I replaced my speakers last weekend and I have to say the stock shaker speakers are very cheap. A $30 pair of sonys would be a upgrade. I replaced them with infinity kappa 6x8's. The one pair of kappas had more weight then both pairs of the stock speakers.

 

How is the sound improvement? I hate my stock ones....muddy.

 

The Infinity Kappas are a good choice. They have a higher sensitivity rating so they do more with less power. Good clarity to. Should be a dramatic improvement. I had those in my front doors at first and they were a huge improvement. Better bass response and better highs.

 

Within the first week I got my car I changed the front speakers put pioneers in and it made a huge difference...

 

How hard is it to change them out? I assume the rear shelf has to come out to get to them.

 

One of the first things I did with my 2005 GT was to replace the Shaker 500 speakers with aftermarket Pioneer. Like another poster said, almost anything will be an improvement over stock. I went through Crutchfield. The price wasn't bad, and they included full installation instructions, including how to get the door panels off, etc. Not a difficult job at all if you have these instructions.

 

Thanks for the info but I'm more interested in the difficulty in removing the rear speakers. In my previous car (2002 Lincoln LS), I replaced the rear speakers and it was a bear getting the rear shelf off to get to the them.

 

I am considering the same speakers. What did you do with the crossover as far as mounting/placement?

 

I just did the fronts... door panel comes off pretty easy... the rear is a bit of a project, lots has to come apart... I wasn't ready to do that yet on my 5 day old car :-o

 

I replaced the rear speakers too. I don't remember removing the rear deck. I thought the process was to pop off the grills on top of the rear deck to access the speaker mounting bolts. Remove those bolts from the top, and the speakers remove from inside the trunk.

But, that's for the 2005. Not sure about the new model.

 

You make a good point. It wasn't as nerve wracking on my 10 year old Lincoln.

 

It's not hard by any means. It does require you to remove the rear deck panel and the 2 interior plastic panels on the right and left side. It seems like a lot to go through but its really not. Especially for the difference in sound quality you get.

Invest in some Dynamat, Fatmat, Zillamat, or Stinger Roadkill sound deadener and lay down some of that on the rear deck panel as well. The metal piece, not the carpet and wood piece that is removable. Mine vibrated horribly but that stuff knocked it right out. Granted I'm running a 12 inch woofer in the back but even just replacing the stock speakers can create resonance you don't want on that flimsy sheet metal. Just put a small sheet of the deadener over the holes where the speakers go then use a utility knife to cut out the hole. Then when you reinstall the speakers there will be a barrier between the speaker frame and the sheet metal. Works wonders!

 

Thanks. It sounds very similar to what I did on the LS.

 

The rears took about 45 mins to replace. The fronts about 25 mins for the first door and and 15 minutes for the second door.

Heres a great guide
http://www.jauws.com/jauws/index.php...msg2;topicseen

a good wiring guide to make sure everything is perfect
http://iihs.net/fsm/?dir=499


I used a harness for the speakers

amazon has the best deal on the infinity 6x8's


The rear was very easy to do other then dealing with the lack of space. pop out four plastic screws and slide the rear tray out and then unscrew the speakers. I used zip ties to tie the cross overs tot he bottom of the car seat satey hooks.

 

Are the front and rear speakers both 6x8s? How big of a difference did it make in the sound quality?

 

its night and day. The infinity speakers are so clean and sound so crisp. It sounds like a amphitheater now. You can hear the music now. Even talk radio is better. You can hear the difference down low and when you turn the music up you do not lose quality.

 

Yes they are all 6x8's. If you really want to step up the fronts buy components. But that will require some creativity. IE drilling holes in the front door panes to mount the tweeters. But they sound so good!

 

I used $100 a set Clarions and it's 1000 times better.

 

The shaker 500 speakers are so cheap......I didn't have the heart to give them to my son to install in his honda

 

So Ford says that the Shaker 500 has 8 speakers. 2 sub woofers in the doors, 2 6x8s in the doors, and 2 6x8s in the rear deck. If the 6x8s are 1-way, then that's 6 speakers. If the 6x8s are 2-way, then that's 10.

Are the front 6x8s 2-way and the rears 1-way? That would be 10...