DIY stereo upgrade for under $500.00

[pastorwug]

OK, so I'm going to jump in with staring at the front doors and center dash speaker.
Dash center : Pioneer TS-A878 3 1/2 Inch 2-Way Speakers
Front doors: Pioneer TS-A6996R 5 ways

I'll tackle the back speakers, etc. later.
Anything else I'll need to do this easily?
Are the door cards easy to remove (hidden screws, etc.)?

Thanks guys - this has been a very informative thread.

 

[Kahuna]

I would revisit a couple of those choices; the tweeters are only good to about 30w RMS, so if you plan on upgrading your amp from the B&O down the road, you’ll need to swap them again kicker makes a set good for about 50 rms - kst250

center channel; same deal. You can decide on this, I think the stocker is an 8ohm speaker, common replacement are 4ohm, but since you’re running this with the vhf, not a big concern.

This won’t be the last thing you do on the stereo if you’re scheming this out.
If you’re looking for the sub, I have a spare one. Still have the 43CWRT81 in my truck, I just have a spare. PM if interested.

There are for scan settings - at least good on the ’17’s, that will send a flat signal, but it still requires some splicing.

The sub is about as good as you’ll get in the stock enclosure, you’ll need a different enclosure to go bigger. The kenwood 300w amp has enough power, but, you are pushing it to near max to get the sub fully powered. You might could go a little bit bigger on the amp but the kenwood / kicker is enough to blur the mirrors.

With the NAV TV unit being the best part of a grand, 4/5 channel amp another, sub enclosure another before I even start salivating over custom pillar mounts for the Morels, it is very likely I will stop here with the build. Too many non-audio projects in store for the truck. If I thought it was on the cards to do amps I would definitely not go for the Pioneers as you suggest.

Someone on the f150 forum was dabbling with '18 Forscan settings to give a flat signal but it doesn't seem much progress has been made yet.

I'm not doing the Kenwood amp. This AudioControl amp basically has a built in LC2i so I am hoping the AccuBass function will counter the roll off. Specs otherwise seem to fit. Would you agree?

I'll hit you up on DM about the woofer.

Wed night is scheduling/allocation night so cross your fingers for me that this sucker gets built soon!

Thanks,
K

 

[lawdog]

I would revisit a couple of those choices; the tweeters are only good to about 30w RMS, so if you plan on upgrading your amp from the B&O down the road, you’ll need to swap them again kicker makes a set good for about 50 rms - kst250

center channel; same deal. You can decide on this, I think the stocker is an 8ohm speaker, common replacement are 4ohm, but since you’re running this with the vhf, not a big concern.

This won’t be the last thing you do on the stereo if you’re scheming this out.
If you’re looking for the sub, I have a spare one. Still have the 43CWRT81 in my truck, I just have a spare. PM if interested.

There are for scan settings - at least good on the ’17’s, that will send a flat signal, but it still requires some splicing.

The sub is about as good as you’ll get in the stock enclosure, you’ll need a different enclosure to go bigger. The kenwood 300w amp has enough power, but, you are pushing it to near max to get the sub fully powered. You might could go a little bit bigger on the amp but the kenwood / kicker is enough to blur the mirrors.

The center in the 2018 B&O is 4ohm, not 8ohm...that was the odd case with the 2017 Sony. Plus, he said he's only using the center for his VHF radio. He may want to look into that, though, and confirm he's not losing any chimes/phone/nav by disconnecting it. Not sure on that. Finally, I would not bother with the rears...I did mine, and the B&O sends so little volume back there, they are hardly noticeable. If you are going to re-amp the system, then replacing the rears makes more sense. JMO.

 

[smurfslayer]

Thanks for the correction on the b&o center channel speaker @lawdog, you’re right the ’17 was oddly 8O. I presume nav tv will address programming where to sound the chimes.

that’s odd on the rear doors of the ’18. The ’17 seems to be reasonably well balanced ( he says after replacing the factory paper mâché models with the a series...).

 

[lawdog]

Thanks for the correction on the b&o center channel speaker @lawdog, you’re right the ’17 was oddly 8O. I presume nav tv will address programming where to sound the chimes.

that’s odd on the rear doors of the ’18. The ’17 seems to be reasonably well balanced ( he says after replacing the factory paper mâché models with the a series...).

Yeah, I was surprised once I did it, based on what you and guy did on the '17. Others that have done the rears on the '18 B&O have said similar...the bias of that amp is heavily to the front, even if you fade it fully to the rear...just not much there that the stock component 6.5s can't handle. I may reap the benefit of the change if and when I get the itch to upgrade further.

 

[0r30]

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!

Are folks still running with these items in their trucks to upgrade under 500? Looking into dynamatting the truck but I think this would be worth doing while taking the panels off.

 

[smurfslayer]

yeah; @Guy and I both - probably more, used rolls of dynamat on the doors I think I had 6 rolls total, maybe 7(?) each door was a basically a roll, plus the sub box and some spare material to finish each door. I am not pro.

if you add the dynamat, don’t expect to stay under $500. I think $650 is more reasonable for upgrading a ’17 as Guy did, and adding dynamat.

’18 needs a pretty spendy sound processor. To be fair, the ’17 would benefit from clear signal too, but you can do the ’17 / Sony system in stages without the sound processor up front.

 

[pastorwug]

yeah; @Guy and I both - probably more, used rolls of dynamat on the doors I think I had 6 rolls total, maybe 7(?) each door was a basically a roll, plus the sub box and some spare material to finish each door. I am not pro.

if you add the dynamat, don’t expect to stay under $500. I think $650 is more reasonable for upgrading a ’17 as Guy did, and adding dynamat.

’18 needs a pretty spendy sound processor. To be fair, the ’17 would benefit from clear signal too, but you can do the ’17 / Sony system in stages without the sound processor up front.

I didn't notice the mention of a "sound processor" for the 18 previously - what is this and where does it go?
Is this for the sub?

 

[dhmcfadin]

I didn't notice the mention of a "sound processor" for the 18 previously - what is this and where does it go?
Is this for the sub?

The 2018 B&O system uses a different type of communication to send signal from the headunit to the factory b&o dsp/amp. Instead of it being analog or low level, the signal is now A2B can-bus. There are no wires that run to the factory amp other than 2 can-bus com wires and a single usb. In order to eliminate the factory processing, you must remove the b&o dsp/amp and then interpret the can bus and usb signal. Then you can send digital audio to your new dsp/ amp/ whatever.

There is currently only one module on the market that allows you do this.

https://navtv.com/products/NTV-KIT889/zen-a2b-dsp12a-a2b.html

While expensive, it provides the cleanest signal you can get, offers toslink optical out, and manages all chimes and alerts like oem. I use it and it’s a phenomenal piece of hardware. It will remove and replace the factory b&o dsp/amp at the rear of the truck. In the process, you will remove the factory sub as well. The entire module is 100% plug and play.

 

[lawdog]

Are folks still running with these items in their trucks to upgrade under 500? Looking into dynamatting the truck but I think this would be worth doing while taking the panels off.

Yes, many folks have done the Pioneers/are happy with them, and any decent upgrade speaker will make a difference. I chose JBLs, which cost a bit more than the Pioneers, but are 2ohm speakers, and very efficient (louder with stock amp). I chose a 3way for the front kickpanel and then their high-end tweeters, and, if I had it to do over again, I might have gone back with components, for which the system was designed. JBL and Infinity make some good, efficient 6x9 components that would work well with the stock amp/setup. In the B&O, I think it's very debatable whether you want to switch out the rear 6.5s, because the B&O amp has a very forward bias, making the rears, even if fully faded, used for little more than fill. Finally, there is debate about the center channel speaker, whether it should be replaced, left alone, or removed. In the 2017s with the Sony system, it was an 8ohm speaker, which creates issues if you replace it with a 4ohm, which most aftermarkets are. In the B&O, it's a 4ohm, so the issues are more with imaging. Because my JBLs are a good bit louder than the stockers, I left my center channel alone. Many high-end installers recommend pulling it/unplugging it.

Have fun, and good luck!