Options for upgradign sound system on a budget

[pedalboy2001]

I just got my 2000 Lincoln LS and I want some better sound. It has the alpine upgrade system with the six disc CD changer. Im on a budget but I already have some new stereo equioment hanging around that includes a pioneer premier deck DEH-510UB if I remeber right....I also have a pair of Infinity 6.5" reference speakers with 6x9 adaptors and a 100ft roll or sound deadening mat. I have done some research and searched forums so I have come to a few budget friendly options. Please feel free to weigh in on your thoughts. I have a pumped up system in my truck but I think I just want high quality, louder, clean sound out of this car....not looking to shake the neighbors.

Option 1: Leave the system stock as is except replace the door 6 x 8 speakers with infinity Kappa speakers. I would leave the factory amp and subs, factory deck and CD changer and factory 3.5" in the console.

Option 2: Replace the deck, add a 4 channel amp and power the door speakers. Replace the door speakers with the infinity kappa. replace the 3.5" speakers in the consol with the inifinty kappa and power those off the deck. No subs and the stock subs and amp become useless.

option 3: Same as option 2, except I would also dynamat all the doors, rear deck and trunk. I would add 6 x 9 kappa speakers to the stock sub location in the deck (modify mount to point to interior of car). I would run a 5 channel amp. 2 channels would power the front doors, the other 2 channels would power the rear door and deck 6x9 spots, the 3.5" off the deck and the single channel for a sub would power a single hard hitting 12" sub in a box....I know this should deliver incredible sound but is the most labor and cost intensive. I would probably custom make a box that also housed the amp.

I know option 3 would be pretty insane but trying to spend as little as possible, would 1 or 2 deliver satisfying results? Any other recomended solutions? Is there any way to re-use the stock speaker wiring with an aftermarket system or am I hosed and need to run all new wire? I ended up running all new oversized wires and components in my truck.

 

[jjcool00]

I don't think option 1 will do much for you... I would say option 2 would probably be your best bang for the buck. In order to get more power to the headunit and speakers you will need to replace the amp. You could probably even replace just the amp and power the stock speakers and have better results for really cheap. I'm not sure though.

 

[LS4me]

I don't think option 1 will do much for you... I would say option 2 would probably be your best bang for the buck. In order to get more power to the headunit and speakers you will need to replace the amp. You could probably even replace just the amp and power the stock speakers and have better results for really cheap. I'm not sure though.

Au contraire mon ami!! I initially replaced just the front door speakers and the difference was incredible. It's not too tough to upgrade the paper whizzer cone speakers! After that I installed an RF 200.4 amp and replaced the rear door speakers. The sound is VERY good and clean at higher volumes. I also installed a pair of Pioneer 4-way 6X9s in the rear deck, where the stock subs would live had I had them. I did all this and kept the base, 6-disc HU.

IMHO, as the Alpine has multiple amps, I would replace the front door speakers with a set of components and the rear door speakers with a good 2-way. I would leave the subs and imaging speakers alone, for now, and see how you like the sound. That's the least expensive solution.

 

[jjcool00]

Ah I figured like most cars the stock HU wouldnt push enough to actually power stronger speakers anyway... shows how much I know!

 

[joegr]

Ah I figured like most cars the stock HU wouldnt push enough to actually power stronger speakers anyway... shows how much I know!

If you get speakers that are better in every way, including efficiency, they will actually be louder than the stock speakers for the same amount of power. Even if not, they don't have to be louder to be better.

 

[Robot]

The most cost effective way to go is to go with quality speakers with better efficiency. Start with more efficient speakers first if the stock amp powers cleanly. Taking a speaker rated with efficiency of 87 db@1W/1M and replacing it with one rated at 90 db@1W/1M is the equivalent of doubling the amplifier power.

 

[1LoudLS]

system building on a budget 101

planning: figure out how much you really want (or need) to spend and go from there, either plan it to do in one big step or you can go bit by bit till you get it where you want it


step one: replace the headunit with something of good quality, for instance, anything premier would be a good choice. good sound has to start at the beginning and if adding amplification anytime down the road is the route that you want to go, you really need a good clean signal that the OEM radio is not going to provide.



step two: upgrade the speakers, replace all the door speakers with drivers of you choice, i would definitely use component speakers in the front, not necessary in the rear. if your not going to buy the same series of speaker for the front and back, its always better you spend more money to put a better set up front. while you are in there, dynamat (more of a verb that the actual brand, i dont care what brand you actually use, as long as it is butyl rubber on aluminum sheets, asphalt sound deadening is worthless and should not be used unless you like getting 25% of the benefits at twice the weight) all of the doors for better sound and to reduce background noise.

only replace the center console speakers if you are not going to replace the deck, as almost all decks wont have a DSP to actually take advantage of a center channel, anything else and it will negatively effect the imaging of the sound



step three, add an amp and a sub, now here this really should be taken into consideration before step two.

if your going to add a sub, first off remove the factory subs and amp (if you have them), this will allow for you to have a taller box, and a taller box will allow you to take up less usable trunk space, more space in the trunk is always a good thing! for ease of installation, you can just replace the OEM rear speaks, or if adding a real sub, the best option would be to remove the rear door speakers completely, and mount new rear speakers in the OEM sub location. the rear speaker location is in a poor place to begin with, as they will always sound muffled because of how low they are, and the rear deck location will allow them to be able to project their sound a lot better without getting muffled. then again, with no speakers in the rear, a custom box could be used to really save a lot of trunk space you would other wise lose.

i personally like love your ideal of getting a 5ch amp for the best sound possible, however i would not run the rear channels split off to both the rear door speakers and another set of speakers in the rear deck, just lose the rear door location since when getting the same power as the other rear speakers, you wont really be hearing any sound out of them over the rear deck location, and different sized speakers have different power requirements and should have different crossover settings.

 

[1LoudLS]

I don't think option 1 will do much for you...

it can definitely make a good difference as long as the OEM headunit is not crap (as far as OEM goes, ford is really not that bad, maybe not as far as features but decent sounding) but some thought does need to go into you selection, a good mid level speaker should be made of materials that give off very good sound, and most of the time, these materials are also very light making them very efficient so you dont need a whole lot of power. however a lot of high end speakers have parts with a lot more mass, which requires a lot more power to drive. putting a high end speaker with a low sensitivity on a factory radio that doesnt have anywhere near enough power will be a lot quieter and can sound worse. say you dont listen to your radio too loud so you just get a great set of speakers that are quieter, so to compensate you have to have the radio turned up a bit more but now you are pushing the radio past its effective range and it is not starting to produce distortion and it sounds like crap. proper planning is a must if you really want it to turn out well.

You could probably even replace just the amp and power the stock speakers and have better results for really cheap. I'm not sure though.

this total depends on what you are looking for to get "better sound". I usually split up better sound into three main desires.

first there are the people who are happy with exactly how their system sounds but they just want it louder, for instance as far as OEM speakers go, the LS's component plates are not really too bad with their rear tweeter, the woofer is kinda on the small side, so you cant expect a lot of bass out of it (thats what subs are for!) but if you are careful with the crossover settings and dont get stupid with the power levels, just adding an amp could get you that little bit extra your looking for. also if your wanting it louder was causing you to have the radio turned up too loud, it probably also sounds a lot better with out all the distortion.

then there are the people who actually want better sound (not to be confused with the guy that wants better sound because he is turning the radio up too much and it is distorting and sounding terrible, even though it does get "loud enough for him" he actually falls into the i want it louder crowd) replacing the speakers can give them much better sound than you can get with standard paper coned speakers. and as long as they are happy with the volume they are getting and dont listen to it too loud that it is over driving the amp, they might not need to do anything further.

lastly there is the crowd that wants(or needs) more bass or deeper and fuller sound. they will need an amp and sub to get what they want. on more than one occasion have I had somebody that "wanted" better speakers, but were not happy with the results because what they really wanted was deep bass that you cant get out of a pair of 6x9's. but they thought they didn't want subs because they though all sub systems had to be ones that could be heard from blocks away.

 

[LS4me]

step one: replace the headunit with something of good quality, for instance, anything premier would be a good choice. good sound has to start at the beginning and if adding amplification anytime down the road is the route that you want to go, you really need a good clean signal that the OEM radio is not going to provide.

I would totally disagree with this. I intentionally kept the factory, base HU as I wanted the stock (and not aftermarket) look. The addition of stock speakers made a HUGE difference. The weak link of the LS sound system is the speakers, not the HU.

 

[pedalboy2001]

Oh the choices....my concern is that replacing just the speakers wont give me the sound I am after and I dont want to have to remove the door panels twice since I believe I will need to run new speaker wire to the doors for the amp. I just remeber from doing my trucks system it was a pain in the rear to run the wires to the door through the rubber boot and then all the RCA and speaker wires under the carpet...although I ended up gutting the whole interior and dynamatting the floor. I am really tempted to just do the speakers/amp and sub with the aftermarket deck since I already have the deck and the battery is already in the trunk so I dont need to be running 4 gage wire from the front to the back. I was just not really excited about laying down big money on a new system... but heck, the car was free so its not too bad.

 

[1LoudLS]

I would totally disagree with this. I intentionally kept the factory, base HU as I wanted the stock (and not aftermarket) look. The addition of stock speakers made a HUGE difference. The weak link of the LS sound system is the speakers, not the HU.

so you did not just replaced your head unit so you really wouldn't know how much of a difference a great radio would make on the LS speakers and whether or not which one would make a bigger difference than the other. I didn't even mention all the added benefits of replacing the radio with something that was designed in this century. bluetooth, SiriusXM, Pandora, USB, hell even a simple Aux in is a nice upgrade now days, i guess there are still a few people out there that are not using some sort of non-physical media. plus he already has a damn good radio sitting around so why wouldn't he use it?



the absolutely last thing that influences what stereo components i choose is how they look, great sound has nothing to do with looks.
you said it yourself, the factory look is what made your decision to not replace the radio, you didn't keep your base radio instead of going aftermarket because of its superior sound.



I am not the only person who has been surprised by how good an OEM speaker can sound giving the right equiptment

Howies OEM speakers are SICK sounding. I couldn't believe they were factory. Absolutely shocked. I have competed in and won stereo contest. I have NEVER heard OEM system sound so clean and crisp. The responds and sound is unreal. factory speakers are not suppose to sound that good.

I also cant count how many people's post on here have said how big of a difference just up grading their headunits made and how they were surprised at how good their OEM speakers, pretty much how most AVIC threads ends...

I left the factory speakers in for now, and have them hooked up to the Pioneer directly (except for the 6x9 subs which are still hooked up to the factory amp that is part of the 12 speaker audiophile system).

The sound is WAY better than the factory system. Even the subs sound better than what they did with the factory head unit...

...If you just replace your head unit, you won't be disappointed. It will still be a HUGE jump in sound quality from your factory unit. I'm definitely speaking from experience on that one.

TRU

but then again, what do i know about about what makes a car sound good, its not like ive spent over the last decade replacing car radios and speakers...

 

[LS4me]

Just how good can a paper whizzer cone speaker sound?

 

[jjcool00]

Good information here, thanks!

 

[Robot]

Just how good can a paper whizzer cone speaker sound?

ILoudLS is right on about the stock speakers being up to the task with the right HU. I can tell you from experience myself on some projects I've done and the fact that my stock 4 speaker system can turn heads when I play my Ultra Low Bass CDs. It's not like having subs but, I am still surprised how well the stocks can cover the mids and highs. That tells me a great solution would be a nice HU with crossover control and sub pre-outs would do quite nicely. Adding nice speakers to the package shelf along with some decent subwoofers would be awesome.

LS4me, if you want to know how well paper cones can do, find someone with a set of vintage Bose 901s and listen to them. Those were all about placement and signal processing and I can remember going to a roller rink that used 4 of the 901s for the music and they were extremely Loud and Clean.

 

[jgscott]

So what is the best outcome, if you had to change just one or the other only? Just change the stock headunit and leave the stock speakers? Or change the speakers leaving the stock head unit? From reading here it seems as if increased wattage/power to the stock speakers really helps, but also it would seem that increased wattage along with better speakers would also help further.

And does anyone know what the stock speaker efficiency rating is ?

 

[jgscott]

What speakers did you use as replacements ? I have a set of Boston SL80's, 5 x7, I'm wondering how they will sound with the stock head unit.

 

[1LoudLS]

I've got alpines (type R's so i wouldn't recommend those with out an amp, but type S would be fine)


Boston makes a great driver, and those are component plates like the OEMs so should go in real easy and sound great

i would also recommend picking up a set of speaker harnesses so that you can just plug them right in

http://metraonline.com/part/72-5600