Ok, Chaotic Bliss posted these pics a while back...of the front door speakers.

Three questions for the people who have replaced there speakers or who know-

1. The stock speakers appear to be "fake" 5x7s...in that they look like components. Is this true?

2. The stock speakers come out in that black enclosure thingy. Where did you guys mount the aftermarket 5x7's (or whatever size you put in). There doesn't appear to be room to just bolt it to the door...and that would stink. Did Ford really go cheap and not build the enclosure in the door for the mids and highs?

3. Has anyone put component 5.25's or 6.5's in yet? How did you fit them?

 

I assume you had bought some replacement 5x7 speakers, do they not line up to the holes in the second pic? That is the first pic of the stock setup and I think they do look like components, but its not entirely unusual. I know Boston Acoustics makes some speakers just like those: components to a 5x7" plate. Let us know how it goes, and if you can put up pics of your new install minus the inside door please do.

 

I read that it's a 1" tweeter and a 4" midrange.

 

I replaced my stock system with an aftermarket one, but I knew I was going to do it when I ordered the car, so I deleted the shaker option. The speakers I replaced were definitely not component speakers, but you are right, those in the pics sure do look like components.

Boston Acoustics SL80 speakers are component speakers put on a 5x7 plate, with a built in crossover on the plate. I replaced the factory speakers with 4 of those and I can vouch for them, they are fantastic.

Unless you get a custom plate built, or do it yourself, you are not going to fit 5.25's or 6.5's in there, you just cant get the holes lined up. You will need 5x7 or 6x8, unless you are ready to do some serious custom fabbing, drilling of the door and rear deck etc...

 

grrrrrrrrr.....well shoot. I am afraid I wont get any mid range sound with 5x7's and 8's down low. I wonder if I can fit aftermarket 4" and 1" speakers in that 5x7 plate that is there.

Oh, and these aren't my pics....someone else posted them.

 

Im a bit confused here, if you are gonna run 8 inch subs down low, all you will get out of your 5x7's is mids and high. Unless you have a setup that doesn't have a crossover somewhere, which is a quick way to destroy your subs.

 

Yes those are 'Component' speakers in the doors. There are a couple of companies who sell speakers like that (Boston Acoustics as already mentiond) if you want to go that route. But you still might need to make (or buy) a spacer in order to have the enough clearence for the speaker magnet.

If you want to do it youself, it woudn't be too hard to fit in a 4" mid and 1" tweeter if that is what you want. Basically you would just have to make your own adapter. Its not super hard. You would just take the stock speaker, trace it onto a peice of 1/4" or even 1/2" MDF (depending on the mounting depth of your new speakers) and cut that out. Then you would make holes in that for the 4" mid and the 1" tweeter. I've done it on my T-Bird and it worked okay. Or you could also buy some 5.25 coaxials and follow the same procedure to make them fit. Again some companies like Boston will provide you with a 5x7" -> 5.25" adapter with some of their speakers.

 

hmmm....more work than I thought.....sigh

 

wait....so 5x7's, and 8"s down low with a crossover will work? I will get sufficient low, mid, and high sound?

should I look for 2 or 3 way 5x7's?

 

You're going to be hard pressed to get a 8" sub in the door without modding, from what has been mentioned on this board at least. There is such a thing as an 8" midbass speaker which should fit. I know kicker makes a pair.

What I don't know is how to split the signal with an aftermarket head unit. Front LR and Rear LR is a no brainer, but how do you get leads for the front LR bass? If you run it in series you sap a lot of power, and also don't isolate the bass for the 8" woofer.

I'm struggling to figure out how to install an aftermarket setup without a 2 or 3 way active crossover?

 

Surfn, first off oatmeal is right about the 8 inch subs in the door. I *think* someone here got some 8 inch JL audio's in the door, if so those are a great choice, I run JL audio and I can vouch for the quality and sound, but its going to be a tight fit.

To run a dedicated subwoofer in the door, you will most likely have to get a seperate amp to drive the subs, in fact I have never seen a head unit with an amplified sub output, all I have seen have pre outs IE non amp'ed outs. Unless you are on a budget, really that is the only way to get good sound, the head unit wont make nearly enough juice to power any sub worth a crap.

Soo, to answer your question, yes if you put 8 inch subs in the door, all you need is a good pair of 2 way 5x7 or 6x8's for the door. 3 way, 4way, and yes even 5 way speakers are just way overkill on the high tones. Good 2 ways will handle the mid and high perfect.

So your setup would run something like this...

Head unit with built in crossover and pre amp out for the sub.
Sub amp
8 inch subs in the doors
4 pair 2 way 5x7 speakers (door and rear deck)

Head unit drives the 4 5x7's, sends only the mid and high frequencies to your speakers, and has a pre out for the sub, this pre out connects to the amp, which takes the signal and amps it(most amps have crossovers too) and sends the bass only signal to your subs.


Oatmeal, your gonna need an amp, no sense trying to jury rig all that. Just let the head unit run your front LR and rear LR, amp can power the subs.

 

Mellow Yellow... that setup works fine unless you use the 8" spot for midbass, essentially a three-way speaker component setup, with a seperate sub in the trunk. I think I am going to stop making my head hurt and just take it to a pro installer!

 

ok ok ok....

My plan was this


aftermarket alpine head unit with 3 pre out.

2 5x7 speakers AND 2- 8" sub/midbass speakers powered by a 4-chann amp (115wx4)
1 10" 10w6v2 in the trunk powered by a sub amp (500wx1 rms)


I am going to leave the rear speakers unhooked. I plan for this car to have front staging....and with the speakers I am putting in up front and in the trunk...you wont hear anything behind the front seats.

QUESTION:

1. Will the 4 chann amp be able to have 2 of the channels (going to the 5x7's) be mid-high sound....and the remaining 2 channels (going to the 8" or 6.5" midbass/sub) produce LOW sound? then...the sub amp will take care of the sub?

2. OR, I could do this. Get a 2 chann amp to power the front 2 5x7 speakers. Put two 8" subs in the doors (custom fabbing of course). Put 1 10" JL sub in the trunk. Hook the sub amp...which is about 500wx1....to the sub in the trunk. get a small (125wx2) amp to power the front 2 8" door subs. So that is 3 preouts, if I am counting correctly. The "front" would be to the 2 chann amp powering the mid/highs. the "rear" would be the subs in the doors, powered by the 2 chann amp. and the sub pre out would be to the sub amp, which powers the 10" in the trunk. Would this work?


I am not to up on wiring and such. But either way...I think I want to stick to front staging. would this work?

 

If I was going to replace the speakers I would put JL 8's in the bottom. I would then create a mdf backing plate for the 5x7 slot, since as some already posted it is not flat so you just can't bolt a speaker to it. In that custom plate I would mount a 5 1/2" mid and a 1" tweeter. I would crossover the doors in a fashion that would have the 8" sub range from 60 hz to 140 hz and then the 5 1/4" from 120 hz on up. That way the sub in the trunk would be 80 hz down. All ranges would be covered and I would adjust the db at the proper frequencies so I would not have any "dead" spots.

It may not be exactly like that because I would not know for sure until everything was installed, but that is where I would start.

 

I do not know of any 4 channel amps that let you send difference frequencies to the channels, so I am not sure if your first option will work. You could get a crossover which will only pass on low frequencies to the 8" woofer but then your setup is getting more complicated (and expensive).

Your second option will work fine. Get a two channel amp to run your 5x7's another 2 channel amp to run your 8" woofers and a Mono amp to run your 10" sub. That will be fine. You can either use Front, Rear and Sub pre-outs from the deck or you can split the Front pre-outs for the 5x7's and 8" woofer.

I am planning on doing a front stage only setup in my car as well.

 

sweet....second option it is.

Better to hook the woofers to the rear or split them with the fronts?

 

Well you might as well use the rear pre-outs. Then you can also adjust their loudness by changing the fade settings.

 

oh....good idea. awesome.

 

my buddy also added....I can even control time correction for the height difference between the mids and subs doing it that way.


SWEET.

 

My friend suggested that a pair of components would be a better option than a 2 wat 5x7 up front.

But with pairs of 1", 5.25", and a 8" up front...wouldn't I need a 3 way crossover? Do they make these? And if I did that...my two channel amp would need ALOT of power per channel to drive 3 speakers (one of them being a 8" JL sub).