$5K max Sound Budget 2020 w/ B&O

[Jeff Boone]

I've bought my lights, mats, tonneau, and fender liners, and sound is definitely next. I've read a bunch of the audio threads, but I still don't have any real feel for what to buy - other than the ZEN NAVTV. I live in Memphis, and I haven't found any high end dealers here, so I will probably have to go to Nashville where I know one. Will definitely have it professionally installed. I'm 58 and I'm looking for very high quality crisp clear music. I am partial to JL Audio subs because of past experience, but not married to them. As always, any recommendations greatly appreciated!

 

[smurfslayer]

@dhmcfadin is already replying to some other threads, and he’s been very helpful in audio discussions here. I’m curious to see where he takes your discussion given your budget.

I have the JL audio sub and amp in an MTI behind the seat enclosure, and it sounds great. I have spent less than half your budget and I have clean, crisp sound up to 1 on the dial before it starts to hurt my ears. It’s plenty powerful enough to listen to music with all 4 windows down at 70 and actually be able to hear it.

 

[Jeff Boone]

I'd definitely love to spend less!!! I'm a buy it, take care of it, and drive it forever kind of guy - so I plan to keep the sound (and the truck) for 200K+ miles, I like high quality audio, and I don't want to spend a significant amount of money and wish I'd done something better cause I'll never upgrade it after I've already spent a significant amount on it - if that makes sense. This is my first Ford. I hope the truck doesn't become expensive to do that with

 

[The Car Stereo Company]

i will be in the nashville area in feb or march if you are still looking to do audio upgrades. perhaps we can figure a time for an install if you would like. feel free to call or text me. (831)/254-7562

 

[Jeff Boone]

i will be in the nashville area in feb or march if you are still looking to do audio upgrades. perhaps we can figure a time for an install if you would like. feel free to call or text me. (831)/254-7562

Thanks! Memphis is about three hours from Nashville. Can you recommend 3K,4K,5K total installed systems? I will try to find a place to listen to the different speakers and definitely consider using you for everything. I've read some great remarks about your work. The Feb/Mar timeline works well for me.

ps. you don't have any Raptors on your instagram gallery. We could fix that ;-)

 

[The Car Stereo Company]

Thanks! Memphis is about three hours from Nashville. Can you recommend 3K,4K,5K total installed systems? I will try to find a place to listen to the different speakers and definitely consider using you for everything. I've read some great remarks about your work. The Feb/Mar timeline works well for me.

ps. you don't have any Raptors on your instagram gallery. We could fix that ;-)

i will put something together for you. text me your email and i can send over a quote this coming week

 

[smurfslayer]

Supporting vendors on FRF rock

 

[Tim Madden]

MTI Acoustics in College Station TX. Call Adam. They are the Best! They did mine and I love it.
My build...https://www.instagram.com/p/B1ypBjYBfAX/?igshid=mfk8nv36w7nf

 

[John Rathjen]

@dhmcfadin is already replying to some other threads, and he’s been very helpful in audio discussions here. I’m curious to see where he takes your discussion given your budget.

I have the JL audio sub and amp in an MTI behind the seat enclosure, and it sounds great. I have spent less than half your budget and I have clean, crisp sound up to 1 on the dial before it starts to hurt my ears. It’s plenty powerful enough to listen to music with all 4 windows down at 70 and actually be able to hear it.

Smurf - could I get more info on your stereo build? Sounds like the direction I'd like to go

 

[smurfslayer]

sure. A few things up front.
1) I don’t really have a ‘build’, it’s the culmination of several small projects
2) I didn’t have a plan when I set out
3) I had the sony system.

The basic order:

Added a sub

next I took inspiration from @Guy in DIY stereo upgrade for under $500.00
swapped in some inexpensive coax speakers.

I also pulled the sub enclosure and wrapped with Dynamat. That helped quite a bit. I ran the kicker 8” sub pushed by the 300w kenwood amp for a while and was mostly satisfied with it. The only real downer was the bass roll off, but I still had the muddy, imprecise mixing from the stock system. Having seen many others do a full upgrade, I set my sights on prepping for an amp upgrade, which would almost certainly leave the 300w sub as underpowered.

MTI was the only plug and play (cough) option I could find.
Fitting the Mobile Toys behind the seat sub
Even with the same amp, sound was just ‘bigger’.

Although the A series pioneers in the doors up front sounded way better than stock, I decided to try components, running the tweets up front in the pillars. This lets me run a 4 channel amp for the main speakers and helps with imaging.
component speakers without an amp upgrade (yet)

Replaced the Sony amp, finally
Although I had a plan for this, it ended up being a lot of frustrating and time consuming effort. Not hard or difficult, just time consuming.

So, if I had it to do again...
I would plan on a 5 channel amp with enough juice to push the sub hard and get the door speakers to about 45w rms minimum. I’ve got a 75w x4 amp now and it’s beyond loud enough to make my ears ring. I don’t have to use all the volume now and I can hear the stereo clearly at 70mph, windows down.

So -
- home runs to battery power/ground
- buy the MTI sub box, signal processor (DSR1 for the pre-’18’s, or comparable for B&O). Unless you score one empty/2nd hand, they sell the box loaded and prefer the JL Audio sub/amp combo. I can’t disagree with this.
- ensure you have all the misc. connectors, wires, harnesses, tools, and have spares.
- buy door speakers; I like the front components as many else on here do. I’m pretty sure you can still just swap the cr@p door speakers straight up on the ’18 + trucks, it just may not do much but saves some time later on.
- have all components in hand, mock up mounting the amp, signal processor. Be mindful of the seat positions up/down.

At this point, you should be ready to do the swap.