Explorer Audio upgrade(s)

[Sgt1411]

I must have a hearing problem then because I was actually impressed with the OEM Sony system.

 

[ieee_raider]

I must have a hearing problem then because I was actually impressed with the OEM Sony system.

I have noticed something people might have not realized yet.
Part of the issue isn't the sony system but instead Sirius.
With Sirius as my source, my bass response is lacking at any increased volume (over half).
When I listed to FM radio, iPod, bluetooth, etc... I have much increased bass response at all volume levels.

It might be a compression thing on Sirius' end or something in MFT; not sure... but it's definitely noticeable.

 

[Tony407]

I don't know if this will help, but I did a system upgrade in my 2012 Focus Titanium with MFT and the Premium Sony stereo. I just read all 10 pages of this thread and got a lot of useful information for my new '15 Explorer Sport, so thanks everyone! It wasn't until the last couple of pages did I hear someone mention the Audio Control LCQ-1 (it's relatively new). I suspect since this was such a great product for the Focus system for what I wanted, I think it would be a great fit for the Explorer too. My eventual goal is to replace the front door speakers with some JL components, bi-amp them using the passive JL crossovers (nice feature of the JLs), and add a Stealthbox in the rear with a dedicated amp. Most likely will use a JL HD600/4 for the fronts, and an HD750/1 for the sub. I'll probably leave all rear speakers alone and use them for rear fill. In the Focus I simply unplugged the center channel and didn't use it at all and the front end sounded MUCH better without it. Can't say it'll be the same in the Explorer or not.

Hope this helps. -Tony


http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=259887

 

[ieee_raider]

Hello, I recently purchased a 9k used 2014 Ex Sport Black with the 401A package and love it so far!!! I wanted to say thank you to everyone on the forum and especially this thread for the all info, pics, and comments. I traded in 09 Hyundai Genesis 4.6 with an amazing 17 Speaker Lexicon audio system. So when I purchased the Sport I knew the audio system did not compare to my last car. While I would love to invest the time and money into a clean sweep, amps, and new speaker to make the 12 speaker sony system better as a whole. However, not wanting to spend a ton of money right after purchasing the vehicle, I want to better the low end of the system. after reading up and viewing pics I cleanly installed a SSL PSY1000.2 amp, Kicker CVT COMPVT 12 (due to using a slim box at first but changed to a ), 12" Metra sealed box. I installed a RCA level control into the right rear panel and tapped into the amps rear door speaker output. I ran the power and amp remote turn on wire through the drivers door jam/right front friended into the engine bay to the battery and fuse panel. I didn't want to drill through the firewall. I ran the amps sub volume remote dial into the consoles audio input cubbyhole on the lid so that when the lid pops up so does the volume dial. Ran all the wires cleanly and none, other than the door jam are visible. It's sounds great!!! Thanks again for all the info that allowed me to have great sound cheaply and install it myself!!!

http://i1368.photobucket.com/albums...5-295A-402D-9458-25B56F269727_zpsei0j6kic.jpg

http://i1368.photobucket.com/albums...5-3699-4110-B8CF-1CB2BBA84DC7_zpsrm1rsxsw.jpg

http://i1368.photobucket.com/albums...9-B647-46AC-BDC9-77C46AF65D91_zpsjlgnrumk.jpg

http://i1368.photobucket.com/albums...C-B8BD-4E21-B043-CB9C83B75094_zpscalcq2xh.jpg

http://i1368.photobucket.com/albums/ag186/Christopher_Wiet/imagejpg1_zps3c1d2c68.jpg


http://i1368.photobucket.com/albums/ag186/Christopher_Wiet/imagejpg2_zpsb484ab19.jpg

Thanks!!!

That power wire to your amp looks TINY.
It should be like a 4 gauge for a 1000W amp which is pretty hefty.
Sure you got it right? I only ask because I've seen improperly sized wires cause fires.

 

[Tony407]

I must have a hearing problem then because I was actually impressed with the OEM Sony system.

It's all relative. My previous vehicle was a '14 Jeep Grand Cherokee Summit with the Harmon Kardon system. That particular stereo was light years ahead of the Explorer, so I'm comparing the Sony to the HK in the Jeep (as well as with other vehicles I've owned). We all have different ears, needs and experiences with music so there's probably nothing wrong with your ears. Be thankful, because being an audiophile costs a lot of money!!!!

Tony

 

[Tony407]

That power wire to your amp looks TINY.
It should be like a 4 gauge for a 1000W amp which is pretty hefty.
Sure you got it right? I only ask because I've seen improperly sized wires cause fires.

Ditto! Is that really your power wire for the amp? You should try feeling the wire and see how hot it (probably) is after a jam session with some tunes. Not cool. Sorry for the pun.

Tony

 

[FLEO]

Thanks for the critique guys, I can always use help and info. I based my usage of an 8 gauge wire kit from the crutchfield website as well as the amps manual. I used this pages calculations and chart

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-76pTGDpkJv0/learn/learningcenter/car/cable_gauge_chart.html

My amp makes 125 x 2 RMS power into 4 ohms.
I bridged it so, I believe, it is running at 250 rms at 4 ohms.

According the the crutchfield site take 250 x 2 = 500. Then divide by 13.8 volts = 36.23. This fits into the 8 garage 11-19 feet of cable.

I hope I did this correctly and I know that I can always use a lower gauge cable. I have not noticed any access heating from cables but I will check later today after a long drive home from work.

Please let me know if my math is correct on this one. I know the amp name make make things a pain to figure out but the specs are coming right from its manual.

 

[ieee_raider]

Thanks for the critique guys, I can always use help and info. I based my usage of an 8 gauge wire kit from the crutchfield website as well as the amps manual. I used this pages calculations and chart

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-76pTGDpkJv0/learn/learningcenter/car/cable_gauge_chart.html

My amp makes 125 x 2 RMS power into 4 ohms.
I bridged it so, I believe, it is running at 250 rms at 4 ohms.

According the the crutchfield site take 250 x 2 = 500. Then divide by 13.8 volts = 36.23. This fits into the 8 garage 11-19 feet of cable.

I hope I did this correctly and I know that I can always use a lower gauge cable. I have not noticed any access heating from cables but I will check later today after a long drive home from work.

Please let me know if my math is correct on this one. I know the amp name make make things a pain to figure out but the specs are coming right from its manual.

Looking a bit more at your setup, something doesn't add up.
Your speaker is capable of being a 2 ohm or 4 ohm load depending on how you wire it but that presents an issue.
If you wire it as 2 ohm, your sub can handle 400W. But then your sub is outputting 500W RMS and 1000W Max.
If you wire it as 4 ohm, your sub can handle 200W but your amp is outputting 250W RMS and 500W Max.

Now, back to the wire size.
If wired as 4 ohm, then 8 gauge might be ok, but most people wire based on max wattage, not RMS. I generally trust crutchfield, but this I don't agree with.
If wired as 2 ohm, then you need bigger wire.

Feel free to get opinions from others... everyone has an opinion.

 

[FLEO]

Looking a bit more at your setup, something doesn't add up.
Your speaker is capable of being a 2 ohm or 4 ohm load depending on how you wire it but that presents an issue.
If you wire it as 2 ohm, your sub can handle 400W. But then your sub is outputting 500W RMS and 1000W Max.
If you wire it as 4 ohm, your sub can handle 200W but your amp is outputting 250W RMS and 500W Max.

Now, back to the wire size.
If wired as 4 ohm, then 8 gauge might be ok, but most people wire based on max wattage, not RMS. I generally trust crutchfield, but this I don't agree with.
If wired as 2 ohm, then you need bigger wire.

Feel free to get opinions from others... everyone has an opinion.

Thanks for looking at the setup, I am not an expert by any means, just trying to do a decent job on my own lol. The sub is wired at 4ohms as it is a 4 ohm single voicecoil. I know bigger is always better, but I hope that the 8 gauge is good enough for this. If I wanted to change to the 4 gauge, would I have to do the power cable, fuse, and ground cable or just the power cable. For your reference here are the manuals for the setup I have:

http://www.soundstormlab.com/manuals/

Psyclone AB En

http://www.kicker.com/CompVT

12 inch product page

Thanks again, I obviously wouldnt want to redo the work as long as the 8 gauge is safe, if its not safe and going to set the car on fire, I will change it. Just give me your best opinion.

 

[Sgt1411]

I have noticed something people might have not realized yet.
Part of the issue isn't the sony system but instead Sirius.
With Sirius as my source, my bass response is lacking at any increased volume (over half).
When I listed to FM radio, iPod, bluetooth, etc... I have much increased bass response at all volume levels.

It might be a compression thing on Sirius' end or something in MFT; not sure... but it's definitely noticeable.

Yes you're bang on, I was surprised how much "richer" the sound was when I switched off Sirius and just listened to terrestrial FM radio. Kind of backwards but I do understand compression of signal for Sirius.

Bluetooth streaming is also far superior.

I don't own CD's so I guess I will never have a chance to try that.

 

[peterk9]

I've got some 8 tracks but I can't use them in the car either.

Peter

 

[Riley]

Running those power wires through the door like that is also a big no-no. They are constantly getting moved and pinched when you open and close the door. Pretty soon the insulation and wire loom will wear away and cause a short to ground. You need to run power wires through the fire wall. Save yourself some headaches down the road and do things properly.

 

[CountrySquiress]

I've got some 8 tracks but I can't use them in the car either.

Peter

You could rip out your MLT and add a genuine part -

(I still have a couple 8-tracks that I never got chance to transfer to cassette myself)

 

[peterk9]

Had an 8 track player in my Silver '79 Olds 98 Regency. Still have an 8 track quad system in the basement.

Peter

 

[FLEO]

Running those power wires through the door like that is also a big no-no. They are constantly getting moved and pinched when you open and close the door. Pretty soon the insulation and wire loom will wear away and cause a short to ground. You need to run power wires through the fire wall. Save yourself some headaches down the road and do things properly.

The cable doesnt move as it is secured with zip ties and doesnt get pinched at all, I checked on that as well as covering the cable in a plastic cable wrap.

 

[Tony407]

The cable doesnt move as it is secured with zip ties and doesnt get pinched at all, I checked on that as well as covering the cable in a plastic cable wrap.

Yeah...I've ran speaker cables through my doors in most cars I've owned and never had a problem. As long as you check them for excess play when you first install them and then periodically now and again you should be fine.

Tony

 

[FLEO]

Yeah...I've ran speaker cables through my doors in most cars I've owned and never had a problem. As long as you check them for excess play when you first install them and then periodically now and again you should be fine. Tony

Cool thanks man!

 

[ieee_raider]

Thanks for looking at the setup, I am not an expert by any means, just trying to do a decent job on my own lol. The sub is wired at 4ohms as it is a 4 ohm single voicecoil. I know bigger is always better, but I hope that the 8 gauge is good enough for this. If I wanted to change to the 4 gauge, would I have to do the power cable, fuse, and ground cable or just the power cable. For your reference here are the manuals for the setup I have:

http://www.soundstormlab.com/manuals/

Psyclone AB En

http://www.kicker.com/CompVT

12 inch product page

Thanks again, I obviously wouldnt want to redo the work as long as the 8 gauge is safe, if its not safe and going to set the car on fire, I will change it. Just give me your best opinion.

Looking at the manual you sent, it says bridged power into 4 ohm is 1000W.
Now, there are all kinds of efficiency differences with amps that we didn't even get into... but one way to play it safe is to look at the fuse rating in the manual. It says 35A which would indicate that 8 gauge is perfectly fine... but what that also means is your amp isn't really delivering the wattage it claims to.
The reason that I say play it safe based on fuse size is that the fuse's job is to protect the wire. So as long as you have the correct size wire for the fuse (or vice versa), you have little to no risk of fire. If your amp pulls more power than rated (due to a short or something) then it will pop the fuse before burning the wire.

Now, for the ground wire, it is generally a little smaller because people don't run it over the length to the battery. They find a good chassis ground and use that. Based on a 35W input power, you would need a 10 gauge ground at less than 4 feet. Over that and you'd need 8 gauge. Many people like to under-size the ground but this is just as dangerous as under-sizing the power cable.

Hope this helps!

 

[FLEO]

wow does this ever help. Thank you for taking a look at if for me. I believe the ground cable is 8 gauge as well and is only run 2-3 ft. I also spoke with a private car audio shop today and the owner was also good with my setup. I believe you are correct the the SSL amp is greatly overstating its power. It sounds really good and on my hour drive home from work today, I pushed the system to over 3/4 power and the wires never got hot. I had to grab a full handful of wire and squeeze really tight to even feel the slightest warmth. Thanks again for reviewing the materials, I am glad people on this forum are willing to help!!!

 

[deewan]

Yes you're bang on, I was surprised how much "richer" the sound was when I switched off Sirius and just listened to terrestrial FM radio. Kind of backwards but I do understand compression of signal for Sirius.

Bluetooth streaming is also far superior.

I don't own CD's so I guess I will never have a chance to try that.

I always giggle a little bit when I hear about people wanting to use SXM for demoing a system. Sgt1411 is correct with his comments about Sirius. SXM is some of the highest compressed music you can find and play. Depending on your cell phones internet connect, you can get higher quality music streaming from internet sites. just because SXM is 'digital' doesn't mean it is high quality.

Streaming via Blutooth is better, but you are still compromising with using the EQ on your phone (unless you bypass it) and then all the OEM components. If you don't own CD's, your best bet (if you live in an area that offers it) is using HD Radio. Even with HD Radio or CD's the fidelity of the system is limited by the DAC in the onboard system, the S/N and THD of the amps, and then finally the speakers.