Starting my stereo upgrade

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Blown00gt

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I do not have my center anymore and the have a center sound stage from my calls/music. Granted a processor and tuning helped with this. Also, I am not a fan of the Kicker subs and while don't care for people to hear me a block away think the sub in car or home audio is a huge piece in the set up. I love my Audiomobile 10's and if I were you would invest a little more in the sub with a different brand/model.
 
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NV Paul

NV Paul

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I'm going with the kicker for now. Space saving over bass. It's a work truck I need the room. Easy upgrade later just have to see how big a box I can fit behind the seat over the little cubbys on the floor.

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goblues38

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thanks @smurfslayer

I did my build 1 year ago.

https://www.fordraptorforum.com/threads/it-is-done-started-my-b-o-replacement-stereo-install.68874/

It still brings joy to my ears every time i get into the car. I like the system so much, i put the exact same system (minus zen-A2B) in my commuter car 2020 GTI.

My link above outlines my build and install. Admittedly I have no flashy amp racks and i didnt bother to do sound deadener and I am not a fan of DSP's. But my system rocks. Has great sound quality at volumes 1-5 when the family is in the car. And has great volume and impact at volume 20-28 when I have the windows down, and the roof open jamming at 80mph on the highway.

You can spend $2,100 like me if you can do it yourself....or pay someone for a $3,000 build or higher. But that is the minimum ish dollar amount to make it worth it to make your stereo sound better.

Just replacing the speakers....is a waste of time and money.
 
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NV Paul

NV Paul

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Ok change of plans, here is what I have coming:

Infinity Kappa Five amps 2ea.

Infinity Kappa-90CSX 6x9 component speakers for the front doors

Infinity 60CSX 6.5” component speakers for the rear doors

Infinity 20MX mids x2 one set for the front 1 set for the rear.

Infinity REF1200S 12” subs 2ea. For behind the rear seats

Alpine PXE-0850S to tune it all and the blue tooth input.

ZEN-A2B / DSP12A-A2B

Crap load of cable fuses ends etc.

Front A pillar trim for the truck.


The amps are both 5 way. I will bridge both, one will power the fronts and one sub, the other the rears and one sub. The speakers come with crossovers and 20 mx come with a bandpass filter that should plug into the crossovers of the 6.5’s and 6x9’s. They are designed to work together and when I bridge the output from the amps that should give me 200W RMS to each corner with a true 3way component set up. Each sub gets 350W from each amp and they are rated for 250W so hopefully that will suffice. I have new front A pillar trim coming so I will custom fab speaker mounts for the mid and tweeter in the front pillar trim. The rear is still undecided, I may just put the mids in the door or I may tackle the C pillar trim and fab up custom mounts for the mid and tweeter in them. Depends on how the fronts come out. I think this could all be done without the PXE-850 but I rather have that to tweek the levels, I like the idea of BT input bypassing the head unit and the remote for selectable presets. I took the red pill…..
 

txgunsntrucks

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thanks @smurfslayer

I did my build 1 year ago.

https://www.fordraptorforum.com/threads/it-is-done-started-my-b-o-replacement-stereo-install.68874/

It still brings joy to my ears every time i get into the car. I like the system so much, i put the exact same system (minus zen-A2B) in my commuter car 2020 GTI.

My link above outlines my build and install. Admittedly I have no flashy amp racks and i didnt bother to do sound deadener and I am not a fan of DSP's. But my system rocks. Has great sound quality at volumes 1-5 when the family is in the car. And has great volume and impact at volume 20-28 when I have the windows down, and the roof open jamming at 80mph on the highway.

You can spend $2,100 like me if you can do it yourself....or pay someone for a $3,000 build or higher. But that is the minimum ish dollar amount to make it worth it to make your stereo sound better.

Just replacing the speakers....is a waste of time and money.


Don't agree. just replacing the speakers isn't a waste. You just can't expect to hear extraordinary sound from doing that alone.

The problem with car stereos is to REALLY tell the difference you have to do the whole ******** thing, including of course a good amp.


Biggest differences I could actually tell at home were when I added a dedicated amp and when I got a truly kick ass sub.

you want more volume. an amp is where it's at. combined with better quality speakers

same thing with a car.
 
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NV Paul

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Got started this weekend. I was able to get the speakers in and sound treat the doors. Front and rear doors treated with Sound Skins Pro Plus-Premium inside and out, Road Kill foam rings for the speakers, the fronts got some Second Skin Luxury liner pro, and huge thanks to Hush Audio set me up with some nice access hole covers. It took my son and me about 6-7 hours. Still, lots to do, A-pillars, amp board, sub box. Really surprised how much more midbass I get with just the speakers and sound treatment though. To install the Hush panels you will need a rivet nut tool I got one from Amazon a while back for some other projects. They are pretty handy.

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NV Paul

NV Paul

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Thank looks really nice, I did not think of that. I might put the Luxury liner in there. Especially the rear, where there is less space between the door panel and the door.
 
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NV Paul

NV Paul

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It is black ABS and nut rivets put in the door so you can use 1/4-20 bolts. I got them from Hush Audio, they came with the rivnuts, and bolts. You will need a tool to install them. Look at rivnut tools on Amazon. You can PM Hush Audio, Bruce will get back to you. Saved me a lot of time not having to make them. I used 1/16 closed cell sponge with PSA to go around the edge of the panel on the inside to prevent any vibration.
 
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