2006 LS stereo install pics

[n8bachelor]

I wanted to share my install. Goal was to keep it looking factory and clean as much as possible. Car started as 2006 Lincoln LS with factory (sucky) NAV. Pioneer Head unit was installed last summer using the factory wiring, factory amps, and wire harness connection. Removed the trunk nav system at that time. Factory 6x9 subs blew about Christmas time so I pulled the amp and started planning the upgrade. Ended up doing it in a few steps: rear deck damping and sub install, door damping, speakers and amp install, tweeter install. I'm sure that added to my total time invested but I was pretty much limited to weekend work.
Enjoy!


Frontal

Side Shot

Stinger Roadkill. My first time to install damping. Still have enough to do the rear doors and trunklid if the mood strikes me.

Alpine PDX-f4 Amp. Small and powerful

Kicker KSS 6.5 front channel. Did not install rear door speakers

Kicker Comp 8" at 8ohm. Got them cheap on ebay as "new old stock". Did not get a pic before the install.

Kicker Comp 8's with MDF mounting check. Ended up drilling a new hole to mount each one and removed the LATCH clip and used that bolt too.

Passenger fitment check

Driver fitment check

Underside fitment check. Those are not the bolts I ended up using.

Not any deeper than factory 6x9s

Sound damping underside of deck. I spent a lot of time in the trunk.

Damping installed. No pics of the factory foam under the deck. Had to cut it a little but everything fit back together well.

Routed the speaker wires from amp to subs and crossovers along the trunk lid tension rods.

Removed the speaker cover foam

Plastic was pretty loose, so it was removed also before reinstalling the grill.

Passenger door factory vapor barrier.

Passenger door exposed. Look at those holes!

I did end up cutting a little around the speaker hole in the door panels to insure no contact with the 6.5" drivers.

Passenger door damping complete. I did the exterior skin on both doors where I could reach too.

Driver door interior.

Marked the holes for reuse of the factory wiring pins.

Driver door damping complete. This one was more complicated than the passenger side but turned out well.

Check the driver depth for possible clearance issues. I knew the kickers were shallow going into it.

Made speaker adaptors using cheap plastic cutting boards.

Passenger door midrange installed with the adaptors.

Check tweeter location - sail panel would have to be surface mount.

Check tweeter location - could be mounted like a coaxial with this Kicker system.

Check tweeter location - did not want to cut into the door.

Check tweeter location - ended up going with the dash trim panel that covers the defrost vents thanks to a tip from a facebook post.

Tweeter install step 1 - tape top surface and mark location on bottom of trim

Tweeter install step 2 - drill slowly

Tweeter install step 3 - used Dremel to finish off the hole

Tweeters in place.

Look pretty nice there too.

Ordered wiring from KnuKonceptz.com 10' tinned OFC 4 gauge with 80 amp fuse, 50' of basic 14 gauge speaker wire, 20' of 4 channel twisted RCA, ring terminals and shrinkwrap.

RCA wire size comparison. It was pretty big having all 4 in one.

Center console routing for wiring to front of car. I considered both sides but this turned out well. Fish tape and prybar made short work of it.

There is a nice channel in the carpet foam on the passenger side of the center console that the wires ran through.

Review of the KnuKoncepts RCAs said the colored markers on the heads of the RCAs came off easily, so I taped them up.

I did not dampen the trunk but may need to do the lid.

Driver door jamb was a mess with the electronic module in the way. Passenger side was bad too, had to loosen the fuse box to get to the door boot.

Ended up pulling the rubber boot away from the door and jamb to make it easier to work with. Grab tool made it a lot easier to get the wires.

Factory 4-channel amp location on driver side behind the carpet.

Had quite a lot of unused cables to stuff out of the way.

Used this location to install the Kicker crossovers. Did not want them in the doors.

Used a similar mounting system for the amp but the REM made this location harder to work with.

Amp ground wire uses the factory grounding location. I ended up removing the key switch the previous owner installed on the ground wire for safety of the amp.

KnuKonceptz wire.

Whole car was a mess at this time.

Garage parts pile.

Final amp location visible from the trunk.

Interior carpet on driver side covers crossovers and factory wiring mess.

Head unit removal for new wiring connection. I've done it several times now on my two cars.

Grab tool was a lifesaver. Routed the tweeter wiring over the instrument cluster. Did not get a photo of the final wiring but did end up cutting off the factory adaptor.

Here is "done time"

 

[1LoudLS]

pretty good looking install. I really love PDX amps, great power and super clean sound. also a pretty big fan of the KS components also, your tweeter placement is pretty much exactly the same as mine.

just a small tip, if ever going from oval factory speakers to rounds, you can save a little time by buying 6x8 to 6.5 speaker adapters on amazon for about $10, luckily my Alpines came with their own in the box


also the sound deadening job looks great as well, however, I hope you don't have a window regulator go bad! it really sucks to have to find and cut away the sheet to find and remove all the bolts (yeah, I found out the hard way)



what are you using to power the 8"s? did you just bridge the rear channels of the F4 for the sub and running it in tri-mode and running the rear speakers off of the radio since they were not replaced?

 

[briasmit91]

Very nice and clean install! You've for sure inspired me in a few ways for when I get to mine.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Andrizzle]

I echo everything from 1LoudLS. I really hope you just replaced your regulator clips, because that job is going to suck now!

Your LS is super clean inside. Jealous.

 

[n8bachelor]

pretty good looking install. I really love PDX amps, great power and super clean sound. also a pretty big fan of the KS components also, your tweeter placement is pretty much exactly the same as mine.

just a small tip, if ever going from oval factory speakers to rounds, you can save a little time by buying 6x8 to 6.5 speaker adapters on amazon for about $10, luckily my Alpines came with their own in the box

what are you using to power the 8"s? did you just bridge the rear channels of the F4 for the sub and running it in tri-mode and running the rear speakers off of the radio since they were not replaced?

Thanks. Wanted it neat and tidy. I had all Alpine amps in my 04 LS and loved the sound. They went digital and I could not turn down the PDX size, power, and flexibility (same RMS rating at either 2 or 4 ohm). The KS sound great and I got the tip on tweeter placement from Justin Y. on Facebook group. Thanks, if that is you.

I thought about buying the adaptors with the round speakers but they looked very flimsy. Made these for about $8 and 20 minutes to measure, mark, and cut.

I have the 8's run in parallel for a 4 ohm load and bridged the rear channels of the PDX to them. I set the crossover at high pass 30hz on the amp and low pass 100hz at the head unit for the nice mid punch you get from the 8's. I decided not to run the rear channel speakers at all, sounds fine.

also the sound deadening job looks great as well, however, I hope you don't have a window regulator go bad! it really sucks to have to find and cut away the sheet to find and remove all the bolts (yeah, I found out the hard way)

I echo everything from 1LoudLS. I really hope you just replaced your regulator clips, because that job is going to suck now!

Your LS is super clean inside. Jealous.

I looked at the regulator clips on the windows and they still looked good. I do not look forward to replacing them and definitely considered that when doing the job. Decided it was worth the risk to seal it up because 100w can really beat on the door panels.

I do pride myself on a clean car. Wash it 2-3 times a month in the summer, clay & wax once a year, vacuum and wipe down interior monthly. I got compliments on my 04 all the way up to the 130k mark when I traded it on the 06. This one had only 28k on it when I bought it from the original owner two years ago, 47k now. There are some minor swirl marks on the paint that I may try to buff out but I've never used an orbital before so I'm a little nervous on the black paint.

 

[1LoudLS]

nope, not me. (I dont have the book of faces that all the kids are talking about these days) lol

sounds like you have it set up well! and TBH the rear speakers are in a terrible location and don't really do much for anybody not sitting in the back seat...




as for the buffing, I can say this, there is a learning curve, your best bet is to go to a junkyard and grab just about any panel that at least has some section that is not damaged to practice on and get used to the operation.

 

[n8bachelor]

nope, not me. (I dont have the book of faces that all the kids are talking about these days) lol

sounds like you have it set up well! and TBH the rear speakers are in a terrible location and don't really do much for anybody not sitting in the back seat...

as for the buffing, I can say this, there is a learning curve, your best bet is to go to a junkyard and grab just about any panel that at least has some section that is not damaged to practice on and get used to the operation.

Thanks for the tip on practicing on an old junk panel. That will for sure give me some piece of mind before doing the LS. There is only so much you can get from watching someone else do it on youtube.

 

[Waltzy]

Great looking install!! My right rear 6x9 factory sub just blew a few days ago and I'm looking for options to replace them with. I'm not sure I want to go full out and replace every speaker and will probably just do the two rear subs in the car. Any recommendations for replacement options?

Again, nice work with the install.

 

[FDR]

Nice work Nate. Makes me feel special someone saw what I did and did the same! Though it's not my own idea, someone suggested it here in the 00-01 enclosure removal thread. I hope you're as happy with them as I am. I've been wondering if sound deadening is worth it for me since I don't notice any rattles. I really need to get a proper amp on them though...

Let us know how you like the defroster-mounted tweeters. I'm lethargically shopping for front door replacements and I'm not a fan of tweeters aimed at my knees, despite currently having 4 of them doing that (stock audiophile doors+centers)

the two rear subs in the car. Any recommendations for replacement options?

drop-in 6x9s though? Sorry, can't help lol

 

[grizzlyls]

Very clean install indeed. I was happy to see that someone went through the trouble to use mat. Back when I was young, I designed high end audio systems in cars for a living. Dynamat sponsored my Mercury Tracer and we did it top to bottom, front to back all in Dynamat. Looks like this stuff goes on a little easier now.

Another hint for anyone looking to upgrade, when choosing speakers do take a hard look at the significant choices of 6x8 drop ins out there. Yes there are even separates. Over the years the manufacturers have sort of made that a standard size. Back in the day it was rare. The benefit is a more solid fit, with less noise potential from an adapter and usually a tad better low freq curve roll off.

 

[1LoudLS]

I wish more companies made 6x8 component speakers... there are a few out there, but unfortunately there are far more choices in 6.5" rounds.

 

[n8bachelor]

Nice work Nate. Makes me feel special someone saw what I did and did the same! Though it's not my own idea, someone suggested it here in the 00-01 enclosure removal thread. I hope you're as happy with them as I am. I've been wondering if sound deadening is worth it for me since I don't notice any rattles. I really need to get a proper amp on them though...

Let us know how you like the defroster-mounted tweeters. I'm lethargically shopping for front door replacements and I'm not a fan of tweeters aimed at my knees, despite currently having 4 of them doing that (stock audiophile doors+centers)



View attachment 828475703

drop-in 6x9s though? Sorry, can't help lol

I wanted to keep the trunk space, saw that photo, and was intrigued with the idea of 8's on the deck. All the 6x9 subs I found were too pricy or looked crappy. Had a little trouble finding 8's suitable for IB install too. The Kicker Comps were cheap enough and you seemed happy with the results, so I gave it a try. After buying them I decided to go with the KSS components to keep some consistency in the speakers. The dash tweeters sound great. It really brings up the sound stage having them there and no rear fill speakers. I was worried about the highs reflecting off the window so I taped them there for a week and listened to the sound before cutting the trim for the final mount.

I have not properly set the gains yet by DDM so there is likely room to grow on the front sound levels. I dont think the 8's will handle more than 75% of rated power in IB installs so I may have over bought on the amp. But the PDX has more tuning capability I wanted too. They sound great and that's what matters.

I would have taken a photo of the install from the back like you did but my rear is tinted too dark to see them.

 

[jgscott]

n8bachelor, I'm guessing those are Free Air subs? Or are you going to seal them somehow. Have you played them yet? How do they sound?

 

[n8bachelor]

n8bachelor, I'm guessing those are Free Air subs? Or are you going to seal them somehow. Have you played them yet? How do they sound?

Yes, subs are suitable for free air use. No box other than the whole trunk space. They have significantly reduced power handling without a box but still sound great. They don't pound your chest like a solid 12 would but the frequency response is great. I have them playing crossed over 30hz high pass at the amp and 100hz low pass at the head unit. Puts factory THX to shame.

 

[Telco]

Nice, but for future reference tweeters are best aimed directly at the listener. The windshield reflecting the sound is probably why they sound good facing straight up where they are, otherwise the sound would just not be there. Personally I would have surface mounted them for proper aiming. You can get color match dye from good professional automotive paint shops that will match your interior pieces perfectly and once the stuff is on, provided it's sprayed properly on very clean parts in extremely light coats, it's almost impossible to scrape back off. Done right, the tweeters will sound great and look factory installed.

On the buffer, the three things to watch for is pressure, lingering and letting the pad go dry. All of these will cause swirl marks at best and can actually burn the paint off at worst. Black paint is actually the worst to work on because it's the least forgiving of mistakes so not only is the advice about getting old body panels to practice on sound, I'll go one further with it and advise you to make sure the panels you get to practice on are black. One last thing, do it in the shade on cool paint. Hot paint will dry the compound off almost before you can put the application rag down and pick the buffer up.

 

[1LoudLS]

top of the dash can be a great location, the extremely flat and smooth surface of the glass provides a very good surface for the sound to reflect off evenly and the hardness of the glass doesn't alter the sound (in those frequencies) very much at all. this is why so many OEM designs have the tweeters up there. there are even a lot of cars/trucks that have the OEM tweeter in the A pillar, but facing the windshield... of course ideally you would want them pointed exactly at you and at the same distance away from you, but that's not really practical in a lot of cars that were not designed for them from the start.

 

[n8bachelor]

Nice, but for future reference tweeters are best aimed directly at the listener. The windshield reflecting the sound is probably why they sound good facing straight up where they are, otherwise the sound would just not be there. Personally I would have surface mounted them for proper aiming. You can get color match dye from good professional automotive paint shops that will match your interior pieces perfectly and once the stuff is on, provided it's sprayed properly on very clean parts in extremely light coats, it's almost impossible to scrape back off. Done right, the tweeters will sound great and look factory installed.

Trust me, I debated the placement for a while before putting them up top. Wanted to flush mount them on the A pillar opposite the side mirrors but there was not enough room back there. Ideally, they are placed on the same plane as the mids and equally distant from the listening position, but there are a lot of compromises made in car audio already (like the woofer at your knees). This position was the least objectionable to me and the sound is great. I don't notice anything off between them and the woofers and it really raised the sound stage from the factory position.

 

[grizzlyls]

I havn't spec'd it all out yet, but I am going to try and put a 6x8 in the center of the dash when I put in my system. I am counting on the reflection for a better sound stage. I did a 5.25 in place of the ashtray on my 2002, it was nice, but the voices seemed to low - position not frequency.

 

[Telco]

I did feel like I'd be preaching to the choir on this, but I'm ever mindful of the folks that read without commenting. One of the reasons I get a little wordy at times, and will even dare to expand on Joe's technical comments.

 

[1LoudLS]

I havn't spec'd it all out yet, but I am going to try and put a 6x8 in the center of the dash when I put in my system. I am counting on the reflection for a better sound stage. I did a 5.25 in place of the ashtray on my 2002, it was nice, but the voices seemed to low - position not frequency.

I'd rater not destroy the stereo imaging in my car, most of the reason the console speakers got disconnected...

 

[grizzlyls]

Oh, and to clarify, since 1loudls made a valid point, yes dont try what I am planning unless you want to really invest in new (or have some older SACD) technology. What I do with my systems deal with time delay and acoustical wave modeling. The average 4 channel system is best left with simple modeling made by factory - which most of the time had some acoustical engineering in design. My point in my post was just about reflectivaty.

 

[1LoudLS]

of course a good exception would be if you had specific 5 (or 5.1) channel audio equipment and were using source equipment made for it such as DVD-audio or Super Audio CD.

 

[jgscott]

Lots of car audio people are now using DSP's.

 

[FDR]

The more I think about it, the more I like the defroster mount. It just pops out? How do you like it? Looks like some Summer 2016 work for me now that my front-right speaker might be starting to fail...


Just kidding. Winter 2017.

 

[1LoudLS]

It just pops out?

you must first remove the A pillars, and they also just pop out (at least for cars with outside curtain airbags, that may or may not change things)