DIEProphezeiung
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- First Name
- Charlie
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- Apr 6, 2024
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- Location
- Birmingham
- Vehicles
- 2023 XLT
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- #1
Ive recently upgraded my audio and figured I might as well take a few pics and make a post about it. Maybe this will help others on the fence about it.
For this project, I replaced the front and rear door speakers, Added a sub behind the rear seat, installed a line output converter (LOC), and installed sound-dampening materials on the doors. It sounds night and day and I'm very happy with the results. the small HS10 sub is more than enough to fill that gap that was missing on the low end.
I started by replacing the door speakers and adding the sound-dampening materials. Removing the door panels was easy enough, I could not get the door handles out to completely remove them though, so I just let the pannels hang from the top of the door or a strap while i worked. Replacing the speakers was straightforward, 3 screws and a plug. The SG Audio block-off plates were a little tricky by myself, but totally doable. I installed them over the top of my vapor barrier. I then cut and placed deadening matt everywhere that was fairly open and out of the way for the panel to be reinstalled.
I installed Powerbass OE69C-FD in the front and OE652-FD in the rear
For the sub, I went with a Kicker 46HS10. I like its compact, all-in-one design, and it fits nicely behind the rear seat. I installed a T harness and LOC I found from another post here and everything was plug and play. very easy.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1245657855...=2047675&ssuid=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
First, I ran the wires from behind the back seat to the rear driver-side door jam. I ran the power wire that came with the amp, a separate remote wire (22aug), the L and R audio wires, and the bass nob cable. to make everything more tidy, I ran the the cables together inside a cable sleeve. (You can get these for cheap and they really make the job look much nicer) Once I got to the rear door jam, I pulled out my left and right audio signal wires from the amp. this is where i will splice in the RCA wires from the LOC.
Once I had the RCA cables spliced, I installed the cable sleeve and ran the wires up to the front door jam.
At this point, I separated out the power wire and ran it through the firewall via the existing penetration. I cut the ziptie on the boot on the inside of the cab (remember to replace this) and could slip a fish-rod into the boot. I was not able to reach the boot from the exterior though and ended up cutting a small hole from the inside and forcing the fish-rod through.
Here is a picture from the cab
Here is a pic from the exterior. I did have to remove the panel on the right side of the frunk. It might be a little hard to tell what you're looking at here, but the fish-rod is the long straight rod that starts out of focus close and runs through the boot in the center of the picture.
I pulled this the rest of the way through with the power wire attached, ran it over and installed it to the battery.
At this point, I installed the T-harness and LOC. This was much easier than I had anticipated. I first removed the glove box. Just open and push the tabs on the side in, and it pulls right out. I then removed the panel on the top of the head unit. This was fairly easy, remove the rubber mat, remove 2 screws, and use a pannel clip tool to pop it up. Once I had access, I removed the leftmost plug (black, not grey) on the top of the unit and installed the T-harness.
I then used the fish-rod to get the LOC cable pigtail down to the glovebox area.
There is a fairly open path so you could probably just push the end of the cable down. I then ran the RCA cables and remote wire from the driver side to the passenger side. I ran them behind the floor carpet, over to the center console and fished them through to the other side.
Now I connected everything to the LOC and managed wiring to nicely fit behind the glovebox. For the LOC i just nested it right in front of the in cabin filter. it isn't securely mounted and can be easily moved to replace the filter.
At this point I installed the ground for the amp. I know I probably sound like a broken record at this point, but it was very easy. there was a chassis ground just to the right of the bracket for the seat. I just ran a short wire up to this.
As for the bass knob, I haven't decided where I want it yet, but for now it is just laying in the lower storage tray of the center console.
Edit:
So as @asianman35 and @BennyTheBeaver were so gracious to point out that I do in fact have tweeters,
Ive installed them as well! The tweeters that came with the front speakers I purchased have in-line crossovers so they were also plug and play just like the door speakers. they even used the same mounting bracket as the factory tweeters. just poped the factory ones out and the new ones in.
Heres the factory vs new
For this project, I replaced the front and rear door speakers, Added a sub behind the rear seat, installed a line output converter (LOC), and installed sound-dampening materials on the doors. It sounds night and day and I'm very happy with the results. the small HS10 sub is more than enough to fill that gap that was missing on the low end.
I started by replacing the door speakers and adding the sound-dampening materials. Removing the door panels was easy enough, I could not get the door handles out to completely remove them though, so I just let the pannels hang from the top of the door or a strap while i worked. Replacing the speakers was straightforward, 3 screws and a plug. The SG Audio block-off plates were a little tricky by myself, but totally doable. I installed them over the top of my vapor barrier. I then cut and placed deadening matt everywhere that was fairly open and out of the way for the panel to be reinstalled.
I installed Powerbass OE69C-FD in the front and OE652-FD in the rear
For the sub, I went with a Kicker 46HS10. I like its compact, all-in-one design, and it fits nicely behind the rear seat. I installed a T harness and LOC I found from another post here and everything was plug and play. very easy.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1245657855...=2047675&ssuid=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
First, I ran the wires from behind the back seat to the rear driver-side door jam. I ran the power wire that came with the amp, a separate remote wire (22aug), the L and R audio wires, and the bass nob cable. to make everything more tidy, I ran the the cables together inside a cable sleeve. (You can get these for cheap and they really make the job look much nicer) Once I got to the rear door jam, I pulled out my left and right audio signal wires from the amp. this is where i will splice in the RCA wires from the LOC.
Once I had the RCA cables spliced, I installed the cable sleeve and ran the wires up to the front door jam.
At this point, I separated out the power wire and ran it through the firewall via the existing penetration. I cut the ziptie on the boot on the inside of the cab (remember to replace this) and could slip a fish-rod into the boot. I was not able to reach the boot from the exterior though and ended up cutting a small hole from the inside and forcing the fish-rod through.
Here is a picture from the cab
Here is a pic from the exterior. I did have to remove the panel on the right side of the frunk. It might be a little hard to tell what you're looking at here, but the fish-rod is the long straight rod that starts out of focus close and runs through the boot in the center of the picture.
I pulled this the rest of the way through with the power wire attached, ran it over and installed it to the battery.
At this point, I installed the T-harness and LOC. This was much easier than I had anticipated. I first removed the glove box. Just open and push the tabs on the side in, and it pulls right out. I then removed the panel on the top of the head unit. This was fairly easy, remove the rubber mat, remove 2 screws, and use a pannel clip tool to pop it up. Once I had access, I removed the leftmost plug (black, not grey) on the top of the unit and installed the T-harness.
I then used the fish-rod to get the LOC cable pigtail down to the glovebox area.
There is a fairly open path so you could probably just push the end of the cable down. I then ran the RCA cables and remote wire from the driver side to the passenger side. I ran them behind the floor carpet, over to the center console and fished them through to the other side.
Now I connected everything to the LOC and managed wiring to nicely fit behind the glovebox. For the LOC i just nested it right in front of the in cabin filter. it isn't securely mounted and can be easily moved to replace the filter.
At this point I installed the ground for the amp. I know I probably sound like a broken record at this point, but it was very easy. there was a chassis ground just to the right of the bracket for the seat. I just ran a short wire up to this.
As for the bass knob, I haven't decided where I want it yet, but for now it is just laying in the lower storage tray of the center console.
Edit:
So as @asianman35 and @BennyTheBeaver were so gracious to point out that I do in fact have tweeters,
So
Ive installed them as well! The tweeters that came with the front speakers I purchased have in-line crossovers so they were also plug and play just like the door speakers. they even used the same mounting bracket as the factory tweeters. just poped the factory ones out and the new ones in.
Heres the factory vs new
Last edited:
