Low / Medium Cost Audio upgrade

[GoHawks]

I recently completed an audio upgrade which I started over the summer. After a lot of research on this forum, the other Lightning forum, and Youtube I pulled the trigger. I did not upgrade the head unit for obvious reasons. I am adding this content because most audio upgrades on this forum are multiple thousands of dollars. I am not an audiophile, and listen primarily to Sirius/XM / Apple Music / Spotify. Total cost was under $1000 (more likely $850 but I didn’t track all of my receipts). I was initially hesitant with such expensive truck but found the job to be easier than I thought (with help listed below). I was slow and careful. BTW the B&O 8 speaker system is complete garbage.

This has made a HUGE difference. It is so much better.

A couple of clarifications : 1) I have never worked on car audio before 2) I am a strong believer in YouTube university 3) I am pretty handy 4) I have had to figure out a lot of electrical gremlins in boats so I was not too worried about doing this.

I want to shout out soundgoodstereo for the plug and play sub adapter, sub block plate, and front/rear door block out plates.
I also want to shout out provobeast on YouTube () for a complete walk through of front/tweeter/rear speaker tutorials.

I had to figure out the sub replacement and center dash speaker on my own. The trickiest parts were running power to the 12 V battery from the rear seat area for the sub and replacing the A pillar tweeters. I broke a few clips when removing certain trim pieces along the way. The tweeter factory wires were extremely small and hard to join with the speaker wires. There is no aftermarket harness for them. The 4 door speakers and sub have adapters (links provided). I also had to ‘hard wire’ the center dash speaker.

I ended up running wiring under the drivers side door channels for the sub control and power. I poked through the ‘firewall’ under the drivers side steering console. There is a rubber grommet that allowed me to route to the 12 V battery. (I have had not 12 V issues at all). I strongly recommend buying a good trim kit instead of using pliers and screwdrivers.

Here is a list of parts. Most came at the recommendation of provobeast. Sound Good Stereo has a lot of great options as well, but those were out of my price range. The sub fits perfectly in the existing spot and is only attached with command hook Velcro.

https://soundsgoodstereo.com/produc...ck-off-plate-for-rear-wall-includes-unleashed

https://soundsgoodstereo.com/products/2021-2022-ford-f-150-custom-made-door-access-block-off-plates

https://soundsgoodstereo.com/products/2021-2022-ford-f-150-custom-made-door-access-block-off-plates

https://www.amazon.com/KICKER-46HS10-Compact-Powered-Subwoofer/dp/B083M9HR4D

https://www.amazon.com/Alpine-R-S69C-2-6x9-inch-Component-Speaker/dp/B07ND4GY3Y

https://www.amazon.com/Alpine-R-S65-2-2-inch-Coaxial-Speakers/dp/B07N135NBY

https://www.amazon.com/Infinity-Kappa-Perfect-300m-Midrange/dp/B06XNLBL7Y (dash speaker - I have an extra if someone wants to make it worth my while to send it their way)

https://www.amazon.com/Speaker-Harness-Compatible-2010-Up-Vehicles/dp/B09BDKHPHF

https://www.amazon.com/Metra-72-5602-Speaker-Connector-Vehicles/dp/B016YIFQ7I

https://www.amazon.com/Metra-825606-Front-Speaker-Plate/dp/B01BTSVYGK

https://www.amazon.com/Metra-825605-Rear-Speaker-Plate/dp/B01BTSVXWK

https://www.amazon.com/GOOACC-Retainer-Fastener-Terminal-Adhesive/dp/B0BLCDRDY6

https://www.amazon.com/ELECFUN-10-22AWG-Connectors-Insulated-Electrical/dp/B07G5W9PH1

https://www.amazon.com/ELECFUN-10-22AWG-Connectors-Insulated-Electrical/dp/B07G5W9PH1

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[ctuan13]

I recently completed an audio upgrade which I started over the summer. After a lot of research on this forum, the other Lightning forum, and Youtube I pulled the trigger. I did not upgrade the head unit for obvious reasons. I am adding this content because most audio upgrades on this forum are multiple thousands of dollars. I am not an audiophile, and listen primarily to Sirius/XM / Apple Music / Spotify. Total cost was under $1000 (more likely $850 but I didn’t track all of my receipts). I was initially hesitant with such expensive truck but found the job to be easier than I thought (with help listed below). I was slow and careful. BTW the B&O 8 speaker system is complete garbage.

This has made a HUGE difference. It is so much better.

A couple of clarifications : 1) I have never worked on car audio before 2) I am a strong believer in YouTube university 3) I am pretty handy 4) I have had to figure out a lot of electrical gremlins in boats so I was not too worried about doing this.

I want to shout out soundgoodstereo for the plug and play sub adapter, sub block plate, and front/rear door block out plates.
I also want to shout out provobeast on YouTube () for a complete walk through of front/tweeter/rear speaker tutorials.

I had to figure out the sub replacement and center dash speaker on my own. The trickiest parts were running power to the 12 V battery from the rear seat area for the sub and replacing the A pillar tweeters. I broke a few clips when removing certain trim pieces along the way. The tweeter factory wires were extremely small and hard to join with the speaker wires. There is no aftermarket harness for them. The 4 door speakers and sub have adapters (links provided). I also had to ‘hard wire’ the center dash speaker.

I ended up running wiring under the drivers side door channels for the sub control and power. I poked through the ‘firewall’ under the drivers side steering console. There is a rubber grommet that allowed me to route to the 12 V battery. (I have had not 12 V issues at all). I strongly recommend buying a good trim kit instead of using pliers and screwdrivers.

Here is a list of parts. Most came at the recommendation of provobeast. Sound Good Stereo has a lot of great options as well, but those were out of my price range. The sub fits perfectly in the existing spot and is only attached with command hook Velcro.

https://soundsgoodstereo.com/produc...ck-off-plate-for-rear-wall-includes-unleashed

https://soundsgoodstereo.com/products/2021-2022-ford-f-150-custom-made-door-access-block-off-plates

https://soundsgoodstereo.com/products/2021-2022-ford-f-150-custom-made-door-access-block-off-plates

https://www.amazon.com/KICKER-46HS10-Compact-Powered-Subwoofer/dp/B083M9HR4D

https://www.amazon.com/Alpine-R-S69C-2-6x9-inch-Component-Speaker/dp/B07ND4GY3Y

https://www.amazon.com/Alpine-R-S65-2-2-inch-Coaxial-Speakers/dp/B07N135NBY

https://www.amazon.com/Infinity-Kappa-Perfect-300m-Midrange/dp/B06XNLBL7Y (dash speaker - I have an extra if someone wants to make it worth my while to send it their way)

https://www.amazon.com/Speaker-Harness-Compatible-2010-Up-Vehicles/dp/B09BDKHPHF

https://www.amazon.com/Metra-72-5602-Speaker-Connector-Vehicles/dp/B016YIFQ7I

https://www.amazon.com/Metra-825606-Front-Speaker-Plate/dp/B01BTSVYGK

https://www.amazon.com/Metra-825605-Rear-Speaker-Plate/dp/B01BTSVXWK

https://www.amazon.com/GOOACC-Retainer-Fastener-Terminal-Adhesive/dp/B0BLCDRDY6

https://www.amazon.com/ELECFUN-10-22AWG-Connectors-Insulated-Electrical/dp/B07G5W9PH1

https://www.amazon.com/ELECFUN-10-22AWG-Connectors-Insulated-Electrical/dp/B07G5W9PH1

I've been mostly satisfied with my 8-speaker B&O system after adjusting the equalizer, fader and setting the sound mode to "surround", but this is still something I'd like to try in the future. Thanks for the incredibly detailed write-up!

 

[GDN]

Nice information. To understand, this was simply a speaker replacement and sub upgrade. No other amps and not intermediate processing or A2B type of signal modification?

It's nice to know that speakers alone can make that kind of difference. I wonder what kind of sound field you would have had if you had left the center speaker out? I know Ford/B&O likely mix for it, but most upgrades just remove it - you create the center stage with the front speakers/tweeters.

You are correct for sure though, the B&O speakers are junk for that kind of name.

 

[Tundra]

Nice Install work.

I've been mostly satisfied with my 8-speaker B&O system after adjusting the equalizer...

^^^ This.

I have found with many vehicles that when the sound is less than ideal that some subtractive EQ is a good place to start. For example many vehicles attempt to exaggerate the "bass" on small speakers that cannot adequately produce low-end, resulting in some gross low-mids (yug!); pulling back some of the low-end is helpful in these situations.

I remember one vehicle I drove that had a horrible Bose system in it, I found It wasn't at all bad once I pulled the bass back almost all the way, pulled back some of the tinny treble, and added some mids; these moves "flattened" things out some, and that was with the basic fixed EQ in the car stereo. It wasn't incredible, but it was listenable and the music was again enjoyable.

Transducers, be those speakers or microphones, are the most inaccurate part of the audio chain, and upgrades here will yield dividends over anything else. Better speakers, if implemented correctly, can be the solution, but if you have not always give EQ a shot first, you may just save yourself some money.

As a caveat a speaker system is more than the sum of its parts; it is just as much art as it is science, within reason I will often take better implementation and tuning over better components; ideally I like both, but I have certainly heard my fair share of expensive items that were not well implemented, some clever DSP work and tuning/toning can often make the most out of systems which have less than stellar components.

I have to confess I have thus far stuck with stock speakers for my vehicles, a listening room a vehicle is not!

Just some thoughts from your friendly neighborhood audio human (yes, it is a fun day job!).

 

[GDN]

I have to confess I have thus far stuck with stock speakers for my vehicles, a listening room a vehicle is not!

I think that is a point missed and likely wrong. As much as I don't give Ford a lot of credit for the Lightning because the SW and GUI experience is so bad, it truly is a very well built truck. Likely one of the best and quietest cabins on a vehicle. For the price, especially a Lariat or Platinum, it is a laugh at what they put in for stereos. I would venture to bet they pay no more than $5 to to $10 each for the junk paper speakers they put in the trucks. I went over the top on my stereo and don't really regret it, but this thread shows that someone can upgrade just the speakers and make a big improvement.

What @GoHawks spent for his upgrades would have likely cost Ford $100 en masse to upgrade and do the stereo even a lot better. They charge thousands for the upgrades, why can't they deliver just a little value for that other than a name on the nameplate.

I know I likely irritate a few with my comparison to Tesla, but once again here we are. They don't go paying stupid money to some third party like B&O to have their name plastered over things and get no value from it. To this day, I don't think it is known who makes Tesla's speakers, truly I guess made in house, and all of their stereo processing is their own built right onto the main boards of the computers in the cars. The Cybertruck I think lists 15 speakers and two subs and if it is like their other models will blow anything Ford has ever considered putting together out of the water.

So don't why settle for the crap you get from Ford (for very good money) when they could do much better.

 

[Tundra]

I think that is a point missed and likely wrong. As much as I don't give Ford a lot of credit for the Lightning because the SW and GUI experience is so bad, it truly is a very well built truck. Likely one of the best and quietest cabins on a vehicle. For the price, especially a Lariat or Platinum, it is a laugh at what they put in for stereos. I would venture to bet they pay no more than $5 to to $10 each for the junk paper speakers they put in the trucks. I went over the top on my stereo and don't really regret it, but this thread shows that someone can upgrade just the speakers and make a big improvement.

What @GoHawks spent for his upgrades would have likely cost Ford $100 en masse to upgrade and do the stereo even a lot better. They charge thousands for the upgrades, why can't they deliver just a little value for that other than a name on the nameplate.

I know I likely irritate a few with my comparison to Tesla, but once again here we are. They don't go paying stupid money to some third party like B&O to have their name plastered over things and get no value from it. To this day, I don't think it is known who makes Tesla's speakers, truly I guess made in house, and all of their stereo processing is their own built right onto the main boards of the computers in the cars. The Cybertruck I think lists 15 speakers and two subs and if it is like their other models will blow anything Ford has ever considered putting together out of the water.

So don't why settle for the crap you get from Ford (for very good money) when they could do much better.

Not to mention that vehicles have someone who's job it is tune the DSP and to make the installed sound system sound the best it can in that vehicle, they get to deal with the cost cutting decisions other people have made. Granted it is not uncommon for some strange "tonality" decisions to be made after this tuning process, hence my suggestion of trying some EQ first.

Better speakers at the build stage would have more value than someone attempting to do this afterwards, as most of us are not regular users of REW/SMAART, much less power users who can make good decisions from the data. Audio is a game of compromises, every single decision that is made will have consequences; a great speaker/system designer knows which compromises they want to make to achieve their end result.

Totally agreed on often seeing name brands over a result; this is a pervasive problem across the audio industry, people want to see names, and they want things to look a certain way. Listening is often a last priority.

 

[rugedraw]

Those stock cardboard speakers are hot garbage. I swapped out the front door speakers and a-pillar tweeters for aftermarket ones and also replaced the rear door 2-way speakers with components with a separate tweeter mounted on the rear doors. Added strategic sound-deadening behind the door speakers (not the entire door). Everything powered by the stock DSP. What a HUGE difference over stock. Even with the two 12" subs in my truck, the mids/highs do not get drowned out with the additional bass. My install was more invasive than this because it required modifying the a-pillar tweeter grills to fit the new tweeters and it required making a hole in the rear doors to fit the new rear tweeters. However, total cost for the speakers, Metra adapters to not splice into the factory harness, adapter plates for the front (I went 6.5" instead of 6x9") and sound deadening material was under $300.

 

[GoHawks]

Nice information. To understand, this was simply a speaker replacement and sub upgrade. No other amps and not intermediate processing or A2B type of signal modification?

It's nice to know that speakers alone can make that kind of difference. I wonder what kind of sound field you would have had if you had left the center speaker out? I know Ford/B&O likely mix for it, but most upgrades just remove it - you create the center stage with the front speakers/tweeters.

You are correct for sure though, the B&O speakers are junk for that kind of name.

Correct. Powered amp and speakers only. No other amps, preprocessing or signal modification. I agree on the center dash speaker. I ran without it for awhile and then added it back in. No noticeable difference/ improvement but I had purchased it so…. It is also where I started, that and the amp. I listen to sports/comedy radio when on multi hour commutes and like to think that center speaker helps as it is mainly for the driver. Maybe wishful thinking but that is reasoning.

 

[rugedraw]

You are correct for sure though, the B&O speakers are junk for that kind of name.

This is the problem. The speakers are not B&O. The door speakers are paper Motorcraft speakers rated at 26watts. The DSP itself has the B&O stamp on it, but whether it is actually built by B&O or just tuned by them is unknown to me.

The other unknown is whether the ACM/DSP filters the signals it sends to the speakers accordingly. I've never pulled the wiring diagrams on the Lightning, but I assume it is the same as my truck. The ACM only powers the a-pillar tweeters and the rear door speakers (which are 2-way speakers). The DSP powers the rest. So, is the ACM sending only high-frequency signals to the tweeters in the a-pillars? Is the ACM sending high & mid frequency signals to the rear door 2 ways and if so, is there any kind of crossover to ensure the tweeter in the two-way is only getting highs and the mid getting mids? There are tools you can use to see what frequencies are being sent, but I just assumed the worst and added an in-line filter to the a-pillar tweeters to make sure only highs are there, and I added the same thing to the rear tweeters I added to ensure those speakers are not getting mids/lows sent to them that will cause distortion and crappy sounds.

Now, my center channel is not so dominating and I can hear my rear door speakers which was not the case before. I can't say that overall it is much louder, but the sound stage feels more complete and surround-ish and the highs in particular are much crispier. These are the ones I used. They come with the filter for the tweeters already and are still on sale:

https://www.massiveaudio.com/produc...nent-kit-speakers?_pos=3&_fid=bfe11cedc&_ss=c

I know Massive is not as popular as it was a few years back, but I have had such good experiences with their products that they have gained my loyalty. The amp I am running for my subs is also made by them. My subs are made by Kicker because Massive shallow mounts only handle 300 watts and Kicker's can handle 500, so I went with the higher power rating because I am a bass-head and I likey the boom-boom.

 

[GoHawks]

I appreciate the passion on the topic. I wanted to add a couple of things.

1. I went to a local high end shop and was quoted over $5k (custom sub enclosure/amp/amp rack/minimal sound deadening/dsp/speakers). These were better components than I installed. Generally I scoff at things like that and decided to do it myself. The shop owner told me my approach wouldn’t help (speakers only or powered sub).
2. I wanted to demonstrate that an average handy person could do this and be happy with the result. No need to break the bank. There are less expensive versions that would also yield positive results. The most expensive item was the powered sub. I also know a lot of people like to invest heavily in this area. That wasn’t my choice.
3. Once the factory speakers were removed, I laughed. The combination of the 4 of them weighed less than one of the new speakers. They promptly went into the garbage. Regardless of the name, the speakers were cheap cheap cheap.
4. I played with the existing ‘tuning’ options. I wish there was more control than balance/fade/bass/mid/treble/surround/stereo.
5. If I was to start again I would start with the powered sub replacement. For me, with that addition, the power output is more than enough for the remaining speakers
6. Isolating the tweeters from the lows is part of the components I installed, that is why I went with that recommendation
7. I added the door blocking for two reasons, speaker enclosure and to see if I could make the cabin even quieter. I LOVE how quiet this truck is and smooth the ride is. Better than any car or truck I have ever had.

And finally, I am totally satisfied with the results.

 

[GDN]

This is the problem. The speakers are not B&O. The door speakers are paper Motorcraft speakers rated at 26watts. The DSP itself has the B&O stamp on it, but whether it is actually built by B&O or just tuned by them is unknown to me.

The other unknown is whether the ACM/DSP filters the signals it sends to the speakers accordingly. I've never pulled the wiring diagrams on the Lightning, but I assume it is the same as my truck. The ACM only powers the a-pillar tweeters and the rear door speakers (which are 2-way speakers). The DSP powers the rest. So, is the ACM sending only high-frequency signals to the tweeters in the a-pillars? Is the ACM sending high & mid frequency signals to the rear door 2 ways and if so, is there any kind of crossover to ensure the tweeter in the two-way is only getting highs and the mid getting mids? There are tools you can use to see what frequencies are being sent, but I just assumed the worst and added an in-line filter to the a-pillar tweeters to make sure only highs are there, and I added the same thing to the rear tweeters I added to ensure those speakers are not getting mids/lows sent to them that will cause distortion and crappy sounds.

Now, my center channel is not so dominating and I can hear my rear door speakers which was not the case before. I can't say that overall it is much louder, but the sound stage feels more complete and surround-ish and the highs in particular are much crispier. These are the ones I used. They come with the filter for the tweeters already and are still on sale:

https://www.massiveaudio.com/produc...nent-kit-speakers?_pos=3&_fid=bfe11cedc&_ss=c

I know Massive is not as popular as it was a few years back, but I have had such good experiences with their products that they have gained my loyalty. The amp I am running for my subs is also made by them. My subs are made by Kicker because Massive shallow mounts only handle 300 watts and Kicker's can handle 500, so I went with the higher power rating because I am a bass-head and I likey the boom-boom.

It's really good to see some nice improvement without breaking the bank. I didn't know if speakers alone would do the trick.

 

[Fastmikerx7]

Thank you for the write up!

I have a Lariat B&O 8 speaker system and have been looking into what you did.

How is the road noise with just the block off plates but no adhesive mat or foam blocks?

They want $1200+ for the full kit of blocks and mat but I might just get the block off plates and speaker like you did since the truck is already pretty quiet in regards to road noise..

Thanks again,

FM

 

[Storm Breaker]

anybody replace the 6x9 "sub" with another high quality 6x9 exactly in its place?

 

[GoHawks]

Thank you for the write up!

I have a Lariat B&O 8 speaker system and have been looking into what you did.

How is the road noise with just the block off plates but no adhesive mat or foam blocks?

They want $1200+ for the full kit of blocks and mat but I might just get the block off plates and speaker like you did since the truck is already pretty quiet in regards to road noise..

Thanks again,

FM

I was happy with the 'quietness' of the truck so never considered blocks/mat (both for cost and effort). The block off plates made a small difference in road noise.

 

[LSUT1GER]

Could you provide some information on how you replaced the middle dash speaker? Also, I'm very interested in purchasing the other dash speaker you have. I have a 2023 F150 Lariat SR.

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