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2019 mustang gt coupe (base model) (6 speaker configuration)

Pierangiolo

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Good afternoon my friends

I am looking to upgrade the sound system in my car. My budget is around 1000$.

I have the super base model, no additional extras (I knew I was going to modify everything in the car so I didn't want to pay extra for anything). I want to improve the sound quality while retaining the same steering wheel functions.

Speaker Info
Base Model (6 Speaker Configuration)
6.5" (Doors)
Tweeters (A Pillars)
6.5" (Rear Deck)

I plan on upgrading the door speaker, deck speaker, pillar tweeters and adding a subwoofer. I have a few questions regarding upgrading the audio system

1. I assume I have to add an amplifier but will I need to replace the radio as well? I don't really use the radio at all in my car and just connect my phone with Bluetooth. Do I need to upgrade the radio to power my new setup?

2. I plan on replacing the tweeters, door and rear deck speakers. Any recommendations for which speakers for the budget I am going for. If I have to go a little bit over budget I don't mind (I am a musician and audio quality is something very important to me)

3. Is the tweeter worth upgrading because I see a lot of people ignore the tweeters when upgrading their sound system.

4. Since I plan on adding a subwoofer, I will have a 7 speaker configuration. Does that mean I will need a 7 channel amp?

5. Does anybody have any experience with sound deadening? I want to add sound deadening to the floor and trunk to keep the outside noises out and the inside noises in. I would appreciate any information regarding what you recommend etc. etc.

Thank you for reading and I appreciate any information you provide

Have a good day

Pierangiolo Bicchi
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GeorgeC

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Good afternoon my friends

I am looking to upgrade the sound system in my car. My budget is around 1000$.

I have the super base model, no additional extras (I knew I was going to modify everything in the car so I didn't want to pay extra for anything). I want to improve the sound quality while retaining the same steering wheel functions.

Speaker Info
Base Model (6 Speaker Configuration)
6.5" (Doors)
Tweeters (A Pillars)
6.5" (Rear Deck)

I plan on upgrading the door speaker, deck speaker, pillar tweeters and adding a subwoofer. I have a few questions regarding upgrading the audio system

1. I assume I have to add an amplifier but will I need to replace the radio as well? I don't really use the radio at all in my car and just connect my phone with Bluetooth. Do I need to upgrade the radio to power my new setup?

2. I plan on replacing the tweeters, door and rear deck speakers. Any recommendations for which speakers for the budget I am going for. If I have to go a little bit over budget I don't mind (I am a musician and audio quality is something very important to me)

3. Is the tweeter worth upgrading because I see a lot of people ignore the tweeters when upgrading their sound system.

4. Since I plan on adding a subwoofer, I will have a 7 speaker configuration. Does that mean I will need a 7 channel amp?

5. Does anybody have any experience with sound deadening? I want to add sound deadening to the floor and trunk to keep the outside noises out and the inside noises in. I would appreciate any information regarding what you recommend etc. etc.

Thank you for reading and I appreciate any information you provide

Have a good day

Pierangiolo Bicchi
Your adding a subwoofer that does mean you are a fellow bass player.
 
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Pierangiolo

Pierangiolo

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Your adding a subwoofer that does mean you are a fellow bass player.
I suppose so. I describe the base models bass audio is atrocious at best. I don't want to suffocate my car with bass but I do appreciate a clean punchy feeling in your chest.

Its the one thing I miss most from my BMW, the audio system in that car was one of the best I have ever experienced (as far as car audio goes).
 

mikes2017gt

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I assume you'll be doing the work yourself? A $1K budget doesn't leave much room for equipment + labor costs.

Sound deadening is a very worthwhile upgrade, especially on the doors and in the spare tire well. Significantly cuts down on road noise.

The base model stereo doesn't have a separate factory amp; the head unit (HU) powers everything. Essentially you'd have to use either a line output converter (LOC) to feed an external amp or use an amp that has a built in LOC/accepts high-level inputs like this one.
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_161LC4800/AudioControl-LC-4-800.html?tp=115

Since you're planning on adding a sub, you could either buy one amp with enough channels for the four corners (doors + rear deck) and a sub...a 5-channel amp. Or have two separate amps with the sub on it's own mono-block amp. There's a whole lot of possibilities. Really depends on your budget and how deep down the rabbit hole you want to go.

You definitely want to keep the HU. Half the functions in the car like AC tie into it. You'll spend $2K+ on upgrading the HU alone b/c an aftermarket HU needs all kinds of other interface boxes to tie into the factory systems, bluetooth, USB and so on. This HU is actually pretty decent.
 
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Pierangiolo

Pierangiolo

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I assume you'll be doing the work yourself? A $1K budget doesn't leave much room for equipment + labor costs.

Sound deadening is a very worthwhile upgrade, especially on the doors and in the spare tire well. Significantly cuts down on road noise.

The base model stereo doesn't have a separate factory amp; the head unit (HU) powers everything. Essentially you'd have to use either a line output converter (LOC) to feed an external amp or use an amp that has a built in LOC/accepts high-level inputs like this one.
https://www.crutchfield.com/p_161LC4800/AudioControl-LC-4-800.html?tp=115

Since you're planning on adding a sub, you could either buy one amp with enough channels for the four corners (doors + rear deck) and a sub...a 5-channel amp. Or have two separate amps with the sub on it's own mono-block amp. There's a whole lot of possibilities. Really depends on your budget and how deep down the rabbit hole you want to go.

You definitely want to keep the HU. Half the functions in the car like AC tie into it. You'll spend $2K+ on upgrading the HU alone b/c an aftermarket HU needs all kinds of other interface boxes to tie into the factory systems, bluetooth, USB and so on. This HU is actually pretty decent.
You are correct, the 1000 is only for equipment.

What kind of sound deadening do you use, there seems to be a whole lot of options but not a whole lot of information on which too choose.

Ill keep the HU. (The head unit is also known as the radio?)

So what are the benefits of using a 5 channel amp (doors + rears + sub) over having 2 separate amps the sub on its own mono-block amp. I imagine having 2 amps would be more expensive

If I choose to go with 2 separate amps, would I have to get a LOC for each amp?

Thank you once again
 

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mikes2017gt

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HU and radio are the same thing. :)

Sound deadening is a topic all it's own, but stick with the well-known brands like Dynamat, Kilmat and Noico and you'll be fine.

For your intended use you would probably be better off with a single amp with enough channels to do what you need it to. You will need to run a fused power wire (4-gauge, minimum) from the battery to the trunk.

I would recommend you do some research on upgrading the stereo, running wires, etc. Read the Stereo Information sticky thread on this forum and read up on some install threads. There's a lot to consider and plan out before you start taking the car apart.
 

Superspirit

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You can use forscan to change 2 radio codes in the acm and that will remove all factory eq and all bass roll off and convert the output to line level for an amp. Then you go straight to the low level input of the amp. If you use a t-harness you can utilize all factory wiring without cutting.
https://www.mustangecoboost.net/threads/how-to-fix-factory-audio.14905/ all the info you need is here.
 

MegaG

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Most of your questions have been answered so just a couple of more comments:
1) Since you are running a 2-way up front, you are asking the tweeter to do more, i.e. run lower in freq then you would in a 3-way were the midrange is the workhorse. So for a 2-way, I recommend a high quality tweeter.
2) 5 channel versus 7 channel. If you run active, you will need 7 channels but that will be pricey. If you run the front speaker using passive crossovers, you only need the 5 channels. Some people only run the front and a sub and ditch the rear deck speakers either saving two channels or using those two channels to run the front active.

Here's what I am in the process of doing with my base stereo

I will Forscan as mentioned above and go to low level even though my amp can accept high level

Use an Audiocontrol D.6-1200 amp to run my front 2-way active and provide rear fill (DSP built-in)

From the D.6-1200 I will feed a mono LC.1-800 amp to drive the sub-woofer

I am adding a small battery as well since I drive family to appointments a lot and wait outside and the Mustang's battery is on the small side to begin with. (I still bought a Noco battery jump starter)

Speakers
Tweeters: Morel MT350 (tweeter from the Elate Titanium line)
Midbass: Morel Hybrid MW6
Read Deck: Likely Morel Virtus MW6 - haven't bought these yet
Sub-Woofer: Audiofrog GS12D4

Just FYI, my original plan was to run the D.6-1200 in 5 channel mode running active upfront and bridging 5/6 to mono to run the subwoofer at 4 Ohms and pull the rear deck speakers to create additional open space for the bass to get from the trunk to the cabin but I couldn't leave well enough alone or at least wait until I tried it. I may have liked it just fine and wouldn't have needed to spend any extra $ but then the curious hobbyist kicked in and I changed my plan.

From everything I have read, its really worth having the DSP, even an entry level DSP instead of rear deck speakers and a the two channels to run thouse would likely be more beneficial and then you can alway add the rear deck later. The best value may be buying an amp with the DSP built in but there is value to the DSP being stand-alone. I went with the Audiocontrol but there are more affordable options, I just happened to get the D.6-1200 for the cost of the D.4-800 during Black Friday last year.

It may be worth exploring something like thes below (but there are other options)

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_113PXR6006/Kenwood-Excelon-P-XR600-6DSP.html?tp=115

or

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_20647KEY20/Kicker-47KEY200-4.html?tp=115 together with https://www.crutchfield.com/p_20647KEY50/Kicker-47KEY500-1.html?tp=115
 

MegaG

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I am in the process of sound deadening my driver's door, let me know if you would like to hear my thoughts on it when I am done. Still waiting for some stuff to come in. With limited time during the week or even weekend I expect my entire build and tune to last through Thanksgiving weekend.

Amp_Rack.jpg
 
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Pierangiolo

Pierangiolo

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I am in the process of sound deadening my driver's door, let me know if you would like to hear my thoughts on it when I am done. Still waiting for some stuff to come in. With limited time during the week or even weekend I expect my entire build and tune to last through Thanksgiving weekend.

Amp_Rack.jpg
I am most definitely interested on your thoughts.

I was looking up your build and I must applaud your dedication to sound quality, much respect.

The build seemed too pricey for me but I value the recommendation you gave for going with high quality tweeters up front.

I was looking for replacements for the "Morel MT350 (tweeter from the Elate Titanium line)" since they have been discontinued.

I will also look for an amp with a 5 channel with DSP (I am probably going to run passive setup because a 7 channel active amp seems to go in the 1000+ upwards alone)

I might do what you do and get the Morel Hybrid MW6 for the doors and leave the rear deck speaker stock and run the 2-way up front and the subwoofer.

If I get a 5 channel amp and run the 2-way up front with subwoofer, will the rear deck speakers be silent?

I apologize for my ignorance. I am very new to car audio and I was expecting it to be similar to regular studio sound engineering but I was soo very wrong.

I am still figuring out which subwoofer to use and what amp to get.

EDIT: I was under the assumption that the tweeters need to be connected to the amp but I just read that they actually don't
 
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mikes2017gt

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IMO, if you want to have some rear fill, the stock rears speakers are worth keeping, as long as you amplify/control them separately from the HU. They aren't bad speakers. They are actually a decent set of coaxial speakers. High pass them at about 100Hz or higher and you're good to go.

That said, in a small car like the Mustang, rear fill is overrated IMO. There are no rear seat passengers like in a sedan or SUV and what they contribute to the listening experience for front seat passengers is highly debatable.

I faded my HU all the way to the front months before I installed my system and never missed it. Once you have the additional volume/power from the front stage and a sub, you won't miss the rear fill, and that's two channels of amplification you can put to better use powering the fronts.
 

MegaG

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Mike,
I faded my HU all the way forward and did miss the rear fill but to your point that was with stock power driving the front, with a properly powered front stage, I may not miss the rear fill, that was my original plan but then I couldn't help myself so I already started down that path. Besides, this will give me an 100 watts for the sub not that I need it, 400 watts should have been plenty for single 12"

I thought about running the stock speakers in the rear and may still start that way or moving the front door speaker to the rear deck. I am not looking for full range in the rear deck, the rear fill is not about the people in the back seat, I just want some fill without pulling the stage back with higher frequencies. I'm just looking to tinker.
 

mikes2017gt

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It would take some internet research, but you could always add a passive capacitor of the appropriate value, inline on the rear speakers to act as a crossover. This is what Ford does for the stock tweets. I'm the worst math guy in the history of math, but there's all sorts of online calculators that will tell you what cap value you need for whatever cutoff frequency you want.

My system is extremely poorly tuned at this point (I finished the install yesterday). But I can say without reservation that it will get WAY louder than I can take. After a couple of hours of "joy listening" (as opposed to "critical listening") I can tell you that I don't notice that I have no rear fill, nor a center channel anymore. Personal preference applies, of course. I've been in this game for 25+ years and I'd describe myself as a 50/50 SPL vs. SQ guy.

Ever been to a live rock concert where the sound is EQ'd really well across the frequency spectrum, but it's also damn loud but has zero distortion? That's what I like. I like a forward-based sound stage, but I'm not looking to place the guitar at 94 degrees stage left and the cymbals 96 degrees stage right. That's my preference. I've heard systems that have four 18's in a ported box and the stock HU powering the door speakers. That is the polar opposite of what I like.

Once you give your front stage some real power (Say 50 watts RMS, minimum) your soundstage is seriously pulled to the front, and the midbass slam really grabs your ears. You focus on the good sound coming from in front of you/to the LR of you, versus "I hope the stock system can get loud enough for this song that I like." Hope that makes sense.
 
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MegaG

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Op,
You can keep the stock rear speakers on the HU, it just means you need to use the front hi-level output from the HU out to the amp and connect the HU's rear speaker outputs to the rear speakers with the T-harness you use. The Carav 12-240 is a good option (and the value option) and you can find Five Star Car Stereo videos on how to wire this harness. Just remember Ford has the EQ and bass roll-off to keep you from blowing the speakers and you really want to defeat those to get the most out of your new amp. You can always add some caps to the stock rear deck speakers to protect them from the bass.

Do you need to buy installation items, power & speaker wire, harnesses, sound deadening etc within that budget or do you already have those?

I forgot you needed to buy a subwoofer as well. Tough, not impossible, to do a front stage, amp and sub for 1000 but there will be compromises, especially if you need a couple hundred dollars of installation items.

There are lots of posts on this forum about the benefit gained by just making the Forscan changes. You may just want to focus on the Forscan change with a new quality front stage with your budget, do a quality install, and add the sub later OR

If you listen to a lot of bass heavy music, put your $ into the sub, Forscan, and some value speakers that still offer a lot over the stock speakers like the PowerBass, Kicker, Pioneer, something in the $120 to $200 range. The elimination of the EQ & bass roll-off and having a sub with go a long way to improving overall experience.

As Mike mentioned above, you may not get much out of rear fill. a 4 channel amp with channels 3/4 bridges to mono would give you a nice 2.1 set-up. If you take this approach, make sure you understand the load the bridged channel can handle, some amps can handle 2 ohms when they are separate channels but only 4 ohms when bridged. Just make sure you amps specs and sub woofer match up nicely.

It may be worth waiting for Black Friday but I see some decent items in this price range

Mono Amp $300 (Kicker, Rockford, Kenwood - some of the KW on sale at Crutchfield right now)
OR 4 bridgeable 4 channel in $300 to $400 range
Sub with enclosure $350
Front Stage $200
Misc Install Items?
 

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