Super Duty Sound System Upgrades

GTPpower

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Jun 5, 2012
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I know very little about sound systems. I would appreciate any help.


My 2005 F350 has a speaker that is failing in the driver's side door. I would like to replace them all with something better. Factory speakers are 6x8's. Two in the front in the door panels, and two in the rear "C pillar." They have been replaced by the previous owner, but I'm not sure what exactly the brand is. I don't think they are much of an upgrade from factory either.


My headunit is a Kenwood KDC-797. It's something like 50x4 watts peak and 22 watts RMS. I'd like to get some speakers that will work well with this without an amp. With that said, if I can't hear a significant difference in sound without an amp, I would add one.


Searching online, it looks like it's popular to switch to a 6.5" round speaker, which basically bolts in. Or, modify the door a little and go with a 6x9.

I'd like to spend $150 or less, unless I have to add an amp.


From what I can find online, in this price range 6.5's are probably better? Is that usually true?


Any input on what I should do here? I'm not sure how to pick a speaker that will work well with my headunit. Thanks in advance for the help.
 

Shawn1112

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I have been out of the sounds game for a while and just now getting back in to it with my Regal. I have been doing just basic shit last few years (1 sub/amp). What you heard about going 6.5's is exactly what I have been told by several people. I was going to do 4) 6x9's in my rear deck and was told to do 4) 6.5's. I might still go the 4) 6x9 route depending on ease of installation.
 

OffshoreDrilling

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$150 isn’t going to get you much. Hop on crutchfield and find whatever has the best reviews for that price range.

You really need to step up to an amp for any sort of quality sound. Night/day difference. Head unit amplifiers are garbage for anything that isn’t a beater work vehicle.
 

1quick

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Round speakers have better sound than oval, so the 6.5’s would be better, for 150 your better off getting a four pack off amazon or just going to Walmart, decent speakers aren’t cheap but like has already been said using the headunit for power, it probably won’t make a difference what kind of speaker you use anyway
 

GTPpower

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Ok, good to hear. No reason for me to spend much on speakers if I'm not going to amp them.

I used to have an 04 F150 with a stock sound system. I stuck a single 10" kicker sub under the back seat powered by a TMA 500.1. I used the stock head unit and stock speakers otherwise. I tapped into one speaker with a line out converter that fed the amp. With this setup, I was able to turn the bass down to where the stock speakers actually sounded good and use the sub for bass. For the $300 I had invested, it sounded great. I should just try to do something similar on this.
 

torquelover

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Jun 4, 2013
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If you care about sound quality in respect to tonal quality, soundstage, and imaging I'd go for a 6.5" round component set. Many of the budget component sets have a matching (cheaper) coaxial set available for the rear.

To help with budget you could leave the existing rear speakers as is until more funds allow.
 

GTPpower

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If you care about sound quality in respect to tonal quality, soundstage, and imaging I'd go for a 6.5" round component set. Many of the budget component sets have a matching (cheaper) coaxial set available for the rear.

To help with budget you could leave the existing rear speakers as is until more funds allow.

Do component sets have much better sound than coaxial sets?
 

GTPpower

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Bumping this back up with new info.

After more research, these are the speakers I have now. Better than I thought, but still not the great. Maybe?

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_500SS57/Alpine-S-S57.html?origitemno=500SPS517

The blown speaker is really annoying me now as it's getting worse all the time. I had thought about just replacing the front two with the same speakers, but they are kind of pricey. I'm now thinking about leaving the rears for now and replacing the fronts with these. Thoughts?

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_105CSDR601/JVC-CS-DR601C.html?tp=105&avf=N

If I can ok it with the wife, I will probably add a couple 12" subs behind the rear seat, hopefully before hunting season.
 

GTPpower

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GTPpower

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Had some time to put the 6.5 components in. I just used silicone to mount the tweeters in the sail panels.

hozQXfP.jpg


Pulled out the old alpines.

n4nvUdU.jpg


Here's the new set installed.

lDOvqjD.jpg


The new sail panels do create a little gap at the bottom. Not real noticable unless you look for it though.

SpEz8C9.jpg


So, I noticed that once the door panel is installed, the speakers hit it when they hit a bass note. So, I ended up installing them without the adapters and just using three screws through the door. It still hits, but not as bad.

VfRsI9l.jpg



Sound quality is meh. Definitely better though. These speakers don't distort like the others. Still not much for deep lows though. The biggest improvement I notice is having a tweeter up high. It's more clear sound.
 

GTPpower

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Just the Kenwood head unit is all that's powering them. Probably going to stay that way too.

So, after lots of talking and reading, I have decided to return one sub, and just run one. One should perform just as well as two, given the box airspace. My hangup is finding an amp. I need an amp that is about 500w at 1 or 4 ohms. Most amps are rated at 2 ohms, so it's basically 1000 watt amps that I need. Those aren't real cheap. I will probably end up just buying a jl audio 1000.1.
 

Yaj Yak

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Just the Kenwood head unit is all that's powering them. Probably going to stay that way too.

So, after lots of talking and reading, I have decided to return one sub, and just run one. One should perform just as well as two, given the box airspace. My hangup is finding an amp. I need an amp that is about 500w at 1 or 4 ohms. Most amps are rated at 2 ohms, so it's basically 1000 watt amps that I need. Those aren't real cheap. I will probably end up just buying a jl audio 1000.1.

the component speakers are underpowered.

get them amp'ed seperately and they'd come to life.

keep both subs and wire it to two ohms.

or return both and get one dual 4ohm voice coil sub.

if you throw 1000 "real" watts at any sub in there, and don't amp the speakers, it's going to be a ghetto pounder for sure.

if i were in your shoes, for simplicity sake, i'd get this.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007VSXGOQ/?tag=tcg21-20

the sub will move with PLENTY of power and the speakers will be amped properly.

RMS Power Ratings
Per channel into 4 Ohms: 100W RMS x 4 + 500W RMS (4-ohm, 14.4V <1%THD+N)
Per channel into 2 Ohms: 100W RMS x 4 + 500W RMS (2-ohm, 14.4V <1%THD+N)
Bridged 4 Ohms: 200W RMS x 2 (4-ohm, 14.4V <1%THD+N)
 
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