DIY stereo upgrade for under $500.00

[daaaaaan]

Yes.

The doors are all full range.
The center dash is full range

I'm not sure about the a pillars. I am running filters because they are tweeters.

The subwoofer is the only channel I can verify that has a crossover cut off from the Sony amp. It's around 100.

The sound COMES TO LIFE with the speaker change.

What filters?

 

[Guy]

Just to clarify...

When I saw filter... I meant a built in crossover.
The pioneer speakers and tweeters are "coaxial"
And have built in crossovers for the DIYer.

 

[adventure]

Guy, thank you for your time and instructions! I've ordered the sub, amp, and a wiring kit yesterday to hopefully work on that portion this weekend. I haven't hardly touched an audio upgrade in over 20 years so we'll see how this portion goes before I order up the door speakers.

My question: Did I see somewhere that you were going to dynamat the inside of the enclosure? And if so, did it seem to make a difference? If so, I'll get some ordered for next day. Thank you!

 

[Guy]

You're welcome. Happy to help. I've gotten plenty of tips from other folks as well, so I'm sharing what I have learned.

I'm doing some dynamat trial and error.

First I tried polyfill... which made a difference... it made the sub bass a little deeper and smoother. It eliminated some of the harshness. Interestingly enough it also made it a little quieter so I nudged the gain up.

I am next going to dynamat the actual enclosure, front and backside. Normally this would be useless on a well built enclosure... but we are dealing with stock plastic that is prone to vibrate. Dampening it I am told will improve the accuracy of the sub. I haven't done it yet but I will in the next day or two and will report if it made a difference. If it does... I'll place some directly behind the sub inside the enclosure to see if that tightens it up as well.

 

[Toadster]

All Pioneer:
6x9 4-way up front with metra mounts
5-1/4 3-way with metra mounts in the rear doors
3.5 inch 2 way in the dash
3/4 inch dome tweeters in the a pillars

And a song 8 inch pioneer shallow mount sub that I'll mount in the existing stock sub enclosure with the Kenwood 300 watt mono amp.

I found these for quick reference:

Pioneer TS-A6986R A-Series 6" X 9" 600W 4-Way Speakers $61
Metra 82-5606 6" x 9" Front Door Speaker Adapters for 2015-Up Ford F-150 $13
Pioneer TS-A1376R A-Series 5.25" 300W 3-Way Speakers $44
Metra 82-5600 Ford Adaptors 5 1/4-Inch Locations $8
Pioneer TS-A878 3 1/2 INCH 2-Way Speakers $40
Pioneer TS-T15 3/4" Component Tweeter $42

PIONEER 8" 600-Watt Shallow Subwoofer TSSW2002D2 TS-SW2002D2 884938234856 $141

bumped the amp to 500W
Kenwood KAC-5001PS 500-Watt RMS Class D Monoblock Power Amp Bundle Combo With 8-AWG ROHS Compliant Amp Power Installation Kit $144

so I'm seeing $493 for the setup - damn that's cheap!

 

[Guy]

I found these for quick reference:

Pioneer TS-A6986R A-Series 6" X 9" 600W 4-Way Speakers $61
Metra 82-5606 6" x 9" Front Door Speaker Adapters for 2015-Up Ford F-150 $13
Pioneer TS-A1376R A-Series 5.25" 300W 3-Way Speakers $44
Metra 82-5600 Ford Adaptors 5 1/4-Inch Locations $8
Pioneer TS-A878 3 1/2 INCH 2-Way Speakers $40
Pioneer TS-T15 3/4" Component Tweeter $42

PIONEER 8" 600-Watt Shallow Subwoofer TSSW2002D2 TS-SW2002D2 884938234856 $141

bumped the amp to 500W
Kenwood KAC-5001PS 500-Watt RMS Class D Monoblock Power Amp Bundle Combo With 8-AWG ROHS Compliant Amp Power Installation Kit $144

so I'm seeing $493 for the setup - damn that's cheap!

Nice

My advice though.... if you want to go with a beefier amp... look to the kicker 8 inch shallow. It has a bigger magnet and can be driven harder. The pioneer is 150watt RMS and I am pretty sure I'm pushing it to its limit. It doesn't have a lot of cone excursion. The kicker with the bigger amp should give you more bass without smoking your woofer.

I was going for a little more subdued to blend with the factory system but that's just preference, not right or wrong

 

[Toadster]

Nice

My advice though.... if you want to go with a beefier amp... look to the kicker 8 inch shallow. It has a bigger magnet and can be driven harder. The pioneer is 150watt RMS and I am pretty sure I'm pushing it to its limit. It doesn't have a lot of cone excursion. The kicker with the bigger amp should give you more bass without smoking your woofer.

I was going for a little more subdued to blend with the factory system but that's just preference, not right or wrong

I found a 600W pioneer sub above - are you saying they're only 150w?

 

[Guy]

Yes...

It is 600 watt max RMS, but that's mainly a stat to show you won't get clipping when you are pushing it at volume.

The sub is rated at 150watts RMS. Which is the continuous stat you're looking at. Driving it with 500 watt RMS is going to toast it.

However... if you go with a kicker 8 inch shallow itll handle 300 watt RMS at 2 ohm or their other DVC sub which will do 4 ohm I think might even be rated higher.

I didn't look into the specs of that amp to see if it's driving at 1,2,4, or 8 ohms. I will later if you need help pairing a sub.

---------- Post added at 04:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:23 PM ----------

Ok so I took a quick glance

That amp is rated at 500 watts RMS at 2 ohm or 300 watt RMS at 4 ohm.

If you wanted to run a shallow mount sub with that amp you'd need to drive a 4 ohm kicker 8 inch which is 300 watt RMS.

Kicker CompRT 43CWRT82

 

[Toadster]

Yes...

It is 600 watt max RMS, but that's mainly a stat to show you won't get clipping when you are pushing it at volume.

The sub is rated at 150watts RMS. Which is the continuous stat you're looking at. Driving it with 500 watt RMS is going to toast it.

However... if you go with a kicker 8 inch shallow itll handle 300 watt RMS at 2 ohm or their other DVC sub which will do 4 ohm I think might even be rated higher.

I didn't look into the specs of that amp to see if it's driving at 1,2,4, or 8 ohms. I will later if you need help pairing a sub.

---------- Post added at 04:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:23 PM ----------

Ok so I took a quick glance

That amp is rated at 500 watts RMS at 2 ohm or 300 watt RMS at 4 ohm.

If you wanted to run a shallow mount sub with that amp you'd need to drive a 4 ohm kicker 8 inch which is 300 watt RMS.

Kicker CompRT 43CWRT82

well shoot - worth $9 more right?

Kicker CompRT 43CWRT82 $150

 

[Guy]

Sure just remember to wire the sub in series.
Dual voice coils for a total of 4 ohm.

I'm not sure there is much difference running that at 4 ohm with that amp vs running the same sub at 2 ohm 300 watt RMS with the smaller amp.

Perhaps less distortion and it looks like it's a better amp... let us know