Was noticing that the rear speakers are not in any sort of enclosure. Is this cost-cutting by the beancounters or is the trunk being used as the "box"?

I have the shaker 500 and while I don't want to swap out the entire system - would it be worth getting better aftermarket speakers for the rear and enclosing them in a box?

 

I dont think itd be worth it, personally. Most rear speakers, especially 6x9s, are freefloating. You COULD add a box to them, but I really dont think it would make a difference.

 

I think it uses the trunk as the enclosure.

I just ordered the Kenwood eXcelon 6x8's from Crutchfield.com for the rear deck and front doors.

Around $149 per pair. The eXcelon's are Kenwood's top of the line models.

I am now trying to figure out how to replace the subs in the front doors. Looks complicated though due to the Ohms and enclosure.

If you put replacement subs in with the factory head unit they won't work. I want to keep the factory unit to keep the 6 disc MP3 player.

 

Ryan - that sounds tempting to replace all speakers - it should give you better sound.....but how will the factory subs sound in harmony with the upgraded 6x8's in the doors and rear deck?

I had an '01 Lincoln LS that had the audiophile sound system in it and was amazed that Ford would use such cheap speakers in a $42K car with a premium sound system. I was able to switch out all speakers with Infinity Kappa's and add a 4 channel amp in the trunk while still retaining the stock head unit, steering wheel controls, remote amp turn on - etc. I'm wondering about adding an amp to the Shaker 500 system with better speakers - would really make it rock!

Oh, forgot to ask - are the 6x8's direct drop in replacements or do you have to do any cutting in the doors?

thx

 

Its going to be determined by the speaker itself. They all have different magnent sizes, mounting depths, and sightly different widths etc. Crutchfield has a list of speakers they guarantee to fit, Id check there.

 

I went through Crutchfield and it said that the Kenwood eXcelon 5x7/6x8 speakers fit without any modifications.

As for the sound of replacement speakers, I have always found that upgrading always ends up coming out sounding better.

 

Per Crutchfield, the stock shaker head unit only sends midrange frequencies to the rear speakers. No high-range (tweeter) signals are sent to the rears.

 

Ive never seen or read anything saying that the stock headunits had crossovers bulit in, active or passive, but if thats true its a darn good thing. Its cutting out alot of frequency noise those speakers cant really interpret, and lets them focus on full midrange. Rear speakers = fill. Filtered fill = yay