ralfwalter Posted August 20, 2019 Report Share Posted August 20, 2019 Hi everyone!! Anticipating my new parts arriving for an upgrade to my Sony 12 speaker system. Here's what I'm going with (for the most part): Deleted the center speaker already. Screw that thing in every way. Stereo or surround mode... terrible terrible terrible... and they've been doing this for years. ugh Pioneer TS-Z65CH for each of the 4 doors (had to have them - could have gone slightly cheaper but no... this is the bees knees at $300 a set imho) Stealthbox SB-F-EDG2G/10TW1 (omg this was $700 but after weighing the hassle of going with a box sitting my cargo or modding the stock to accomodate a new 8" I just caved in) Hertz MP 25.3 for the rear pillars (my OCD hates I'll have 3 different speaker brands but I think it's time to lighten up, Francis) Kenwood Excelon XR600-6DSP 1 channel for each of the doors and then the other 2 for the rear pillars (not sure who else has done it this way yet, more on that later...) iDatalink Maestro AR iDatalink HRN-AR-FO2 Harness Alpine MRV-M500 (not new but already had this so why not re-purpose) dedicated for the sub Roadkill RKFR6 FAST Rings (seems like something worth trying) T-SPEC V12-ANL Fuse Holder for the 1/0 wire at the battery T-Spec FDB-124M DISTRIBUTION BLOCK to split to two 4 gauge wires for each of the amps Wire will come from local hardware because wire kits are not my thing. Already pulled the stock sub and listed that for sale. My configuration may stray from what's already been done. Instead of leaving the front tweeters on their own channel I am utilizing the component crossovers so I can free up those 2 channels for the rear pillar speakers. We'll see how it goes. If it does not work out great then it's only a $100 loss and a very easy thing to undo. Intent is to mount all 4 crossovers in the same area in either the right or left under cargo "foamy things". There's already a dedicated wire that runs to the front tweeters because of they are/were on a dedicated channel but for the rears I will need to run a wire to each of the rear doors from the crossovers for the tweeters. I am doing this because it just seems odd to try to mount those crossover boxes inside the door panels. We'll see. The fun stuff will be figuring out how I want to mount the crossovers to a platform for the occasional peek (I like to take pride in my work). Not sure how the configuration will go for the rear pillar speakers in terms of 'fade' so we'll see. But I will wire them stereo (they will not be a mono-summed 'surround' set up any longer). The process is going to be somewhat slow because I want to do this over several days and not as a marathon. I'll get in the sub first and un-wired. Then start with the rear doors and get the tweeter wires run and install those speakers. The fronts will be a little easier as they are fully wired separately. The Kenwood amp is not even ordered yet. Seems it's easily obtainable new (not refurbished) at about $500. This give me time to draw up some funds to help out. If not then oh well I'm getting it anyway with a few weeks. My purpose for documenting this nonsense is to have something to go back to so I can see if I executed according to plan AND if it worked out ok. I did a full upgrade on my 2008 focus with new amp and sub amp including speakers and it was night and day different. I skipped all this for my car in between (2016 Fusion) but had wanted to do it. This time I decided to commit. So here it is. I researched this a ton and most of the pointers came from this very place (which I appreciate). If there are particulars of the install you hope you might be able to glean from my project please post before I'm finished and I'll do my best to document. There are already some great posts from installs and I'll probably not repeat any of those learnings if possible. Wish me luck! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truckroot Posted August 22, 2019 Report Share Posted August 22, 2019 That is definitely a different system. I’ve redone mine quite a few times so here are some tips you may find helpful. -Mounting the front xovers in the rear will be ideal. The F02 harness comes with an additional harness that attaches to where the output from the factory amp was so there is no splicing. -The rears you may want to put in the rear door panels. It is extremely difficult to get wires through the doors because of the molex plug. It’s possible, but it’s a pain! -Those Hertz MP 25.3 are amazing tweeters. I prefer soft dome over metal ones, unless they are Beryllium, but that’s me. Sounds like you will be running those active so make sure you set your HPF to at least 2.5KHz with a minimum slope of 12dB so you are at 2x FS. -I would also suggest a bit of sound dampening for the doors. You don’t need to get crazy with it but it definitely helps. That coupled with the fast rings makes good speakers sound awesome. Have fun fun with your install and keep posting your progress✌️ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralfwalter Posted August 25, 2019 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2019 On 8/21/2019 at 10:19 PM, truckroot said: That is definitely a different system. I’ve redone mine quite a few times so here are some tips you may find helpful. -Mounting the front xovers in the rear will be ideal. The F02 harness comes with an additional harness that attaches to where the output from the factory amp was so there is no splicing. -The rears you may want to put in the rear door panels. It is extremely difficult to get wires through the doors because of the molex plug. It’s possible, but it’s a pain! -Those Hertz MP 25.3 are amazing tweeters. I prefer soft dome over metal ones, unless they are Beryllium, but that’s me. Sounds like you will be running those active so make sure you set your HPF to at least 2.5KHz with a minimum slope of 12dB so you are at 2x FS. -I would also suggest a bit of sound dampening for the doors. You don’t need to get crazy with it but it definitely helps. That coupled with the fast rings makes good speakers sound awesome. Have fun fun with your install and keep posting your progress✌️ Managed to get new wires into the rear doors. it was a project! There's a dummy connector in that molex that I drilled through. Also had to disconnect it to be able to ID that and drill the hole but it worked out. I'm pretty happy I'll have all 4 crossovers under the cargo liner. It'll look cool I guess when I see it every few months. The rear doors were the hard part for sure because of running that dedicated tweeter wire. Oh I took your suggestion and I did dampen behind the speakers best I could and also used the rings. Can't wait to power all this up! Cheers! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IT_Guy71 Posted October 11, 2019 Report Share Posted October 11, 2019 I was wondering if you've made any progress? I have a '19 ST that I want to basically add a subwoofer to. I'm having a hard time finding a solution that doesn't involve buying a $300 box that gives me 6 channels- I only really need the two for Bass (1 would be fine actually). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.