Speakers-best bang for the buck

[BoostIt]

dmac, can you let me know which Dayton 3.5" you picked up? It seems like this speaker always has a lower output that the others, but in the end it is more or less 'pulling' together the 'stage' in the front. Thank you.

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[TexasTruck]

I don't mean to hijack here, sorta applies with all the other variations in this thread. I have the base factory system that isn't amplified. Does any one know the ForScan setting to disable the factory EQ so the output is flat?

I found this, but I'm not sure if it applies to all head units?

Thanks.

 

[rugedraw]

I finally installed my new speakers in my truck over the weekend. I was really hoping that by swapping out a few of the cheap cardboard speakers in the truck, that I would get enough of an improvement over the stock speakers to avoid pulling out the B&O amp and going with a whole new DSP. I do have two 12's in an underseat box that was drowing out the factory mids/highs at high volume. I was skeptical, but I am happy to say that the improvement was significant and I can now hear the rear door speakers which I could barely hear them before. I bought two sets of these:

https://www.massiveaudio.com/produc...nent-kit-speakers?_pos=4&_fid=8243a7737&_ss=c

I went with this brand because my amp and subs are Massive Audio and I wanted everything to match. The fact that they were on sale was a bonus. I bought an adaptor to to accommodate the 6.5" drivers where the factory 6x9's were in the front doors, and the tweeter in the a-pillars were installed by cutting a hole into the factory tweeter cover and mounting them there. On the rear door, a small hole was drilled above the rear door speaker grill and the tweeter was installed there. Crossovers were added to the new tweeters both front and rear. Also, I added Dynamat to the front and rear doors and added an LC2I to amp for the subs to eliminate the bass roll off at high volume.

I'll take some pics and post them sooner than later, but what a difference! It is not a lot louder than it used to be, but it is louder. Also, I can now hear the rear door speakers without having to throw the fade towards the rear. The sound is also much clearer. I am very happy with the result and even happier to not have to spend another $1,500 getting a DSP and re-powering the entire system and losing the headrests and other speakers in the B&O system. I do think the factory system is very well tuned; just terribly under-powered and the factory speakers are hot garbage. Just replacing the door speakers and adding a dedicated tweeter to the rear doors instead of those crappy two-way speakers they have in there is a game changer. I was skeptical that the B&O amp would have enough power to push these speakers with higher wattage than the factory speakers, but it is enough of an improvement (for me) where I can leave the rest of the sound system alone.

Also, the LC2i works great. It's inexpensive and my only regret is not adding one sooner. Bass roll-off is gone and I have consistent and balanced bass throughout the entire listening experience.

 

[dmac]

dmac, can you let me know which Dayton 3.5" you picked up? It seems like this speaker always has a lower output that the others, but in the end it is more or less 'pulling' together the 'stage' in the front. Thank you.

https://www.amazon.com/Dayton-Audio-PS95-8-Source-Driver/dp/B00Q3M9852

I added a 600hz bass blocker and changed the speaker to "tweeter-only" in for scan for best results.

 

[dmac]

@BoostIt & @TexasTruck . See these two posts earlier for forscan changes.

https://www.f150gen14.com/forum/threads/speakers-best-bang-for-the-buck.12532/post-333355
(flat signal with 6 or 7 speaker system)

https://www.f150gen14.com/forum/threads/speakers-best-bang-for-the-buck.12532/page-3#post-333621 (change center speaker to tweeter only, makes a big difference actually)

I've spent way too many hours tinkering with different configs, but I'm pretty convinced this allows for best performance.

727-01-01 **29 29** **** are what I needed to get for my 7 speaker

727-01-01 **29 28** **** should be for the 6 speaker without the center channel.

 

[BoostIt]

https://www.amazon.com/Dayton-Audio-PS95-8-Source-Driver/dp/B00Q3M9852

I added a 600hz bass blocker and changed the speaker to "tweeter-only" in for scan for best results.

Thanks for the reply, dmac. I've replaced the four door speakers and tweeters now, and the higher frequencies in the front sound stage seem really present in a lot of rock I listen to. I've turned the treble down quite a bit. I was thinking that maybe with a component 3.5" the front sound stage might be less abrasive, and more full of the mid sound in the front. Or maybe the settings just change with the overhaul? I put 6x9 component speakers in the door, so there aren't more tweeters or high-frequency sources than before, just the new tweeters that came with the 6x9s.

 

[dmac]

Thanks for the reply, dmac. I've replaced the four door speakers and tweeters now, and the higher frequencies in the front sound stage seem really present in a lot of rock I listen to. I've turned the treble down quite a bit. I was thinking that maybe with a component 3.5" the front sound stage might be less abrasive, and more full of the mid sound in the front. Or maybe the settings just change with the overhaul? I put 6x9 component speakers in the door, so there aren't more tweeters or high-frequency sources than before, just the new tweeters that came with the 6x9s.

I've unfortunately had similar luck changing the factory tweeters out on other Ford's without amp - they always come out too bright for me. I believe the factory ford non b&o tweeters have a built in resistor (different than most aftermarket crossovers), as they run off the same line as the door.

Im running 3 ways 6x9s, a new center speaker with factory pillar tweeters and am very satisfied with highs right now.

Try the new settings and see if that helps at all.

 

[Rockman5159]

I did all 4 doors. When fading to the rear channel it does sound better, to a point at least. Ford's rear channel just sounds bad even in the B&O systems. The front doors and a-pillars do the heavy lifting where the rears seems to just add to the overall sound stage.


To give you an idea how weak it is, here are the backs of the OEM speakers. The magnets on the aftermarket fronts are slightly larger than the OEM fronts.

The OEM front

And the rear.

Made in China? who woulda thunk that

 

[TexasTruck]

@dmac Sorry, I'm getting lost in here. I have a factory 6 speaker, non-amplified. I have a Key 200.4 and a harness coming from plug-n-play with the subwoofer pigtail.

"Speakers best bang for the buck" is to:

• Upgrade the front and rear door speakers and leave the factory tweeters.
• Use ForScan to flatten the signal, although the Key might take care of some of this, but I'd rather feed it a flat single from the source.
• Add a sub some day.

What door speaker size, 6", 6.5", 6.9"?
What tricks for mounting them? Plates? Screws? Foam circle things?
Components and you use the factory tweeters?
Components and use the tweeters?

Thanks!

 

[sbi]

I finally installed my new speakers in my truck over the weekend. I was really hoping that by swapping out a few of the cheap cardboard speakers in the truck, that I would get enough of an improvement over the stock speakers to avoid pulling out the B&O amp and going with a whole new DSP. I do have two 12's in an underseat box that was drowing out the factory mids/highs at high volume. I was skeptical, but I am happy to say that the improvement was significant and I can now hear the rear door speakers which I could barely hear them before. I bought two sets of these:

https://www.massiveaudio.com/produc...nent-kit-speakers?_pos=4&_fid=8243a7737&_ss=c

I went with this brand because my amp and subs are Massive Audio and I wanted everything to match. The fact that they were on sale was a bonus. I bought an adaptor to to accommodate the 6.5" drivers where the factory 6x9's were in the front doors, and the tweeter in the a-pillars were installed by cutting a hole into the factory tweeter cover and mounting them there. On the rear door, a small hole was drilled above the rear door speaker grill and the tweeter was installed there. Crossovers were added to the new tweeters both front and rear. Also, I added Dynamat to the front and rear doors and added an LC2I to amp for the subs to eliminate the bass roll off at high volume.

I'll take some pics and post them sooner than later, but what a difference! It is not a lot louder than it used to be, but it is louder. Also, I can now hear the rear door speakers without having to throw the fade towards the rear. The sound is also much clearer. I am very happy with the result and even happier to not have to spend another $1,500 getting a DSP and re-powering the entire system and losing the headrests and other speakers in the B&O system. I do think the factory system is very well tuned; just terribly under-powered and the factory speakers are hot garbage. Just replacing the door speakers and adding a dedicated tweeter to the rear doors instead of those crappy two-way speakers they have in there is a game changer. I was skeptical that the B&O amp would have enough power to push these speakers with higher wattage than the factory speakers, but it is enough of an improvement (for me) where I can leave the rest of the sound system alone.

Also, the LC2i works great. It's inexpensive and my only regret is not adding one sooner. Bass roll-off is gone and I have consistent and balanced bass throughout the entire listening experience.

@rugedraw - just to clarify, the only thing you changed was the two rear doors OEM ones with the two MassivAudio above? All I am trying to do is to be able to hear all the speakers in the truck, including the two rear ones. The OEM rear ones are almost non-existing. Not trying to add pre-amps or other devices nor to play with Forscan for that. Thanks.

 

[rugedraw]

@rugedraw - just to clarify, the only thing you changed was the two rear doors OEM ones with the two MassivAudio above? All I am trying to do is to be able to hear all the speakers in the truck, including the two rear ones. The OEM rear ones are almost non-existing. Not trying to add pre-amps or other devices nor to play with Forscan for that. Thanks.

I added the speakers I Iinked to the front and rear doors. I would assume only adding the components to the rear doors would still be a vast improvement over stock, but I did replace the front door speakers and tweeter with the Massive Audio components. Please note you will have to make a hole in the rear doors to add the tweeter, but you can modify the existing tweeter location in the a-pillars to accommodate the new tweeters.

 

[sbi]

I added the speakers I Iinked to the front and rear doors. I would assume only adding the components to the rear doors would still be a vast improvement over stock, but I did replace the front door speakers and tweeter with the Massive Audio components. Please note you will have to make a hole in the rear doors to add the tweeter, but you can modify the existing tweeter location in the a-pillars to accommodate the new tweeters.

So the same speakers for both front and rear doors?

Hole where in the door?!

 

[rugedraw]

So the same speakers for both front and rear doors?

Hole where in the door?!

Yes. You will need an adapter to convert the front door speaker location from a 6x9 to a 6.5" driver. Or, just buy a 6x9 component if you want to avoid that, but with the sale price of the 6.5" I linked, it was cheaper to buy those speakers and the adapter than it was to buy a decent 6x9 components.

Yes, my audio/video shop made a hole on top of the rear speakers. I'll walk out to my truck and take a few pics.

 

[rugedraw]

@sbi This is the bracket that was used to fit the 6.5" drivers where the 6x9's were:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/362127231385

Also attached are pics of the new tweeters. On the front ones, you can see the silver speaker cover of the factory tweeter behind the bezel of the new tweeter. They cut a whole in the factory grill cover and mounted the new tweeter there. Great idea IMO and it looks clean.

To install the rear speakers, the existing speaker bracket from factory was used to mount the new speakers.

 

[sbi]

@sbi This is the bracket that was used to fit the 6.5" drivers where the 6x9's were:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/362127231385

Also attached are pics of the new tweeters. On the front ones, you can see the silver speaker cover of the factory tweeter behind the bezel of the new tweeter. They cut a whole in the factory grill cover and mounted the new tweeter there. Great idea IMO and it looks clean.

To install the rear speakers, the existing speaker bracket from factory was used to mount the new speakers.

Much appreciated, @rugedraw !


Just to clarify (since I haven't opened the door yet so I don't know what's there):
The rear OEM speakers do come with a tweeter, but because it's so thin, both the speaker and the tweeter fit behind the B&O OEM grill. If I want to replace with the speakers that you bought, I can use the B&O grill, but I'll have to cut the hole just for the tweeter because the new speakers are thicker. Did I get it right? ?

 

[rugedraw]

Much appreciated, @rugedraw !


Just to clarify (since I haven't opened the door yet so I don't know what's there):
The rear OEM speakers do come with a tweeter, but because it's so thin, both the speaker and the tweeter fit behind the B&O OEM grill. If I want to replace with the speakers that you bought, I can use the B&O grill, but I'll have to cut the hole just for the tweeter because the new speakers are thicker. Did I get it right? ?

Not entirely. The rear door speakers are a 2-way speaker, so the tweeter is built into it. Ford counts this as two sperate speakers, which is why the B&O Unleashed system is advertised as an 18 speaker system. Imo, it is a 16 speakers system with 1 set of 2-way speaker. The way I have it now would be a true 18-speakers set up. Again: Imo.

If you prefer not to cut a hole, you can buy a set of aftermarket 6.5" 2-way speakers with the tweeter built into it just like the factory set-up. You'd just have to find something that has a mounting depth that would allow you to use the factory grill.

 

[dmac]

@dmac Sorry, I'm getting lost in here. I have a factory 6 speaker, non-amplified. I have a Key 200.4 and a harness coming from plug-n-play with the subwoofer pigtail.

"Speakers best bang for the buck" is to:

• Upgrade the front and rear door speakers and leave the factory tweeters.
• Use ForScan to flatten the signal, although the Key might take care of some of this, but I'd rather feed it a flat single from the source.
• Add a sub some day.

What door speaker size, 6", 6.5", 6.9"?
What tricks for mounting them? Plates? Screws? Foam circle things?
Components and you use the factory tweeters?
Components and use the tweeters?

Thanks!

I did 6.5's in the rear and 6 x 9 3 ways in the front (both Kicker DS).
I left the factory tweeters.

I used the metra harnesses and brackets that crutchfield recommends for 6x9 & 6.5 speakers in F-150's (you can do this by speccing out your truck and adding any 6x9 or 6.5 speaker on crutchfield.com to your cart).

I did re-use the foam lining around the front and back of the factory speakers, on the new speakers as well.

Additionally, I used the block off plates in the front from soundsgoodstereo.com for the 2021 f-150s for improved response and noise control.

 

[sbi]

Not entirely. The rear door speakers are a 2-way speaker, so the tweeter is built into it. Ford counts this as two sperate speakers, which is why the B&O Unleashed system is advertised as an 18 speaker system. Imo, it is a 16 speakers system with 1 set of 2-way speaker. The way I have it now would be a true 18-speakers set up. Again: Imo.

If you prefer not to cut a hole, you can buy a set of aftermarket 6.5" 2-way speakers with the tweeter built into it just like the factory set-up. You'd just have to find something that has a mounting depth that would allow you to use the factory grill.

Thank you!

 

[TexasTruck]

I did 6.5's in the rear and 6 x 9 3 ways in the front (both Kicker DS).
I left the factory tweeters.

I used the metra harnesses and brackets that crutchfield recommends for 6x9 & 6.5 speakers in F-150's (you can do this by speccing out your truck and adding any 6x9 or 6.5 speaker on crutchfield.com to your cart).

When my 2022 F-150 is set on the Crutchfield site, it say's 6x9 won't fit. I can override that but then the brackets won't add. Any trick to forcing it so I can get the additional things needed for the install?

 

[dmac]

When my 2022 F-150 is set on the Crutchfield site, it say's 6x9 won't fit. I can override that but then the brackets won't add. Any trick to forcing it so I can get the additional things needed for the install?

Try for a 2020 f-150.

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