Bf Premium Sound Speaker/sub Upgrade

[xpl0sive]

Hi Guys,

Over the long weekend I replaced the stock 'premium' speakers and parcel shelf subwoofer in my BF XR6T...something I've been wanting to do ever since I bought the car, but there wasn't much available at the time that would suit my application, and that was actually worth the money. The aim was to improve the sound quality and bass by a fair margin whilst retaining the factory look, so no addtional H/U's or amps, or boxed subs in the boot.

The products I used were:

Alpine Type G 6.5" splits up front

Kicker CTV8 8" shallow mount sub in the parcel shelf

Pioneer 6" speakers in the rear (will be replacing these with Alpine Type S 5x7)

Dynamat Extreme on parcel shelf and front doors.

I chose the Type G splits and Kicker CTV8 as they are both very efficient, something that suited my setup perfectly as I am running these off the factory H/U and amp, so I needed something that wasn't power hungry as this would make them sound worse than the factory gear. Also Dynamatted the entire parcel shelf top and bottom, as well as front doors to make the most out of this setup.

The end result was a MASSIVE improvement over the factory setup. Could not believe how much better the system sounded!

The Alpine Type G's sound fantastic. Crisp and clear mids with no signs of distortion. Awesome tweeters as well. These absolutely sh!t all over my old speakers. I was very impressed with these, well worth the money.

I was also very impressed with the sub, I actually have bass now lol. I can feel and hear the bass all throughout the car, especially on the really bassy tracks. I can feel the kick through the drivers seat, punching through the back rest, and no rattles either, so the Dynamat did wonders in the parcel shelf too. The only thing that vibrates a little is the rear view mirror, not sure how to fix this. I had a mate sit in my car after the install was done, and he could not believe the difference between the new sub and the factory one. It absolutely craps on the stock Ford sub. Again, very impressive and well worth the money. I've been told that it is a very tight suspension too, so the bass should improve further after around 10-15 hours of use. Looking forward to that

The only thing I was dissapointed with was the rears, these do not sound great, but I only used these as they were given to me as a birthday present years ago for a car I had back then but never used them as I ended up selling the car, and they sat in my garage ever since. I'm putting it down to these being inefficient speakers and power hungry, as they tend to distort a little at high volume levels. I will be replacing these with some Alpine Type S 5x7's that will slot straight in. For the moment I just have the fade set more towards the front.

I also recommend that anyone who also goes down this path to sound deaden the parcel shelf and front doors in order to make the most out of this setup. It will definitely make a big difference to the overall sound quality. Not sure what other brands are like as I only have experience with Dynamat, but can highly recommend it. The bulk pack is more than enough to do your parcel shelf and front doors.

While this does not compare to a full blown setup with aftermarket amps, H/U's, boxed subs and expensive speakers, it is a very nice upgrade over the factory setup for a relatively cheap cost, and the best part is that it still looks all factory and the interior/boot doesn't look like it's been touched, something I was aiming for, and something that was previously hard to achieve if you wanted a decent improvement in your sound. This is what the stock premium sound SHOULD have sounded like. Now the system sounds premium, lol.

I realise this has probably been done before, but I just wanted to give people some options on what to use as I know there are others out there who like me, want to improve on the factory sound without changing too much or spending a fortune, and I know when I wanted to do this a while back there wasn't much info on the net on how to go about it and the general consesus was that if you wanted any sort of decent improvement in sound quality and bass, you would need to ditch the factory amp/sub and go full aftermarket, and the 8" subs on the market at the time either didn't sound much better than factory, or sounded worse when slotted straight into the parcel shelf and connected to the factory amp, as I was told by many audio installers. The Kicker I used is a late 2010 design and a very efficient sub, and while it is not a free-air sub, it still sounds fantastic in the parcel shelf running off the standard amp. It definitely craps all over the stock sub that's for sure. The carpet that clips underneath it also helps to create a bit of a sealed enclosure, and the Dynamat on the shelf defnitely helped too. This sub is probably the best option if you want something that is a direct replacement for the factory one and do not wish to run an aftermarket amp with a boxed sub in your boot.

As for the speakers, there are many options out there that would do the job, I just chose the Type G splits as as they are a very efficient speaker which suited my application, the price was good and I like Alpine gear. They were also recommended to me by an audio installer who had trialled a lot of speakers in the BA-BF fords and told me these sounded great running off the standard H/U. I was very happy with these.

Cheers

[psifed2]

Great write up mate so u used the kicker cvt8 200w 2ohm one yeah? And bolted straight in?

Hope your happy with it mate

[xpl0sive]

yeah that's the one mate, but it's the 4ohm version. Didn't quite bolt straight in, but was close enough. Not sure if it's the same for the FG, but on the B series the holes line up about 80%. There are 4 bolts that hold the original sub in place. You can either enlarge 4 of the holes on the kicker sub with a drill so that all 4 of them line up with the parcel shelf holes, or use 4 self-tapping screws and screw threw the sub straight into the parcel shelf.

[LazyBrennan]

Do you have any photos of the dynamat installed? Im curious to know which side of the partial shelf you put them on? Under or inside the car?

[xpl0sive]

Hey Mate,

I covered both sides of the parcel shelf with Dynamat. With the top (inside the car), I pretty much covered the whole thing, and with the bottom (underneath) I just used one whole sheet in the centre, in the subwoofer area. I only got pics of the top, but can upload tomorrow for you as they are on my phone. It's a bit of a *beep* dynamatting the parcel shelf but it's definitely worth doing, will improve your sound a lot and eliminate a lot of rattle.

[luckyfly]

Good write up, thanks

[xpl0sive]

no probs dude happy to help.

[tim85]

I dynamatted like you said, and it sounds heaps better, but all the rattles haven't completely gone

[xpl0sive]

What's your setup dude, and what exactly have you dynamatted?

[tim85]

I replaced the stock sub with a Polk MM840 DVC sub. I dynamatted the top and bottom of the parcel shelf around the sub (bought a wedge pack). Everthing else is stock premo sound system. Don't get me wrong, it did wonders for sound quality and reducing vibrations just hasn't completely removed them. I think maybe the seatbelt retainers could be contributing to the vibrations?