Very specifically: Midrange speaker only question (Shaker 12 w/sub)

[Teddie]

Guys, there's a plethora of audio info on the forum, but I'd like to ask a very specific question without expanding out to amps, subs, etc. at least for now. My stock system sounds, as I would describe as muddy (possibly because of my hearing damage from cranking my Marshall to 11 when I was younger, lol). What I want to try first is only the midrange swap, nothing else. (to start with), but to keep it simple for now within a budget.

I have the Shaker 12 in my 17 GT convertible. I think it's 12, right? 4 door, 2 pillar, 1 center (which I am prbably going to disconnect), 4 (2 coax) rear, and sub. Is that considered the Shaker 12 speaker?

Anyway, specifically without changing anything else in my current stock system, I'd like to ask for suggestions for DEDICATED MIDRANGE (top of door) non-coax speaker swap that would be considered an upgrade.

Wife will not kill me if they are below $150. If it's more, than she don't need to know. lol ;)

I bookmarked these, but I have no idea if people have tried these in our stangs and how they fared:

https://southernthundercaraudio.com/product/soundqubed-hdx-series-3-5-midrange-speakers-pair/
https://www.sonicelectronix.com/item-201082-NVX-XQS3.html

I know some will suggest tweeter upgrades, but let's start with just the midrange drivers for now in the discussion if you could.

Thanks for any help you can give.

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[Bassackwards]

Finding a midrange that is perfectly balanced with the stock components will just take trial and error.

When I upgraded to my Alpine R series separates actually sounded worse until I added more power.

 

[NTXChris]

When I blew a factory midrange in my B&O-equipped car, I replaced the Ford speakers with a pair of Kicker KSC270 2.75" midranges. They're 4 ohm speakers that work well with the factory B&O in my opinion.

Crutchfield Link

 

[MathematicsDP]

There are a few things that you can actually do to increase your mids which all depends on your budget. I would recommend this over upgrading your speakers if you're sticking with the stock speakers and not planning on amplifying it any time soon. I am a firm believer in going with the process that works for you and makes the most sense.

I do not have the best of hearing myself due to being deep into car audio for years but these are my top options to improve mid range and mid bass to the point that it would sound like a totally different system and you would feel like you've upgraded your system.

#1 Sound Deadening

There are several options out there for sound deadening to improve your mids and mid bass. I would recommend at least 80 mil or if you want to go all out get a thicker version.

Don't get caught up in the brand name as it's all the same in my honest opinion. Just get the cheapest version that you can find on Amazon to put in your doors. This will help with road noise, vibrations, rattles, and also act as a thermal barrier. This simple upgrade will increase the volume output in your car.

#2 Closed Cell Foam

This is another form of sound deadening but this steps it up a notch. Instead of buying the expensive thick sound deadening that has this as an extra layer you can buy it separately and layer this on top of the deadening.

This will improve the acoustics in your car by absorbing unwanted sounds from outside of the car and in your door.

The best way to think of this would be like you being in a room with your door open and you hear the TV in the next room. Once you close the room door you will either barely hear the TV or not hear it at all.

#3 Speaker Baffles for the door speakers

This combined with the sound deadening and CCF will be a game change. This is because you now are forcing the sound from your speakers to go into the cabin of your car and your not losing any sound in your door at all.

You can get all of this for about $80 - $100 to have plenty to do both doors and more. I personally think this would be a better upgrade than speakers if you're not replacing all of the speakers.

Now if you plan on doing a good quality set of mids, I can only recommend what I've experienced and what I personally have now.

Focals
Infinity
Polk
Kicker
Alpine

I've had and experienced all of these brands with Focal being number one in my opinion but they are expensive and definitely require amplifiers.

My current set up in my Mustang S550 is Infinity Kappas front to back with me having a DSP to set the front stage correctly.

If your looking for good mids as a direct replacement, I would recommend what I have which is the Infinity Kappa MX-20 mid range speakers. They're 2 inches and the sound from that little speaker is very impressive.

You can upgrade as you go with this as you can combine it with the 60CSX 6.5 inch component set. This will allow for you to have a full 3 way set up in the doors as the passive cross overs can connect to complete the system.

I hope this helps you on having more options.

 

[Teddie]

When I blew a factory midrange in my B&O-equipped car, I replaced the Ford speakers with a pair of Kicker KSC270 2.75" midranges. They're 4 ohm speakers that work well with the factory B&O in my opinion.

Crutchfield Link

Did those fit well? I think those are a little bigger than stock, right?

There are a few things that you can actually do to increase your mids which all depends on your budget. I would recommend this over upgrading your speakers if you're sticking with the stock speakers and not planning on amplifying it any time soon. I am a firm believer in going with the process that works for you and makes the most sense.

I do not have the best of hearing myself due to being deep into car audio for years but these are my top options to improve mid range and mid bass to the point that it would sound like a totally different system and you would feel like you've upgraded your system.

#1 Sound Deadening

There are several options out there for sound deadening to improve your mids and mid bass. I would recommend at least 80 mil or if you want to go all out get a thicker version.

Don't get caught up in the brand name as it's all the same in my honest opinion. Just get the cheapest version that you can find on Amazon to put in your doors. This will help with road noise, vibrations, rattles, and also act as a thermal barrier. This simple upgrade will increase the volume output in your car.

#2 Closed Cell Foam

This is another form of sound deadening but this steps it up a notch. Instead of buying the expensive thick sound deadening that has this as an extra layer you can buy it separately and layer this on top of the deadening.

This will improve the acoustics in your car by absorbing unwanted sounds from outside of the car and in your door.

The best way to think of this would be like you being in a room with your door open and you hear the TV in the next room. Once you close the room door you will either barely hear the TV or not hear it at all.

#3 Speaker Baffles for the door speakers

This combined with the sound deadening and CCF will be a game change. This is because you now are forcing the sound from your speakers to go into the cabin of your car and your not losing any sound in your door at all.

You can get all of this for about $80 - $100 to have plenty to do both doors and more. I personally think this would be a better upgrade than speakers if you're not replacing all of the speakers.

Now if you plan on doing a good quality set of mids, I can only recommend what I've experienced and what I personally have now.

Focals
Infinity
Polk
Kicker
Alpine

I've had and experienced all of these brands with Focal being number one in my opinion but they are expensive and definitely require amplifiers.

My current set up in my Mustang S550 is Infinity Kappas front to back with me having a DSP to set the front stage correctly.

If your looking for good mids as a direct replacement, I would recommend what I have which is the Infinity Kappa MX-20 mid range speakers. They're 2 inches and the sound from that little speaker is very impressive.

You can upgrade as you go with this as you can combine it with the 60CSX 6.5 inch component set. This will allow for you to have a full 3 way set up in the doors as the passive cross overs can connect to complete the system.

I hope this helps you on having more options.

The Baffle solution sounds really interesting. Would it be a good place to start before trying the deadening materials?

I assume there are only a few speakers that would benefit from the baffles, or would it be good to baffle them all? Maybe not the tweeters, right?

What do you think of these?:
https://www.americanmuscle.com/sear...Id=6&vehicleGroup=Mustang&vehicleType=Mustang

 

[NTXChris]

Did those fit well? I think those are a little bigger than stock, right?

They're slightly smaller than stock, but come with multiple adapters to make them fit the plastic mounting ring that the factory speaker mounts to. Note that I didn't buy them from Crutchfield, but Amazon.

 

[MathematicsDP]

Did those fit well? I think those are a little bigger than stock, right?



The Baffle solution sounds really interesting. Would it be a good place to start before trying the deadening materials?

I assume there are only a few speakers that would benefit from the baffles, or would it be good to baffle them all? Maybe not the tweeters, right?

What do you think of these?:
https://www.americanmuscle.com/sear...Id=6&vehicleGroup=Mustang&vehicleType=Mustang

It would be totally fine to start out with speaker baffles and decide from there. I'm all about sound quality and the baffles will help with that. Another benefit is they also protect your speakers.

The ones that you sent would be pretty good. You have several options for Baffles.

Here are a few other options.

Speaker rings
Limited-time deal: RDBS 6.5" Car Door Speaker Enhancer System Sponge Kit 6.5 Inch Foam Fast Rings Horns Soundproof Foam Bass Blockers Foam Baffles https://a.co/d/0plh8lV

Speaker rings are universal to make any speaker optional to be set up like a baffle without worrying about fitment or if it's too big of a baffle.

A full Baffle kit
RECOIL Foldable Silicone 6.5” Car Speaker Baffle Kits with Egg Crate Foam and Sound Damping Speaker Kit Two 10” x 10” Pieces, for Sound Quality Improvement and Speaker Protection, One Pair https://a.co/d/2nmfRHg

A full Baffle kit comes with a little bit of sound deadening.

The main speakers that will benefit from the baffles will be the 6.5 speakers in the doors. However, with Closed Cell Foam (CCF) you can make baffles for all of the speakers in the doors if you're wanting to get every inch of sound that you can get without amplifying the sound.

 

[Teddie]

It would be totally fine to start out with speaker baffles and decide from there. I'm all about sound quality and the baffles will help with that. Another benefit is they also protect your speakers.

The ones that you sent would be pretty good. You have several options for Baffles.

Here are a few other options.

Speaker rings
Limited-time deal: RDBS 6.5" Car Door Speaker Enhancer System Sponge Kit 6.5 Inch Foam Fast Rings Horns Soundproof Foam Bass Blockers Foam Baffles https://a.co/d/0plh8lV

Speaker rings are universal to make any speaker optional to be set up like a baffle without worrying about fitment or if it's too big of a baffle.

A full Baffle kit
RECOIL Foldable Silicone 6.5” Car Speaker Baffle Kits with Egg Crate Foam and Sound Damping Speaker Kit Two 10” x 10” Pieces, for Sound Quality Improvement and Speaker Protection, One Pair https://a.co/d/2nmfRHg

A full Baffle kit comes with a little bit of sound deadening.

The main speakers that will benefit from the baffles will be the 6.5 speakers in the doors. However, with Closed Cell Foam (CCF) you can make baffles for all of the speakers in the doors if you're wanting to get every inch of sound that you can get without amplifying the sound.

Btw, it looks like you have the same year GT as mine. Was yours the full 12 speaker with the sub?
If so, do you know what the impedance of that 3.5 midrange stock speaker is? I'm seeing posts with 2ohm and 4ohm and back and forth. Would love if you knew for sure. (and the ohms of the others speakers as well)

 

[celica0774]

Guys, there's a plethora of audio info on the forum, but I'd like to ask a very specific question without expanding out to amps, subs, etc. at least for now. My stock system sounds, as I would describe as muddy (possibly because of my hearing damage from cranking my Marshall to 11 when I was younger, lol). What I want to try first is only the midrange swap, nothing else. (to start with), but to keep it simple for now within a budget.

I have the Shaker 12 in my 17 GT convertible. I think it's 12, right? 4 door, 2 pillar, 1 center (which I am prbably going to disconnect), 4 (2 coax) rear, and sub. Is that considered the Shaker 12 speaker?

Anyway, specifically without changing anything else in my current stock system, I'd like to ask for suggestions for DEDICATED MIDRANGE (top of door) non-coax speaker swap that would be considered an upgrade.

Wife will not kill me if they are below $150. If it's more, than she don't need to know. lol ;)

I bookmarked these, but I have no idea if people have tried these in our stangs and how they fared:

https://southernthundercaraudio.com/product/soundqubed-hdx-series-3-5-midrange-speakers-pair/
https://www.sonicelectronix.com/item-201082-NVX-XQS3.html

I know some will suggest tweeter upgrades, but let's start with just the midrange drivers for now in the discussion if you could.

Thanks for any help you can give.

Factory speakers are terrible. Plan to replace the whole set, so pick any replacement that you can make a matched set. I used a three way CDT set (awesome, BTW), but any decent aftermarket speakers are going to be way way better than the factory.
Seriously, I was shocked at how crappy the factory speakers are. It appears that the OEMs (not just Ford) don't even try, expecting that anyone wanting decent sound will know to replace the speakers.

 

[MathematicsDP]

Btw, it looks like you have the same year GT as mine. Was yours the full 12 speaker with the sub?
If so, do you know what the impedance of that 3.5 midrange stock speaker is? I'm seeing posts with 2ohm and 4ohm and back and forth. Would love if you knew for sure. (and the ohms of the others speakers as well)

Mine did not have a sub but I believe it is 9 speakers total. There's a center channel in the middle of the dash but I don't use that speaker at all.

Unfortunately I do not remember the exact ohms of it but I do remember it being all over the place with some speakers even being at 1.5 ohms. The best option would be to check online, a local car audio shop, or to pull the speakers out to see what it is on the back of them.

I had the Shaker system which I thought was not very good at all so I immediately started upgrading my speakers and setting up amplifiers. All of my speakers in my car now are at 2.5 ohms.

My rule of thumb is if speakers are being replaced in a door, do everything to it while that door panel is off to get the best out of it. You can actually make a cheap pair of speakers sound pretty good just by doing some of those things that I recommended.

 

[ponytwogo]

Mine did not have a sub but I believe it is 9 speakers total. There's a center channel in the middle of the dash but I don't use that speaker at all.

Unfortunately I do not remember the exact ohms of it but I do remember it being all over the place with some speakers even being at 1.5 ohms. The best option would be to check online, a local car audio shop, or to pull the speakers out to see what it is on the back of them.

I had the Shaker system which I thought was not very good at all so I immediately started upgrading my speakers and setting up amplifiers. All of my speakers in my car now are at 2.5 ohms.

My rule of thumb is if speakers are being replaced in a door, do everything to it while that door panel is off to get the best out of it. You can actually make a cheap pair of speakers sound pretty good just by doing some of those things that I recommended.

Speakers are 4 ohm except for center is an 8 ohm

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