Stereo Information (Wiring, Upgrades, etc...)

[Jon 5.0 2015GT]

Line Output Converter, for example an Audio Control LC2i

Ok, Great. Really appreciate the information. Thank you.

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[S550_Newbie]

Ok, Great. Really appreciate the information. Thank you.

Sure thing, here is the description of the LC2i -

The LC2i, is a compact, two-channel processor with active input circuitry, which allows it to accept speaker-level signals of up to 400 watts per channel from factory-installed source units or amplifiers. It converts them to high-quality pre-amp signals that can then be directed to after-market processors and/or amplifiers. Users can enjoy maximum sound quality while maintaining the use of factory volume and steering wheel controls.

 

[balzmcfearson]

What's up everyone! First just want to say this forum has been a huge help for all my questions related to a 2020 GT 301A audio system upgrade (my first mustang) - so thank you in advance.

Based off of everything I have read I "think" I have a good plan but would love to get some feedback. I'm going to do this all myself and the one thing I would like to avoid is taking the door panels off if at all possible.

Head unit - keeping as is 8in Sync3
Speakers - has 9 speaker system (no sub)
Dash (1) - replacing with infinity ref 3032cfx 3.5
tweeters (2) - keeping as is
door (4) - upper and lower - keeping as is
rear deck (2) - replacing with infinity ref 6532IX 6.5s

To integrate with the factory audio I'm planning to use the Maestro AR and the F03 Harness. That will connect to a Kenwood Exelon DSP / 6 Amp that is idatalink ready. And an Alpine mono amp in the trunk and a Infinity Ref 12 inch in a custom box built for the rear right trunk cutout.

My Plan

1) 4 gauge from battery to trunk on right side through glove box. I think this may require drilling into the firewall.

2) Disconnect 3 plugs from factory amp behind driver side panel, Black, Brown, and Grey and connect to same plugs on the F03 harness. That harness I believe will connect to the Maestro AR which I plan to leave in the existing Amp location. The Brown and Grey plugs will be speaker wire, which I will run to the truck along with the connection (extension) from the Maestro to the Kenwood Amp.

3) It sounds like the Maestro AR will get a clean signal so I am hoping Forscan modification will not be necessary but not sure if this is accurate.

Amp settings -

-Channel 1 - Front Dash - I would like to keep this connected but it needs to be tamed a bit via the dsp.

-Channel 2&3 - Door speakers. My understanding is these are passively crossed over in the door or maybe just wired in series? Either way curious to get thoughts on high pass filter settings for the dsp.

-Channel 4 - I plan to run both sets of door woofers in Left Mono off of this single channel.

-Channel 5&6 - Rear deck speakers.

-Channel 7 RCA out - I plan to pick of the Right Mono signal (not used for the door woofers) for the Alpine mono amp to connect to the sub to bring back some form of stereo bass.

Have I overlooked anything? Any comments, corrections, insights, recommendations, etc... are greatly appreciated!

 

[S550_Newbie]

What's up everyone! First just want to say this forum has been a huge help for all my questions related to a 2020 GT 301A audio system upgrade (my first mustang) - so thank you in advance.

Based off of everything I have read I "think" I have a good plan but would love to get some feedback. I'm going to do this all myself and the one thing I would like to avoid is taking the door panels off if at all possible.

Head unit - keeping as is 8in Sync3
Speakers - has 9 speaker system (no sub)
Dash (1) - replacing with infinity ref 3032cfx 3.5
tweeters (2) - keeping as is
door (4) - upper and lower - keeping as is
rear deck (2) - replacing with infinity ref 6532IX 6.5s

To integrate with the factory audio I'm planning to use the Maestro AR and the F03 Harness. That will connect to a Kenwood Exelon DSP / 6 Amp that is idatalink ready. And an Alpine mono amp in the trunk and a Infinity Ref 12 inch in a custom box built for the rear right trunk cutout.

My Plan

1) 4 gauge from battery to trunk on right side through glove box. I think this may require drilling into the firewall.

2) Disconnect 3 plugs from factory amp behind driver side panel, Black, Brown, and Grey and connect to same plugs on the F03 harness. That harness I believe will connect to the Maestro AR which I plan to leave in the existing Amp location. The Brown and Grey plugs will be speaker wire, which I will run to the truck along with the connection (extension) from the Maestro to the Kenwood Amp.

3) It sounds like the Maestro AR will get a clean signal so I am hoping Forscan modification will not be necessary but not sure if this is accurate.

Amp settings -

-Channel 1 - Front Dash - I would like to keep this connected but it needs to be tamed a bit via the dsp.

-Channel 2&3 - Door speakers. My understanding is these are passively crossed over in the door or maybe just wired in series? Either way curious to get thoughts on high pass filter settings for the dsp.

-Channel 4 - I plan to run both sets of door woofers in Left Mono off of this single channel.

-Channel 5&6 - Rear deck speakers.

-Channel 7 RCA out - I plan to pick of the Right Mono signal (not used for the door woofers) for the Alpine mono amp to connect to the sub to bring back some form of stereo bass.

Have I overlooked anything? Any comments, corrections, insights, recommendations, etc... are greatly appreciated!

The factory speakers are:

Door woofers - 4 Ohm 25Watt
Rear Deck - 4 Ohm 25 Watt
Door Mid - 8 Ohm 12.5 Watt
Tweeters - 8 Ohm 12.5 Watt

The door speaker (3.5" driver & passenger) are run off a single channel to each door along with the tweeters if I remember correctly. The tweeters and 3.5" door speakers split 25 watts. I have 2 - 4 channel amps with 7 connections total for the entire 9 speakers. Not sure about the high pass filter since I have no idea what the frequency response ranges are for the factory door speakers.

For example the infinity spec:

Technical Specifications:
REF 3032cfx
Description: 3-1/2" (87mm) coaxial car speaker
Power Handling: 25W RMS, 75W peakSensitivity (@ 2.83V): 91dB
Frequency Response: 85Hz – 21kHz
Impedance: 3.0 ohms

I would set the high pass filter for this speaker to somewhere around 125Hz and toy with it to see how it sounded.

As far as taking half of a channel to supply the sound, no idea on that one. Why not try something like:

CH1 - Drv 3.5" + T
CH2 - Pas 3.5" + T
CH3 - Drv 6.5"
CH4 - Pas 6.5"
CH5 - Drv Rear 6.5"
CH6 - Pas Rear 6.5"

RCA Line Out to Mono Amp for sub and leave the center channel speaker disconnected?

 

[balzmcfearson]

Thanks thats helpful. I know everyone says to forgo the center. With it I’m basically 1 channel short now and 3 if I ever do wire the door speakers independently.

I suppose the plan to wire the door woofers in mono won’t work either without rewiring them together considering the impedance.

So My options seem to be disconnect the center or swap the mono alpine out for something with more channels.

Did you connect back to the head unit and speakers with the existing wiring?

 

[S550_Newbie]

Thanks thats helpful. I know everyone says to forgo the center. With it I’m basically 1 channel short now and 3 if I ever do wire the door speakers independently.

I suppose the plan to wire the door woofers in mono won’t work either without rewiring them together considering the impedance.

So My options seem to be disconnect the center or swap the mono alpine out for something with more channels.

Did you connect back to the head unit and speakers with the existing wiring?

I used the DSR1 and aFO3, pretty much same as you except I bought some speedwire and soldered into the end of the speaker input harness of the aFO3. I ran RCA connections from the DSR1 back to the amps and then used the speedwire back to the aFO3 harness speaker connector.

 

[S550_Newbie]

Here is a couple pics I took before I wrapped everything up.

 

[balzmcfearson]

That looks awesome man thanks for sharing. I picked up another 5 channel kenwood to use instead of the alpine to cover everything. I hope mine come out as clean as that!

 

[balzmcfearson]

Back with a follow up. Everything installed. Pretty seemless thanks to this forum and GDJGarage (great vids). No rear fade with the maestro ar. Others have reported but I missed it, not a big deal. Maestro also doesn’t flash for the kenwood dsp with a 9 speaker so you have to select the 12 speaker B&O. Not sure if it matters, everything “works” nav alerts are super low and start sounds come out of the gauge cluster. Overall not impressed.

The sound is also completely mediocre after eq. For reference the stock lower end Bose in my 2018 Tahoe completely blows it out of the water clarity wise.

im thinking I need to go against my original statement and also replace the 2 speakers in each door and a-pillar tweeters. A drop in the water money wise at this point but I also don’t want to continue to throw good money after bad.

Has anyone gotten these cars to sound good audio wise under let’s say $2500? my frame of reference would be the Tahoe or any baseline system from Audi or Cadillac within the past 10 years.

Or are the acoustics just that bad.

I should have gotten a convertible lol.

 

[S550_Newbie]

Back with a follow up. Everything installed. Pretty seemless thanks to this forum and GDJGarage (great vids). No rear fade with the maestro ar. Others have reported but I missed it, not a big deal. Maestro also doesn’t flash for the kenwood dsp with a 9 speaker so you have to select the 12 speaker B&O. Not sure if it matters, everything “works” nav alerts are super low and start sounds come out of the gauge cluster. Overall not impressed.

The sound is also completely mediocre after eq. For reference the stock lower end Bose in my 2018 Tahoe completely blows it out of the water clarity wise.

im thinking I need to go against my original statement and also replace the 2 speakers in each door and a-pillar tweeters. A drop in the water money wise at this point but I also don’t want to continue to throw good money after bad.

Has anyone gotten these cars to sound good audio wise under let’s say $2500? my frame of reference would be the Tahoe or any baseline system from Audi or Cadillac within the past 10 years.

Or are the acoustics just that bad.

I should have gotten a convertible lol.

I didn't spend $2500.00 on my system and it sounds amazing. Clear, no breakup, no distortion. I also built my own subwoofer box (aero ported).

 

[balzmcfearson]

I ordered a sub box from audiodesigns that’s hasn’t arrived so I’m going off of amps and speakers only no sub. Did you replace everything? At this point I’m thinking it’s either the door speakers do make a huge difference or maybe Forscan needs to be used even with the meastro ar?

 

[S550_Newbie]

I ordered a sub box from audiodesigns that’s hasn’t arrived so I’m going off of amps and speakers only no sub. Did you replace everything? At this point I’m thinking it’s either the door speakers do make a huge difference or maybe Forscan needs to be used even with the meastro ar?

Replaced everything except the head unit.

 

[5.0_SD]

I really like my Audio Designs sub box...way cheaper than stealthbox. Pic during my self install.

 

[Cathul]

Is the audiodesign subbox bolted down to the car, or just pressfit?

 

[5.0_SD]

I have a single thick bolt going through the center bottom of the box through the frame. It hasn't moved a mm the entire time its been in there (a couple years).

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