door speakers to compliment my alpines

[bayboy23]

i have 2 12" alpine type S's, alpine v-power amp, and very nice alpine deck with touch controls and ipod interface to scroll through ipod on the deck. my door speakers are still stock and im pretty sure they are blown out. i was wondering what size speakers i can fit to replace the stock ones. i dont want to spend very much on them at all, i just want something better than the ones that are in there know. what about installation pricing??:exp:

 

[Mud Bug 94]

6 or 6-1/2 if i remember correctly any bigger and its the.....BFH

 

[redneck2725]

They are 5x7s or 6x8s. You could probably go with Alpine to keep it all the same. I have Boston Acoustics in my Mountaineer and they are incredible. Also, why do you need someone to install them??? Take off the door panel and connect 2 wires.

 

[Phager]

If you order them from Crutchfield they even give you an adapter to hook it up to the factory wiring so if you ever sell the X (Heaven forbid) you can throw the blown stockers back in for the next owner to play with . And they give you step by step instructions for installation down to screw/bolt sizes.

Pat

 

[bayboy23]

so is taking the door panel off easy? somebody on this site is offering me a pair of Pioneer 3 way 5x7's that were used about 6 months for $30 shipped. would i still be able to use stock wiring and put the old ones back in (if) i ever sold my explorer? do those fit directly also?

 

[Phager]

It loks like the factory speakers in the front are 6x8s so the 5x7s wont be a problem. You would have to either by adapter harnesses for the speakers (Crutchfield stocks them for $13 a pair, but you can probably find them at a car audio store) or you could crimp/solder terminals on to the factory wiring after removing the harness.

I'm a big fan of trying to keep stereo installations as non invasive as possible, just to make it easier for myself and others down the road if diagnostic work on the circuit needs to be done, so I'd spend the coin on the harness adapters. But it's your rig so it's ultimately your decision.

Pat

EDIT: As for the door panel, it's not too difficult, but it requires some patience. I haven't pulled the door panels on my X yet, but there'll probably be a couple of screws holding the armrests on, one or two screws on the trim around the door handle and one one the upper corner where the kick up is. If yours has power windows then there'll be screw holding the switch plate on, if it's manual then I think theres a screw holding the crank on. after you pull all the screws the perimeter of the panel is held on with clips, the best tool for this is a door panel removal tool, but you can work the clips out with a flat head screwdriver if you're real careful. Expect to have to replace a few of these clips (they're available in the help section of most auto part stores) as they get brittle after a few years.

 

[Anime]

You can get speaker adapter plugs from AutoZone for $2.99 that clip on to an aftermarket speaker, and into the factory wiring with no cutting, so you can take them out anytime. Just look for the speaker adapters that say Ford on them. Crutchfield does include these for free when you buy speakers from them, as mentioned.

Some 6x8's are the best drop-in replacement, those Pioneers will do ok, but you might want to get another set to go with them, since theres a speaker in each door panel of your XLT, four speakers total. You can get the 6x8" Pioneer 3-ways for $50-60 from Wal-Mart. Perhaps you could get the used ones to put in the rear doors and save some money, and put the new ones in the front.

 

[pope_face]

I had my headunit, amp, and sub from my previous car, so I just used those... I sliced into the stock power harness to wire the headunit in and didn't even bother with the speaker wires... I just ran the RCA cables back to my amp and run everything from there... the wiring was all a pain in the ass, as I ran the power wire for the amp down one side of the car and the RCA (front and rear) and remote wire down the other side... I also replaced the door speakers with the JBL Grand Touring Series speakers and replaced all the speaker wiring with brand new, heavier gauge stuff... Took a hell of a long time to get everything installed and set-up properly, and I'm moving the amp and sub (right now they're just behind the rear seats), but it sounds like liquid gold in my ears... The only problem with the entire set-up is A) sometimes it's not loud enough (as I'm already partially deaf) and B) my headunit overheats... like, to the point where the entire faceplate/buttons will be hot to the touch... I also need a higher output alternator to power everything... I think I'll start looking into liquid-cooled headunits...

 

[Arthur]

MTX MTX MTX!


6x8's

 

[pope_face]

JBL... if you can spare the money... I did some comparison shopping a while before I got around to buying them... I happened to be in Best Buy on Boxing Day and they were offered to me for like $20 off the normal price, plus if I bought one pair the other was only half-price... I still paid way too much for them, but my only regret is that I didn't buy the Power Series instead of the GT...

 

[bayboy23]

what exactly are bass blockers? my friend was saying hes getting some. do they take the bass from the door speakers and let the bass stay in the subs? that sounds like what i should get and just keep the stock speakers.... do i need one for each speaker(4) or one for each side(2) or what? how much $?

 

[pope_face]

I don't know, but it sounds like just some sort of hi-pass gizmo... Some amplifiers have high-pass/low-pass on their outputs... it doesn't redirect your bass, it just prevents it from reaching the door speakers. On average, door speakers are only designed to handle certain frequencies... anything below that migh cause crackling or whatnot... a high-pass filter will essentially "block" the lower frequencies from reaching the door speakers, so if you have a subwoofer you can crank the bass up on your headunit and it won't reach the door speakers and blow them. Low-pass essentially does the same thing for your sub, but it blocks out higher frequencies. Personally, I think you should stay away from them... save your money and get better speakers than can handle the lower frequencies... Also, if you've got a sub, best thing to do would be to get a separate mono or 2 channel (bridged) amp and run the sub off that... it'll keep the power nice and level for everything, and you can fine-tune how much power you're sending to each of your speakers/sub.

 

[bayboy23]

yea i know but money is a big issue right now for me. i have t worry about deck installation and possibly some new wiring components for it and a front window tint job and these sound like all i need because it would be way better than leaving them as they are now

 

[pope_face]

Maybe someone else can chime in on this, or maybe the audio forum would be a good place to post this, but personally I wouldn't waste my money on these "bass blockers"... it's the same thing with capacitors. They do what they're supposed to, which is store an electrical charge and then release it when the demand hits, but the thing is that once that charge is released, the capacitor needs to "refill" itself... essentially, it takes power away from your stereo while it's charging and adds a little when it discharges...

But, back to the speakers... skip the window tint for the moment to save the cash, and the deck installation is easy and shouldn't take more than half-an-hour... the only issue is with the clips on the stock headunit... whatever shop you buy the unit from might be willing to loan them to you for a couple minutes so you can yank the stock HU out...

 

[Phager]

I agree with pope on this one, if these bass blockers are just passive crossovers like it sounds like they are I don't think they're going to be much help. I've found that unless you plan on putting serious power to the speakers you probably won't blow them out with the bass frequencies, of course this all depends on music preferance. I'm not sure how you have your system set up, but if you're running the door speakers directly from the head unit you probab;y won't over power good after market speakers. And if you're strapped for cash, I'd definetely look for something that will give you more bang for your buck.

Pat

 

[bayboy23]

the stock head unit has been out for nearly 8 years. there was an aftermarket pioneer in it when it got passed to me. that is already taken out and i had my deck in temporarily but my friend couldnt figure out why the door speakers weren't working. the bass was hitting hard and the deck was working but absolutely no sound from door speakers.

this is why i am resorting to professional deck installation. some of my other friends said i need to get a new "peripheral interface" in order for the new deck to work because the one that's in there now is for the old pioneer deck that i have in my room now.

 

[redneck2725]

Not trying to be mean, but why do you have all this decent audio equipment, but seem to care less about your door speakers??? Why put money into the sub, amp, and headunit, and not really care about your mids and highs???

I really have no good answer for your question since you appear to want good stuff for free. I still think you should look into some 6x8 Alpine's to match up your entire system. They are relatively unexpensive and sound decent. Just my 2 cents

 

[bayboy23]

because i got my system from my friend who got a truck and cant fit it in there. he had em in his old 4runner for like 3 or 4 monthes. i got it all for $500 including the $100 ipod interface so i can see all my ipod songs on the deck. its retty cool, i plug my ipod in my ashtray and close it and its kinda james bondish haha

 

[pope_face]

I agree, Alpine speakers are fairly good quality and they aren't overly pricey... I think they're only about $100-$150 CAD for a pair... even less in American funds... or, look on craigslist or something of the sort... there's always good deals to be had everywhere...

As for the speakers not working, have you tried checking the wiring? Do you have the stock amp powering the speakers, or are you using your Alpine? Are all the connectors done up properly? Personally I think the stock speakers kinda blow... They're good for a while, but I like my music loud and agressive... You can beat around the bush and look for a quick, cheap fix, but short of getting a decent set of speakers you won't be doing yourself any good... in fact, you may end up spending more money on quick-fixes than you would on speakers themselves... I took time with my setup and got everything for a reasonable price, as far as I'm concerned... the headunit was free, the amp and sub cost me $100 together, and the Stinger wiring kit plus about 40 feet of good speaker cable ran me about $100... the most expensive parts were the door speakers, which I paid about $250 for all together... however, if you do it right the first time, you won't have to worry about it for a long time to come. Just be smart about it and you can have yourself a system that will pound hard and last a long time...

 

[BluOvalMan]

Forget about "Bass blockers", if you have your AMP wired properly you shouldn't have any troubles. I agree with ALPINES, they are as good as anything else and it will keep the rest of your system matching. 6x8/5x7 are basically the same speaker, just depends on where you are measuring from. If you go with 6.5, you will need an adapter (fairly inexpensive and relatively easy to find - but why bother if you don't have to). If you are not looking to mess with wiring, go with the adapters, again, can be found just about everywhere, just depends on your pennies.