Hey guys, I just wanted to post a build that I just wrapped up and I gotta say, for the amount of money I spent, it sounds incredible. I've been hugely into car audio since I started driving and have always leaned towards focal/JL/image dynamics and other high-end gear with full interior pulls for sound deadening/re-wiring but with this car, I didn't want to dump a ton into audio since I'm routing so much money into the performance side of things so I decided to turn it into a challenge for myself. I wanted to spend less than $500.

I opted to keep the deck because from a functionality standpoint, it covers me, and I suspected that the muddy distortion was coming from the stock speakers and not because of poor processing on the deck itself.

It was a challenge to find great sounding speakers when only working with 15 to 20 rms. I've seen a lot of folks throwing in infinity, jl, alpine, etc. component speakers while leaving the stock deck in place and that is a disaster waiting to happen. It's far worse to under-power a speaker than to over-power it. I cringe when I see stuff like "I upgraded my speakers but now I have to crank the volume higher to reach the same levels as before". If your running the stock deck with high-end speakers google up clipping. Anyhow I had a chance to hear these $50 kickers in best-buy and they sounded great. I found them at walmart for wicked cheap so I grabbed 2 pairs. I've been a fan of alpine type-r subs for mid-level builds and at $139 they are hard to beat. I'm usually not a fan of crutchfield at all since they are notoriously over-priced but I happened to find a nicely matching amp (w/ load is @ 2ohm) also by alpine for $129. This particular amp has speaker level inputs so no need for a line-out converter, I just tapped the signals going to the newly mounted rear speakers. I also picked up a wiring kit which blew my budget BUT then I decided that wiring didn't count : o ).

I usually build my own boxes but I've heard good things about zenclosures and decided to give them a shot. I couldn't have been happier, just make sure to provide the exact cutout dimension you need for your specific sub to ensure a perfect fit. I opted for black because I felt like black would be better than "close to matching" charcoal.

The whole build took a little less than a day, it was slow due to the weather around here plus I like to take my time.

Build list:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 pairs of Kicker CS68 - $116 (Walmart)
Kenwood Alpine MRP-M500 - $129 (Crutchfield)
Alpine Alpine SWR-10D4 - $139 (Sonic Electronix)
Zenclosures 10” trunk enclosure - $115 (zenclosures.com)
EFX 8-awg wiring kit - $49 (Crutchfield)

Anyhow, for those looking to upgrade without spending a lot, the above worked quite nicely for me. Here is a pic of the zenclosure with the alpine amp mounted on top. I go to track events so I wanted this setup to be easily removed on track days. Also, the amp's end-caps are off so I can tweak things over the next few days, otherwise you'd see zero wires.

-m

 

Great job! Thanks for sharing.

 

Very nice!

 

The
2 pairs of Kicker CS68 - $116 (Walmart)
Kenwood Alpine MRP-M500 - $129 (Crutchfield)
Alpine Alpine SWR-10D4 - $139 (Sonic Electronix)
Zenclosures 10” trunk enclosure - $115 (zenclosures.com)
EFX 8-awg wiring kit - $49 (Crutchfield)

Those are the only items i need to buy for installs this?.. or need to buy more wires? I have an base stereo radio..

 

I've got the base radio as well. The only extra items would be wire taps for the door & rear deck speaker installs, 4 crimp connectors for the auxiliary speaker input on the amp, some thick speaker wire (8 to 10-gauge) to run from the speaker to the amp and then some thin (18 to 22-gauge) to run from your rear speakers into your aux input on the amp. All of that can be had for $15 at your local home depot. Don't buy a roll of thick speaker wire, they sell it by the foot in the electrical section, you only need 6' or so.

Here is the guide I used for wiring the amp itself. Of particular interest is his use of the antennae for a 12v remote feed for the amp, just tap that blue wire and your good to go.

Also, for the rear speakers, use an 8mm (I think it's 8mm, double-check) socket with a ratchet. This will allow you to take out the speakers without removing half of the rear interior of the car! Lastly, these speaker adapters use the factory adapters so you can just plug the new ones in without having to tap the wires and such.

If you think it will help, I can scribble down somewhat of a wiring diagram, just let me know.

This amp paired with this sub hits very very very hard.

-m

 

So you are not amplifying the fronts or rears, just the woofer?

How would it sound with a nice 4 channel amp powering the 6x8 speakers vice the woofer/amp?

 

Just the woofer. With the stock deck, the low RMS requirements on the kickers make them very loud. Louder than if I had purchased more expensive speakers with a higher RMS requirement, which is why these $50 kickers will get louder (while staying clean) than a pair of $250+ JLs/kappas/etc. if hooked up to the stock deck. The kickers are in their prime at such low power while the same power is barely enough to move a higher end speaker.

Now if you were to get a separate 4-ch. amp along with some higher power handling 6x8s all the way around, the quality and total volume capability (without distortion/clipping) would be much better but at that point your all in and it turns the above into a few days work and easily doubles the cost spent.

 

What is the output of the stock (base model) stereo?

 

8 to 10 watts.

 

I was looking and there are a ton of aftermarket speakers from Pioneer, JVC, Kicker, etc that would probably work. I have always been a Pioneer speaker guy but haven't bought speakers in 10 years or so. Are they still good quality and crisp sounding?

 

+1 looks good!

 

Pioneer, JVC, and Kicker offer decent speakers. Back in the day some of them, especially pioneer, used to be in the top tier ranks but that has changed. Pretty much anything you can get at walmart/best buy/etc. is not going to be anything close to best of breed. However, they will still be a MASSIVE improvement over stock. Today a $50 speaker sounds like a $400 speaker did a decade ago.

Most brand named speakers offer consistent, high-fidelity sound, but once your beyond the $100 to $150 per set price, you quickly find yourself with diminishing returns unless your competing. I didn't expect much from these cheap kickers but boy was I surprised.

 

When you say you have the base model system, does that include the SYNC without the Shaker?

 

That is exactly what I have.

 

Thanks for sharing.


I have already replaced the front door speakers with some Pioneers, but have not tackled replacing the rears due to all of the horror stories I hear about removing so many panels. Could you elaborate a bit on what you did to simplify getting to them and just using the 8mm socket?

 

I've got a small ratchet which helped but you could also just grab a pair of pliers, preferably vice-grips, and get a good grip on the socket sideways to unscrew the speakers. Use your finger on the top of the socket to apply pressure. Do the same to tighten the new ones in. You'll have them out in under 10 mins.

 

I know this an old topic, but can you elaborate a little more? How are you getting to the bolts? And how are you removing the old speakers and adding the new? Will they fit thru the speaker hole if turned a certain way?

 

Nice install and not bad on the price. The only thing I would add would be an PAC AOEM-FRD24. This gives you 4 RCA's and it actually just plug and play to the back of the radio. No splicing or tapping any wires. I know it gives you an extra set of RCA's but for the $35 to $40 you spend its worth it to not tap any wires to get your Line Output Converter to work. Just a thought.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PAC-AOEM-FRD24-AMPLIFIER-INTEGRATION-INTERFACE-FOR-FORD-LINCOLN-MERCURY-VEHICLES-/310918687837?pt=US_Wire_Harnesses&hash=item486432ac5d&vxp=mtr

 

Hmmm, the point was to not fiddle with the stock head-unit and besides you'd still have to run RCAs through the length of the vehicle and since you have 4 lines, your talking another $30 for a pair of RCA cables, one of which you may never use. I certainly see your point though, the scalability would be nice and you would avoid tapping but as long as your not using those b/s crimp taps, the tap is fine no?

 

The only panels that need to be removed are the two rear side panels that overlap the rear deck board/carpet and the board/carpet itself. Then you can access the screws. Some tutorials show removing **** near all of the panels in the rear but that is simply not necessary.