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Old 08-17-2009, 09:51 PM   #1
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Upgrade from Ford Factory Stereo; Speaker Location?

Hi. My 2006 Ford EB50 SMB has the factory stereo (which sounds horrible when the diesel is running). I'm thinking of upgrading the stereo myself with one of the in-Dash navigation/DVD/CD/receiver/Rear-View camera units (proably the Kenwood DNX5160) and I have some questions:
1) My SMB EB-50 has 5 speakers: One in driver's/passenger's front door, one in the forward cargo door, and one in each of the rear doors. I assume that there used to be 6 speakers, however they removed the one that would have been in the rear cargo door. I assume this anyway...am I missing a 6th speaker, is there one hidden somewhere or did SMB just disconnect this sixth speaker (acoustically, not an ideal situation)?
2) Has anyone either upgraded their stereo themselves fom the factory, or received the upgraded system from the SMB shop, and if so, where have they located their speakers / subwoofer? I'm thinking of putting the subwoofer either behind the driver's seat (either within the small storage cabinet or in one of those portable wedge-shaped enclosures), or in the storage cubby-hole in the forward cargo door. Any opinions / ideas?
3) Is there an obvious/convenient place to put that sixth speaker?
4) The two speakers in the rear doors are located just about the level of the rear shelf; when we place all our sleeping bags, crap, etc. on the shelf those speaker get just about buried and become almost useless. Has anyone been able to relocate those to a better location?
5) If you did stay with only five speakers, how did you wire that with just a 4-channel head-unit?
6) Do people have an opinion on whether the Kenwood, or Pioneer, or Alpine, etc. systems are better? I am most concerned about the on-screen user friendliness for us two luddites.
I searched, but was unable to find any SMBForum Galleries that show an upgraded stereo system...does anyone know of a gallery that shows the detail? thanks

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Old 08-17-2009, 10:07 PM   #2
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Re: Upgrade from Ford Factory Stereo; Speaker Location?

You might want to call Rob at Integrated Audio, the SMB audio/nav experts in Fresno that do the factory installs at SMB. I have the Kenwood 7100 with amp and sub and nav. My speakers were upgraded to some sort of Quartz ones, two in the front doors, one in the side door, one in one of the rear doors, and the sub under the closet (in my RB-50). Sounds terrific!
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Old 08-21-2009, 04:34 PM   #3
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Re: Upgrade from Ford Factory Stereo; Speaker Location?

I have a 2008 SMB and Rob told me that it comes stock with only 5 speakers. I had him add a 6th so there are 2 in the front, 2 on either side of the passenger section and two in the back. I have an inexpensive Pioneer receiver.
Yes, when we have the rear section filled with camping stuff, it blocks most of the sound from the back.

I am also dissatisfied with the sound from the system and at some point, I'll upgrade the speakers.
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Old 08-21-2009, 07:58 PM   #4
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Re: Upgrade from Ford Factory Stereo; Speaker Location?

I have a 06 Ford RB that has an unused connector for that missing sixth speaker (missing on my RB-31 anyhow). It is located at the bottom of the driver side "B" pillar and the wires are lightblue/gray, and brown/yellow.

FWIW, near same location is an unused "power point" connector from fuse #40. Wires are purple/brown and black.

The wiring diagram shows the middle and rear speaker wired in parallel. Each side is like that. Something to take into consideration if using an amp or low ohm aftermarket speakers.
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Old 09-04-2009, 06:26 PM   #5
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Re: Upgrade from Ford Factory Stereo; Speaker Location?

I don't know the ford factory head unit (CD player/Radio) but typically an upgrade to an after market head unit will not make a significant sound quality upgrade unless you lack enough power to push your speakers. (this is not your problem) However, an after market head unit can give you nice toys like nav systems, MP3, and Aux in.

Warning at least in Southern California everyone I know who is in the outdoors a lot and parks at trailheads or off the side of roads (especially Los Angeles National Forest) with after market head units with LCD screen have had them stolen.

Most stereos only have 4 output for speakers plus a subwoofer out sometimes. Most likely you have a front right and left and rear left and rear right. Your rear right probably has both rears connected. Do a little testing with your current stereo and you can probably find out all you need. Adjust the right and left balance and front and rear and you should find out everything.

For the head unit install you will need to figure out how you pull the head unit which may require a special tool to slide in and press down some tabs. Buy a wire harness and mounting kit. Butt connect the OEM wire harness you buy to the aftermarket units wire harness. You will not have to worry about the whole 6 speaker thing just connect up harness as it tells you.

2. a subwoofer will be some hassle to install as you will have to wire it special and will also have to install an amp some where it will not get spilled on or get too hot. If you haven't done this before just a note: don't cheap out on wire for the sub and amp.

6. Kenwood, Pioneer, Alpine all make great stereos. There speciality has not been GPS or navigation. Personally I would get a separate GPS naviagation/backup camera. Much easier to update, cheaper, easier to install, much easier to replace, can be used outside the vehicle.

If you want better sound I very strongly recommend a component set. I'm a fan of MB Quarts but other brands are probably fine. Not hard to find. After market speakers are much better than stock. If the you don't currently have tweeters at ear level it will be drastic improvement because the tweeter (if any) will be moved 3 or so feet closer to your ear.

Like these:
http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio ... ctID=20082

The install of this is not hard to do. I did mine in about 2 or three hours. Let me know if you need details. In our SMB previously could not listen to books on CD and music quality was poor but now with the improved sound quality it is not a problem. I must admit I wouldn't mind a sub but I can't seem sacrafising like 2 cubic feet of interior space for one.

Ken
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Old 09-04-2009, 09:02 PM   #6
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Re: Upgrade from Ford Factory Stereo; Speaker Location?

I have the Ford factory 6CD stereo. It is an excellent unit, and plenty powerful for inside listening. Unless you go high dollar, I think you'd be hard pressed to match the Ford unit. Main reason for going with OEM was the theft factor.

Now the speakers... The Ford speakers in the XLT vans are plenty powerful, but only decent on sounds quality. Because of the shape of the vans, I think component speakers are the best option.

The vans are wired to 6-speakers, with the rear speakers in parallel.

That last speaker you are missing is just aft of the driver, directly across from teh speaker in the side door.
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Old 09-05-2009, 11:38 AM   #7
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Re: Upgrade from Ford Factory Stereo; Speaker Location?

Is there any easy way to put the "mid" speakers (in the side door and the one missing) on their own circuit? As far from an audiophile as I am, I find it annoying that I cannot turn the stereo to the rear without the side door sound cranking up... I usually find some combination of fade and balance, but it doesn't sound even to anyone not sitting in the driver's seat.
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Old 09-22-2009, 08:17 PM   #8
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Re: Upgrade from Ford Factory Stereo; Speaker Location?

Jage, way back in the day I put these cheap little bass blockers on positive of the front speakers in my 83 CJ7 to filter out the low range bass. Since I was running a 8" sub under the backseat, bass from the 4" speakers was unneeded. I don't know if something like this is available for decibel decrease but would be worth asking at a car audio shop but not much adjustment there.

A more elegant option would be to put in a small amp. About the only way I see this as a doable project is install a 2 channel amp at the back where it might be easier to get to the wires and run them back and forth from a door to the amp then you could turn just those up a little more if you liked. A little amp might set you back $80 and could do it.

Talking about this has me thinking about installing a 8" sub and amp on my backdoor. Anyone have have a sub installed in there rig?
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Old 09-22-2009, 10:27 PM   #9
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Re: Upgrade from Ford Factory Stereo; Speaker Location?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sierrasclimber
Talking about this has me thinking about installing a 8" sub and amp on my backdoor. Anyone have have a sub installed in there rig?
Yes but toward the back along the driver side....Huge difference!
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Old 10-09-2009, 08:52 PM   #10
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Re: Upgrade from Ford Factory Stereo; Speaker Location?

Thanks for all the posts, especially to SierrasClimber for that detailed response. After numerous calls to crutchfield.com and web perusal and price-shopping, I figured out the system to go with:

Head Unit: Kenwood DNX5140, Amazon $690. This is not the top-of-the-line unit, but we went with this unit because we wanted the actual protruding volume knob. I used to own a stereo head-unit where the up/down volume was two buttons, and I found it a huge distraction to use while driving. It has the LCD screen, DVD, CD, backup camera function, as well as the Garmin nav, so it will do everything we want. Unfortunately, it only has 4 pre-out channels, which meant that I had to combine the front and center channel controls, but that’s no big deal (The 6140 has Bluetooth for a cell phone, but we will never use that). We drive the front and center speakers using the amp, and the rears off of the 22 W head-unit. I considered the Clarion NX409 which has 6 pre-out channels (simplifying the speaker powering), but eventually decided that the controls, and poor nav-unit reviews eliminated it from contention. Note: If you go to the Crutchfield.com site and use their stereo fit chart, they contend that the Kenwood double-DIN unit will not fit the 2006 Ford dash. However, using the Adapter plate mentioned below, and a bit of trimming, it WILL fit and look good; trust me.

Front Speakers: Infinity Component, reference 6820cs, Crutchfield $120. I placed the woofer portion of the component in the existing door space, and the tweeters within the black plastic deltas that sit in the front window corner of the door. The tweeters sit at almost ear-level, and swivel towards the driver’s/passenger’s ears, and as such, the sound is fantastic, and it cuts through the diesel noise better. This was a pain in the butt to run the wires, cut the tweeter holes, etc, but I think well worth it.

Center Speakers: Infinity 6822cf, Crutchfield $70 I have an EB-50, which means that there is an existing speaker in the front cargo door, but the speaker in the rear cargo door had been disconnected (hidden behind the cabinet). I placed the LH center speaker under the sink within the sink-cabinet. I had to cut the oval hole and given that I was unable to find a commercial 6x8 grille that would fit that space, I had to make my own grille by cutting one out of ¼” MDF and covering it with black speaker fabric (this too a huge pain in the butt).

Rear Speakers: Infinity 682.9cf: Amazon$72. I used the existing factory wires…probably not ideal, but I had no desire to re-run these through the vehicle. In practice, these speakers get muffled by all the bedding, etc that we store on that rear shelf.

Sub-Woofer Speaker: JL Audio 8W3v3-4, 8” round, $190, Crutchfield. I really agonized over the location of this SW. I eventually settled on building my own sealed 0.3 CF box out of ¾” MDF and locating it within the cabinet that sits just behind the Driver’s seat, and the speaker faces the rear of the seat. This way it keeps completely out of the way, and didn’t use up much of the back of that cabinet that we didn’t use much anyway. I considered placing it in the rear storage area under the clothes closet, but I didn’t want to mess with using-up that area.

Amplifier: Alpine PDX-5, 5-Channel (75W RMSx 4, 300W RMS x 1), Amazon $366. This is a well-reviewed, very small, powerful and cool-running amp and it fits behind/below the driver’s (power) seat. Being a 5-channel, it runs 2 pairs of speakers, as well as the Sub-woofer. I considered JL Audio amps (very well reviewed) but these are big and expensive.

Head-Unit Dash Adapter (for fitting a Double-DIN head-unit into the 2006 Ford CORPORATE Double-DIN dash opening ….The ford opening is shorter and wider than standard): American International FM-K552, Amazon $13

Flip-Down Monitor: Pyle PLVWR1982 19” Widescreen TFT Roof Mount Monitor, Amazon $265, Biggest monitor I could find, low-profile, and works well.

Rear-View Camera: Kenwood CCD-2000, Amazon $155: I love this, but it will take some time getting used to using it, as the picture is not the same as using mirrors. I hooked it up and experimented with placement. The recommended placement, at the top of the rear doors, does not work with my setup as the Aluminess Baja box and spare get in the way. I eventually settled with placing it above the hitch/below the bumper, where it is well protected and gives a reasonable rear picture.

iPod Adapter (incl. Video capabilities): Kenwood KCA-iP301v; Crutchfield $30 This will allow us to, in addition to playing iTunes and charging the iPOD, download movies from iTunes and play them back on the monitor

Remote Control: Kenwood KNA-RCDV330: Crutchfield $30. Small and not too useful, so far.

I spent a LONG time running wires: 12 Gauge speaker wires through the doors, through the dash, to the amp, etc. I ran 4 GA wires from the battery solenoid contacts / fuse block up to the amp. 8 Ga wires to the SW. Numerous control wires to/from the amp to the head-unit. The camera required running wires from the camera and backup lamp to the head unit. Lots and lots of wires. Cutting the center LH speaker loc’n and building the grille took at least a day. I foolishly decided to upgrade the Van battery / Spare Battery switch wires from 16 Ga to 12 gauge, and that was a pain to figure out and splice-in the harness, etc. All in all, the entire installation, including emptying the van, removing the panels, running the wires (I highly recommend buying a good quality electricians fish coil), installing the unit, amp, installing the speakers, monitor, and then putting everything back together again, took me dozens of hours…not sure of the exact amount, perhaps 3-dozen?. Was it worth it? I saved at least $2000 over the quote I got from IA Solutions (Rob Radanovich: SMB’s guy), and ended-up with better quality-system/components. Since I’m a DIY kind of guy, it was worth it, but its not a project for the non-technical faint-of-heart. And, it sounds and looks amazing.
It would take forever for me to detail everything out here, but if you’re considering it yourself, give me an email/call and I’ll walk you through it.
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