtube and listen to 10-100 Hz pure sounds. You may be surprised at what you cannot hear. Take that information and set the high pass filter on your subwoofer channel so that you are not using limited wattage on sounds that YOUR ears do not detect. It's easier to test yourself than to look up and the cost is only time, so there's no reason not to do this; it is the cheapest way to "increase" the power of your amp's sub channel. Bear in mind that a decent amp will have this option built in, so it's not a separate piece (though it can be if you want to splash out more $). When I first tried to do this on the cheap, my thought was to use Crutchfield bass blockers on the factory head unit outputs to the woofers. For whatever reason, they were effective from 1Hz-20kHz, so that's not really an option.
6 Soundproofing; probably the most difficult, potentially the most expensive, and maybe the best upgrade. Costs money, time AND weight. All car audio systems have a white noise soundtrack played over them called "Road noise". A $10k system that sets off car alarms and constitutes "probable cause" on its own maybe doesn't care, but if you're listening to music at sane volumes while the vehicle is moving, road noise is a big deal. There is no such thing as too much Dynamat.
STX_guy2023
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Ok so I installed those 6x9s JBL club in the front doors and 6.5 in the rear using the 2020 model adapters and connectors from Crutchfield, and they fit flawlessly. talk about sound upgrade, these babys sound loud and hit pretty hard for a factory head unit with no subs. these trucks have individual little amps on each front door, so I was thinking if they made little stereo amps that could feed from the wiring that would be awesome to increase performance. even on the 6 speaker like mine they have these baby amps.
SnareDrum
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That’s awesome, obviously I’m sure the quality is better. Any noticeable difference in volume?
astrand1
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Well that’s a great question. Yes much louder! But the unknown is that I swapped my ACM for one out of a 22 raptor because I wanted HD radio. So not sure what really made the difference but it’s very noticeable.
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Blue22
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Can you list the speaker model numbers and the adapters you used? Did you replace the center speaker or the tweeters? I plan on just upgrading the speakers and leaving the rest OEM for now.
STX_guy2023
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JBL club 9632 6x9's, JBL 620f 6.5's for rear, metra 72-5602 wire connectors, metra 72-5606 6x9 adapters, and 72-5605 6.5 adapters for the rears. also note you may need a hack saw to shorten the screws that come with the 6x9 speakers or use your own, because they give you these 2 inch screws for the covers that you don't need. what I did was put those metal clips on the back side of the screws and tighten them down, then I cut off the extra with a metal cutting saw. as for tweeters I left them alone, and I don't have the center speaker, mine is just the 6 speaker system not the B&O. so you may want to use different speakers, because I think your factory system uses 8 ohm speakers and the JBL's are 3-4 Ohm ratings and may kill the OEM amp.
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SnareDrum
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That’s good to hear, I wonder what other differences there are. I think I’m going to go the same route as you. I ordered the sounds good stereo bass roll off solution and I’m going to install the aftermarket sub. I’ll have to order the door block off plates and upgrade the speakers to see what that gets me. I might have missed it, but did you upgrade the tweeters and if you did how did you wire them up? Gf the factory head unit like stock or use the crossovers from the door speakers to the tweeters
astrand1
Well-known member
So I had the non B&O system. I ordered 2 new a piller pieces for the base B&O system to have the tweeters that face out instead of into the windshield. To my surprise the pillers came with the new tweeters installed so I just plugged them in and they sound worlds better than the other ones I had so I’m just rolling with those. So between the powerbass speakers and the new ACM my volume has increased huge. What it was volume wise at 20 is now about 13/14. At 20 it’s almost way to loud. I’m quite satisfied with the overall sound. Now I’ve just gotta figure out a small sun setup. I’ve got the ford kicker sun but that won’t work with this new ACM since it’s different software so not wanting to lose any storage space I’m going to just gut the kicker box. Might keep the sub speaker as it’s decent and I’ll just get a small amp for it and then figure out wiring. Hopefully find something plug and play. I don’t want to cut any wires.
dmac
Well-known member
I put the front 6x9s in today. Long process that required multiple trips to the hardware store to get me a drill and some insulation tape, but here are some pics.
- lots of butyl insulation on the outer door skin
- some butyl insulation on the inner door skin and door panel
- Added block off plates on the front door panels
- Replaced factory non b&o 4 ohm with kicker ds 6x9 3 ways
- Removed and Re applied foam insulation from factory speaker to new metra speajer harness
Attached some pics.
Results: I don't hear tweeters or center speaker as much anymore, the new speakers in their new enclosure deliver full range sound, very rich throughout.
Bass is much improved. Road noise was also reduced significantly.
Another note, for those who don't know, my finger is pointing at the clip you need to press down on to release the door latch cable
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stew150
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After reading through this thread I still don't heave a clear answer for "best bang for the buck". In my case I am looking to simply improve the stock speakers without adding a sub and preferable no amp to my 2022 XLT. From reading to leverage the stock system one would need a speaker with low RMS values which the the Kicker KS series seems to do. One area I don't see addressed is when should a simple woofer vs 2 or 3 way speaker be used. I have seen all mentioned for the 6X9 door speakers. Also, is there a speaker that would be appropriate for a stock set up but also for an amplified set up should I feel the need to do this at a later date?
When installing all door speakers I intend to apply sounds deadening tape to the door as well.
When installing all door speakers I intend to apply sounds deadening tape to the door as well.
astrand1
Well-known member
I’d say just get the powerbass speakers I got. Not too expensive easy to install. And they make a nice difference. They don’t need an amp.
