Budget stock Audio upgrades (XL) - plan, research, options and experimentation

[robb01]

So to tap the front speakers, I assume you tap the front doors, run them to the LOC which feeds the amps , and then run new wires to door speakers / tweeters / rears?

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[Red Ryder]

So to tap the front speakers, I assume you tap the front doors, run them to the LOC which feeds the amps , and then run new wires to door speakers / tweeters / rears?

If you purchase a loopback harness, it plugs between the ACM (basically the headunit) and the vehicle's wiring. Power and other functions pass-through to the ACM, but the harness allows you to "intercept" the speaker output, run it into a LOC, AMP, DSP, whatever, and then send the conditioned/amplified output back through the vehicle's speaker wiring. That, or you can run new speaker wiring. Or a combination of both.

I ran new for the tweeters as I was bi-amping and needed dedicated outputs to the tweeters.

 

[Abraxis]

Not exactly on point with regards to this conversation on the LC2i, but I figure it may help someone, so I'll leave this here:

 

[DrDan]

I'm not an expert by any means, especially with DSP and all of the available capabilities.

That said, I do believe that the LC2i's Accubass is limited to correcting bass rolloff and should be fed from the front channels if used with a subwoofer.

As for feeding rear speakers that are capable beyond the OEM rear speakers, you might want to read up on channel summing capabilities of DSPs especially if you're going to incorporate larger speakers. Audio Control has some white papers I've been meaning to read that covers some of this in much greater detail.

My set-up is new aftermarket speakers including a subwoofer w/amplifier (Focals). My installer plans to use an LC2iPro....so from what you're saying....they'll connect to the FoMoCo head unit's front channels (which I presume are full spectrum 20-20K Hz) and not use the rear channel outputs which truncate the frequencies below 80Hz?
On occasion, I enjoy classical music with orchestra and pipe organ.....and I'd like the signal being sent to my powered subwoofer to extend down to 20 Hz if at all possible. If the head unit is cutting off all frequencies below 80Hz....it kind of defeats the benefit of having a powered sub-woofer.
Dan

 

[Red Ryder]

My set-up is new aftermarket speakers including a subwoofer w/amplifier (Focals). My installer plans to use an LC2iPro....so from what you're saying....they'll connect to the FoMoCo head unit's front channels (which I presume are full spectrum 20-20K Hz) and not use the rear channel outputs which truncate the frequencies below 80Hz?
On occasion, I enjoy classical music with orchestra and pipe organ.....and I'd like the signal being sent to my powered subwoofer to extend down to 20 Hz if at all possible. If the head unit is cutting off all frequencies below 80Hz....it kind of defeats the benefit of having a powered sub-woofer.
Dan

Without an instrumented test, I can only assume the fronts are 20Hz to 20KHz, but they are definitely as full-range of a signal as you'll get from the FoMoCo 6-speaker system. Not sure of the rear's hi-pass cutoff either, but my listening tests would lead me to believe it is significantly higher than 80Hz.

The reason I say that is that my LJ Custom's harness allowed me to mix up source outputs to both front and rear speakers at will before I finally soldered everything together. I played both the front and rear outputs interchangeably plus the Key's output (which I had set the hi-pass to 80 Hz) so I had a good reference.

Your plan looks solid, just make sure the sub gets fed from the front channels and save the rear channels for higher frequency fill and you'll be alright.

 

[jc888888888]

Just a few photos of my rear speaker install I am a novice and it took me 4 hours from start to finish ,Search this thread Milious and Boot are the bomb SO HELPFUL ! . My 5 gallon paint stick was invaluable , I see 36 inch wood yardstick that will work and of course Milious backscratcher works great. No clip breakage everything was seamless.
I put Morel coax in the front and rears ,the sound is amazing ,it completely blows away the B&O system( my buddy has it in his MAV and he agrees) for apx $350 upgrade and a total of about 8 hours . I am painfully slow and careful.
So I did a few things different ,I used high density foam weather strip to seal the space between the speaker mount and the grill Frost king Vinyl weatherseal 1/2 wide, 3/8 thick like $4 in any hardware store. the grill has 2 screw mounts and my speaker had four so when you look at the picks you will see I used 1 inch screws to tap into the plastic to secure it to the raised portion of the grill .Rock solid when done. Be careful not to drill thru the grill No vibration and Killer sound. BTW you could get away with just using the 2 screw mounts it would be fine. I added the 2 screws as I had them and saw the opportunity ,the magnet on the morels is quite heavy, the foam stabilizes the installation nicely. I had the fronts in first and it was great, but adding the rears gives it an amazing new dimension

 

[Chris_G]

@jc888888888 you're using the paint stick to pry the clips??

 

[Darnon]

@jc888888888 you're using the paint stick to pry the clips??

You don't pry them so much as need something to push them upwards to match the wider opening in the C-pillar sheet metal where they can then come out. A long prybar would work or I used a 2 ft 3/8 extension.

 

[Chris_G]

You don't pry them so much as need something to push them upwards to match the wider opening in the C-pillar sheet metal where they can then come out. A long prybar would work or I used a 2 ft 3/8 extension.

Got it! Thank you

 

[jc888888888]

@jc888888888 you're using the paint stick to pry the clips??

you don't pry out as Darnon said you will break the upper clips for sure. Once you remove the one screw, you gently pop out the two bottom clips do not pry out from the top, it gives you enough room to see the upper clips ,you go in from the bottom with your tool of choice an extension will work ,paint stick, wood yard stick or backscratcher once you get a visual you can guide your tool to the clip and simply push upwards it will come right out front one first ,then the rear clip. Once you get a visual you will see what everyone is talking about .Good luck, its easy, take your time. zoom in to my picture of the panel off, those two upper slots right where the headliner is are where the two clips attach you slide up then out . Easy peasy.....

 

[Chris_G]

you don't pry out as Darnon said you will break the upper clips for sure. Once you remove the one screw, you gently pop out the two bottom clips do not pry out from the top, it gives you enough room to see the upper clips ,you go in from the bottom with your tool of choice an extension will work ,paint stick, wood yard stick or backscratcher once you get a visual you can guide your tool to the clip and simply push upwards it will come right out front one first ,then the rear clip. Once you get a visual you will see what everyone is talking about .Good luck, its easy, take your time. zoom in to my picture of the panel off, those two upper slots right where the headliner is are where the two clips attach you slide up then out . Easy peasy.....

Thanks! Those are the slots that looked like a keyhole, larger at top.

 

[jc888888888]

Thanks! Those are the slots that looked like a keyhole, larger at top.

yep exactly!!! you get your tool underneath the clip push up when reaches the wide part then it will come right out, the moment you see it ,it will all come together .

 

[Thagh0st]

Now I'm very intrigued with doing my audio upgrades. Haven't touched in about 10 years and did all diamond audio then.

For the front thinking about audiofrog g60s or focal rse 165 maybe the hertz k170.
For the rear I'm doing the focal rcx 100 or or the hertz dcx100.3. I don't see the point of spending the money on audiofrog for the rear.
I've never heard the audiofrogs before so I'm little nervous spending that much without hearing them but my buddy swears by them. What's everyone's opinion here. I saw alot mention the hertz so I'm leaning heavy there.
Thank you everyone for this info, it's amazing!

 

[uh50]

Now I'm very intrigued with doing my audio upgrades. Haven't touched in about 10 years and did all diamond audio then.

For the front thinking about audiofrog g60s or focal rse 165 maybe the hertz k170.
For the rear I'm doing the focal rcx 100 or or the hertz dcx100.3. I don't see the point of spending the money on audiofrog for the rear.
I've never heard the audiofrogs before so I'm little nervous spending that much without hearing them but my buddy swears by them. What's everyone's opinion here. I saw alot mention the hertz so I'm leaning heavy there.
Thank you everyone for this info, it's amazing!

If you have a good set of ear phones, Crutchfield.com has a feature that allows you to compare four set of speakers. After you chosen four speaker sets by checking the compare box on the list of speakers, It allows you choose the earphones you are using, or something close to it, then the type of music you want to compare to. You can listen to the volume change of each speaker when you choose it and then there is a comparative feature with speakers set at the same volume.

Quite frankly I was surprised at the sound of certain speakers. I love Autiofrog, Focals, Hertz, etc., but I realized the with my old ears, that a good brand entry level speaker suited me just fine. At least this allow me to get an idea of how a speaker sounds compared to speakers that I have used before. It's a good tool.

 

[Thagh0st]

If you have a good set of ear phones, Crutchfield.com has a feature that allows you to compare four set of speakers. After you chosen four speaker sets by checking the compare box on the list of speakers, It allows you choose the earphones you are using, or something close to it, then the type of music you want to compare to. You can listen to the volume change of each speaker when you choose it and then there is a comparative feature with speakers set at the same volume.

Quite frankly I was surprised at the sound of certain speakers. I love Autiofrog, Focals, Hertz, etc., but I realized the with my old ears, that a good brand entry level speaker suited me just fine. At least this allow me to get an idea of how a speaker sounds compared to speakers that I have used before. It's a good tool.

Thank you for letting me know, I'm definitely going to go online and check that out. I've never actually used them before, I'm loving that warranty is amazing.

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