Mounting rings for speaker replacement

[PoCoBob]

Hi. I did a search but I can't find what I'm looking for. I've been playing around on the Crutchfield site for replacement speakers for the stock 9 speaker system. They recommend Kenwood speakers, which is fine but they say a mounting ring is required for installation. What I'm wondering is with the ring will the door panel and rear package tray still fit over the speakers or do those need to be modified? In other words does it make the speaker sit higher, or stick out further than the stock speakers do?

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[MegaG]

When Crutchfields shows you this

That means it will fit your car without modification using the brackets they provide. So the answer to your question is no it won't run into your door panel or rear package tray if it shows it Fits like above. If the speakers you want show this for your car, you are good to go and you don't need to bother with the extra info below.

Note that they only provide brackets that work for the front door and rear deck. They do not provide a midrange bracket, you will either need to fabricate one or modify the exiting midrange speaker to accept your new midrange speaker.

Keep in mind there are a lot more speakers available that will work in the Mustang if you don't limit yourself to the Metra bracket that they offer free with their speakers.

I have Morel speakers that technically do not fit for the reason you asked about, the Metra adapter is tall so a speaker with a little more height and more excursion can run into the speaker grill. I am using a fabricated bracket that's thinner than the Metra giving me the extra clearance I need in front of the speaker and still have plenty of room behind the speaker.

It just so happens the Metra bracket is pretty tall, without looking it up is in the neighborhood of around 3/4" IN so fabricating a 1/2" or 3/8" thick bracket gives you extra room, you just need to double check your mounting depth of which there's plenty for most speakers. With a shorter bracket, you will likely need Fastrings or some other foam product to close of the gap created and keep your sound from leaking into the door panels.

When you click into the Fit Info link it gives you all the info you need to figure things out

If you can fabricate your own bracket/adapter here's a dwg of one that was done by one of the forum members, my apologies for not rememebring their user name, I should have added it to the file name though their real last name is on the dwg...

 

[PoCoBob]

Thanks for the info, I did find a couple Youtube video's that showed the mounting ring so I could get an idea about what things looked like.

I placed the order with Crutchfield and went with the Kenwood speakers. I know they're better options out there, at a higher cost, but I just want something that sounds better than stock without spending a bunch or having to change more than just the speakers.

Considering how much we pay for these cars and the fact it has the 9 speaker package Ford should be embarrassed just how bad the stock system sounds.

 

[BadHabit2Break]

Considering how much we pay for these cars and the fact it has the 9 speaker package Ford should be embarrassed just how bad the stock system sounds.

Ford does not care about the audio system. Usually OEM audio systems are just purchasing the name and throwing their own crap in there to get the public to upgrade from the base system.

 

[StangTime]

Be very mindful of the speaker surround and x-max. (excursion) and take careful measurements. If I was not paying attention my speakers would be slapping the back of the door panel. I had to make a custom spacer because those Metra rings were way too tall for the driver I was using (plus they are very flimsy and flex too easily). If you look at the OEM drivers, the surrounds are glued directly to the riser.
Here is the adapter ring I designed for the Hertz 6.5 mid bass. Scroll to the bottom for a PDF cad drawing: https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/upgrade-9-speaker-system.148312/post-3030397

 

[BadHabit2Break]

on my Focal K2 speakers, I am going to have to build the ring myself. As @StangTime mentioned, the metra kits are flimsy plastic and will stick out to far for a good xmax driver.

@StangTime thanks for the PDF file on this.

 

[PoCoBob]

In the video's I watched on Youtube a lot of people just cut the speaker out of the factory mount and use that. With some simple soldering they could use the factory plugin and keep everything neat. Crutchfield is shipping the mounting rings free so if they're junk I'm not out any money. I got a confirmation the order has been shipped but I don't expect to see it for a week or so.

 

[StangTime]

on my Focal K2 speakers, I am going to have to build the ring myself. As @StangTime mentioned, the metra kits are flimsy plastic and will stick out to far for a good xmax driver.

@StangTime thanks for the PDF file on this.

No problem. Happy to share. Just change the driver mounting holes to line up with your particular driver. The three main mounting points that screw into the door are good to go.

 

[StangTime]

In the video's I watched on Youtube a lot of people just cut the speaker out of the factory mount and use that. With some simple soldering they could use the factory plugin and keep everything neat. Crutchfield is shipping the mounting rings free so if they're junk I'm not out any money. I got a confirmation the order has been shipped but I don't expect to see it for a week or so.

That was my plan originally, but after measuring, my driver did not sit well inside the OEM mount and it still would have been too high to clear the door panel.

 

[BadHabit2Break]

In the video's I watched on Youtube a lot of people just cut the speaker out of the factory mount and use that. With some simple soldering they could use the factory plugin and keep everything neat. Crutchfield is shipping the mounting rings free so if they're junk I'm not out any money. I got a confirmation the order has been shipped but I don't expect to see it for a week or so.

Yeah, that's the lazy way to do it.

 

[OF5.0]

Here is my solution for the 3-way Focal component set. I had my fantastic local shop (Platinum Motorwerks) laser cut the adapters. The adapters mount to the door using the stock screws. The woofer adapter has threaded inserts for ease of removal of the driver and a built-in flange for the FAST ring. The midrange adapter thickness + speaker flange thickness is a little bit less than the stock adapter + stock speaker, so no annoying door panel buzzing.

 

[Matti777]

My JL Audio C3-650 fit fine with the Metra adapter. You have limited depth on the backside too so measure twice and cut once

 

[OF5.0]

My JL Audio C3-650 fit fine with the Metra adapter. You have limited depth on the backside too so measure twice and cut once

I do know this, the Focal K2 woofer fits in the stock opening (window fully down) with no depth problem. It’s the over rolled surround and excursion that are the problems. So, the Metra adapter is unsuitable.

 

[MegaG]

Yeah, that's the lazy way to do it.

And also leaves you without the stock speakers if you decide to sell and want to pull your good gear...

 

[PoCoBob]

An update on this. I had to wait a few days for a cold snap to move on so it was warm enough in my garage to get this done, and it's now done. The Metra mounting rings and wiring harness adapters worked well and there were no issues installing the 6.5" speakers. There is no wiring harness for the 3.5" speakers so I had to splice those. Everything went good, but make sure you know the polarity of the speakers before you cut the wires. The 2 door speakers the wire with the white tracer line were the negative posts but the speaker out of the dash the white tracer line was on the positive post. Those 3 speakers are all the same and each one of them the positive post was on the same side so I don't know why the difference of which wire had the tracer line, they could have been consistent with that.

I went with the Kenwood KFC-1666S for the 6.5" and the KFC-X3C for the 3.5". They sound much better than the stock speakers but if you're really looking for a huge difference you'll need to go with and amp at least. Plus it still lacks some bass so a subwoofer would also be a must. But for me I'm happy just having it so it doesn't sound like crap.

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