Speaker upgrade 21 ST

[RusW1]

Good afternoon all,
I'm thinking about doing a speaker upgrade, not going all out just replace factory B&O drivers with either Hertz, Focal, or Morel's. I'm curious, has anyone used any of these and has anyone replaced the factory sub driver with another brand? I've completed the sound deadening project on all doors, back hatch and trunk area. Don't want to upgrade amp, or change anything else. Listen to music at a low to moderate volume, mostly interested in clarity and accurate reproduction of vocal.

thanks in advance

 

[ConspicuousConsumption]

I don't have any info for you, but I was wondering if you took any pictures of the sound deadening project and have any tips. How well did it work for reducing road noise?

 

[RusW1]

Hi,
Sorry I didn’t take any pictures but it went pretty good. I filled the advice of Unbroken, and a three he posted on here awhile back, I’ll try to add the link. I did all 4 doors and the rear hatch and storage area with the Rubber butyl Tiles, some Closed fell foam, and the 3m 400 sound insulation. It was quite a bit of work but i enjoyed it. i had a heck of a time removing the inner door panels, but once i found a thread in here with instructions on replacing the glass, from Ford, it was a breeze. That and some advice from Unbroken. I can say it quite down quite a bit and the factory stereo sounds much much better. I think my next project when I have time will be to remove the rear panels where the subwoofer is and insulate that, I still have some material left over. I’m hoping the speakers sound decent although again the B&O system sounds much better. Just insulating the inside. I have a seven-year-old so don’t listen to the radio very loud, but we do like to do audiobooks on road trips and I like a nice clean sound. I’ll post the links to this thread when I get back to the house.

 

[RusW1]

Here are the instructions for the inner door panels.

https://www.foexplorer.com/ford_exp...ont_door_window_regulator_and_motor-1319.html


Look up Unbrokens Iconic Silver ST build thread and scroll through until you find his recommendations for sound deadening.Very informative.

 

[MrBigglesworrth]

If you don’t want to add amps or a dsp I would leave it alone. You won’t gain much.

 

[BrooseDaMoose]

Changing out the just the speakers is a waste of money. You won't gain anything. The stock speakers handle the OEM amp just fine.

 

[banniar]

Keeping the stock amp and swapping in some nice expensive speakers will likely only make your system sound worse. The factory amp/DSP was set up for the factory speakers, so everything is tuned and balanced around them. Even though the stock speakers are nothing special, the system is optimized around them to get the most from them. If you swap out any of the speakers, the equalization and levels will be thrown off, and you won't be able to correct it with the adjustments you can make on the head unit.

It is relatively easy to add a sub & amp if you need more bass (volume and/or frequency extension), but it is another level of investment to do anything that makes sense with the rest of the speakers. The factory amp/DSP will be tossed, so it needs to be replaced with a converter box and enough amp channels to drive all the speakers you want alive post-upgrade. You'll also want DSP capability to tune the new system well enough to convince yourself it is better than stock, especially if you are aiming for SQ and not just making it louder. My heart sank when I fired up my new system for the first time because it sounded so much worse than stock. However, after many hours of RTA recording and DSP adjustments, the system came to life and the sound quality now far exceeds the stock setup.

 

[Cdubya]

Changing out the just the speakers is a waste of money. You won't gain anything. The stock speakers handle the OEM amp just fine.

I would challenge that. You just need to select high sensitivity drivers to use the small power the stock amps provide. There are a few choices that meet the criteria. Then you need to tune the old fashioned way by using passive crossovers, and add a powered sub to fill outthe low end. I would challenge anyone in my area to listen to my system vs. their stock system and tell me it isn't vastly superior.

 

[RusW1]

Thanks for all of the advice. I'll sit on my $$ and continue researching an upgrade. I'd consider doing a new amp, replacing the factory sub and adding the converter and DSP if I could find something that could utilize wiring already there and be semi plug and play.

 

[RusW1]

C,
What type of drivers are you running please?

 

[BrooseDaMoose]

I would challenge that. You just need to select high sensitivity drivers to use the small power the stock amps provide. There are a few choices that meet the criteria. Then you need to tune the old fashioned way by using passive crossovers, and add a powered sub to fill outthe low end. I would challenge anyone in my area to listen to my system vs. their stock system and tell me it isn't vastly superior.

But that’s not “just” upgrading the speakers like the OP stated.


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[RusW1]

I'm flexible, and open to suggestions.

 

[BrooseDaMoose]

I'm flexible, and open to suggestions.

I replaced the front and rear doors with Focal Flax Series, the center speaker with an Alpine S2, I have an Alpine RS-SB10 10" sub in a sealed box that fits in the cargo area perfectly, power the speakers with an Alpine HDP-D90 DSP-Amp and the sub with an Alpine HDA-M80 mono amp. Both amps fit nicely in the space where the OEM sub was so they are out of sight. The system probably wouldn't win any awards but I think it sounds great. It's nice and clear, loud enough and plenty of bass. I spent about $4K on equipment though.

 

[RusW1]

Sounds like a solid and affordable build. Thanks for the info.

 

[Cdubya]

I'm flexible, and open to suggestions.

Here's my write up under my alias username:
https://www.explorerforum.com/forums/threads/budget-b-o-front-door-upgrade.497898/