[Glider90]

Hello, I am installing infinity Reference front component speakers in my 2018.
Since the tweeters are going behind the grille in the factory door mounts, should I remove the grilles on the tweeters?
Also, anyone have any good examples of crossover mounting in the front doors?

 

[StanE]

Yes remove any tweeter grilles that are not needed for finishing. Your tweeters look similar to mine - you should be able to glue them into the Ford housing.
I also installed Infinity component speakers in the front doors on my 2013 ST1 - I put the crossovers on the recess area of the foam inner panel (mounted with cable ties). I cut back the corresponding piece of hard foam that is glued to the back side of the door card by an inch or so to allow clearance. Your Infinity Reference crossovers look to be a bit bigger than mine (mine are Infinity Primus), but this location should still work for you - sorry no photos!

 

[Glider90]

Thanks @StanE .
I removed the grilles from the tweeters. I was a bit concerned they may bring the cone with them as they are glued on, but I got them off with no damage.

I ordered these Infinity Reference REF-6530cx component speakers
on Crutchfield black Friday kind of spur of the moment. on sale for $99. CF supplied a wiring harness and mounting brackets so I figured "this should be a nice easy couple hour install".

Well it was fun, and not overly hard but took a bunch more than a couple hours. The wiring kit is kind of a joke, it is a plug that picks up the factory wires and provides a pair of spade connectors. Since the wires from the factory plug get screwed into the crossover the spades get cut off. They do fit the new tweeter, so they can be repurposed.

The mounting brackets are basically useless. Would have had to drill holes in the doors to use them so not much point. I decided to cannibalize the old speakers as others have, simply because I liked the mounts...and I knew if I did not they would be taking up space on my shelf for the next 15 years. The upshot of that was using the old speaker plug to carry wires to the crossover. Looks cleaner to me, but since it is buried inside the door nobody will ever know but me. I have some pictures that detail that in case anyone else decides to go the same route. Bottom line you do not need a wiring harness or bracket kit to install these speakers if you are OK cutting up the old ones.

I think mounting the crossovers in that foam block would be a great way to do it. The 2018's have some pretty nice splash shields compared to the butcher paper ones used on my 72 Mustangs. I simply surface mounted them in a recess of the panels with servo tape. Not the best option but it worked.

Overall the first side took several hours, the second side went much quicker! They sound better, but I was hoping for a bigger improvement. Replacing the stock system in the 72 in back in the 90's likely gave me unreasonable expectations!

 

[StanE]

Other than the exact location of the crossover unit, you did exactly what I did. I would also say that adding Dynamat or Roadkill everywhere inside those doors makes a massive difference to the overall sound. Install FAST rings too. If you have an ST1 though, you will need a DSP and an amp to make a real difference, but having the speakers done is a great first step.

Setup in my 2013 ST1 under the hatch cover....

......

 

[Glider90]

Super nice install @StanE . I looked into the DSP's when I first started researching upgrades. I do not know if I want to invest that heavily in the sound system. I am not sure how much not having a sub hurts the sound quality, but I have never found a setup I would consider. I am really hesitant to modify much, only because I have restored several vintage mustangs and always curse previous owners that do! I may look into adding some Dynamat or Roadkill though. Thanks! Do you have a write up on your system anywhere? Always interested in seeing others solutions.

 

[StanE]

Super nice install @StanE . I looked into the DSP's when I first started researching upgrades. I do not know if I want to invest that heavily in the sound system. I am not sure how much not having a sub hurts the sound quality, but I have never found a setup I would consider. I am really hesitant to modify much, only because I have restored several vintage mustangs and always curse previous owners that do! I may look into adding some Dynamat or Roadkill though. Thanks! Do you have a write up on your system anywhere? Always interested in seeing others solutions.

There may be a write-up somewhere on here, but basically the system as pictured here was installed while the standard ST1 audio unit was still in the car (the Infinity speakers I had installed some time before that). I discovered what you now have discovered (i.e. the stock head unit amplifier in the ST1 sucks). I then added a little mini 4-channel Alpine amp that fixed things a bit, but the sound was still muddy overall and of course with limited bass, as there is no sub in the ST1. That's when I decided to get serious - I got a used ST2/3 Sony OEM sub box from EBay, took the driver out and stuffed it with Polyfill. I also upgraded the driver to a Rockford Fosgate unit. This is a decent bass solution - it can't go real low of course, since the box is just too small for that, but it is tight and clean and I wanted the OEM look anyway and was not prepared to sacrifice hatch space.

The JL Audio system itself originally comprised the following (in order of signal flow):
FiX-86
TWK-88 (DSP)
XD700/5v2 (5-ch Amp)

This transforms the listening experience entirely. It really wakes the speakers and the sub up of course. But the most important factor in getting good sound is the DSP, which time aligns all the drivers so the sound arrives at your ears exactly when it should. The FiX-86 unit comes into its own here, as it removes all the OEM processing and frequency response nonsense that is built into the head unit and gives the DSP a clean flat line level signal to start with.

More recently, I was able to undertake a separate SYNC3 upgrade with Navigation (including a 2018 Focus SEL head unit/ACM, which gave me HD radio and also satellite radio, as well as CarPlay/Android Auto).

From this:

To this:

Through some research I discovered that the higher end head ACM units can be reprogrammed via Forscan to output a pure 4 channel flat line level signal directly, so I was able to remove the FiX-86 unit entirely, which both simplified the system and improved sound quality even more (the noise floor in this setup is basically dead silent now).

I did a few more subtle tweaks, such as a new Ford OEM shark fin satellite/nav antenna from the Ford Fusion (painted to match obviously) and an extra SYNC3 USB port in the console for the passenger:

That's it - what is visible is all very much OEM looking and all the aftermarket equipment is hidden, although I couldn't resist a little JL Audio logo on the tweeter housings.....:

 

[Glider90]

Thanks, all really helpful. I have been noticing lately how cheap factory sub boxes areas people are yanking them out. I do not want a huge system, just a bit better, and I am not willing to give up hatch space either. So many pope say the volume s so small that they are crap, but i am not looking to go win any system comps, I just want a bit better sound than I have. Really helpful, info here. I need to decide if I eventually will be unhappy with the ST1 head unit and just say I am eventually going to go full SYNC3. Appreciate all the info you took time to share here. Thanks!

 

[GotAFoSTnSpeed6]

There may be a write-up somewhere on here, but basically the system as pictured here was installed while the standard ST1 audio unit was still in the car (the Infinity speakers I had installed some time before that). I discovered what you now have discovered (i.e. the stock head unit amplifier in the ST1 sucks). I then added a little mini 4-channel Alpine amp that fixed things a bit, but the sound was still muddy overall and of course with limited bass, as there is no sub in the ST1. That's when I decided to get serious - I got a used ST2/3 Sony OEM sub box from EBay, took the driver out and stuffed it with Polyfill. I also upgraded the driver to a Rockford Fosgate unit. This is a decent bass solution - it can't go real low of course, since the box is just too small for that, but it is tight and clean and I wanted the OEM look anyway and was not prepared to sacrifice hatch space.

View attachment 386834

The JL Audio system itself originally comprised the following (in order of signal flow):
FiX-86
TWK-88 (DSP)
XD700/5v2 (5-ch Amp)

This transforms the listening experience entirely. It really wakes the speakers and the sub up of course. But the most important factor in getting good sound is the DSP, which time aligns all the drivers so the sound arrives at your ears exactly when it should. The FiX-86 unit comes into its own here, as it removes all the OEM processing and frequency response nonsense that is built into the head unit and gives the DSP a clean flat line level signal to start with.

More recently, I was able to undertake a separate SYNC3 upgrade with Navigation (including a 2018 Focus SEL head unit/ACM, which gave me HD radio and also satellite radio, as well as CarPlay/Android Auto).

From this:
View attachment 386836

To this:
View attachment 386837

Through some research I discovered that the higher end head ACM units can be reprogrammed via Forscan to output a pure 4 channel flat line level signal directly, so I was able to remove the FiX-86 unit entirely, which both simplified the system and improved sound quality even more (the noise floor in this setup is basically dead silent now).

I did a few more subtle tweaks, such as a new Ford OEM shark fin satellite/nav antenna from the Ford Fusion (painted to match obviously) and an extra SYNC3 USB port in the console for the passenger:

View attachment 386838

View attachment 386839

That's it - what is visible is all very much OEM looking and all the aftermarket equipment is hidden, although I couldn't resist a little JL Audio logo on the tweeter housings.....:

View attachment 386840

Wait what did you say about reprograming with forscan so that your signal is a true level signal...wouldnt that in itself make installin a sub alot easier, and doesnt that also eliminate the need for a dsp if you can get a true pure flat level signal? Forgive i dont know much about dsps yet, alot of my car audio knowledge ceased to improve after the revised version of the w3 dropped and the first w7 dropped which was a long time ago...sorry.

 

[StanE]

Wait what did you say about reprograming with forscan so that your signal is a true level signal...wouldnt that in itself make installin a sub alot easier, and doesnt that also eliminate the need for a dsp if you can get a true pure flat level signal? Forgive i dont know much about dsps yet, alot of my car audio knowledge ceased to improve after the revised version of the w3 dropped and the first w7 dropped which was a long time ago...sorry.

A true, flat line level stereo 2-channel or 4-channel signal out is the perfect place to start, sure. But then you have to at the very least apply time correction to the signals going to the various speakers and the subwoofer (sort of similar to what you would do when setting up your home theater receiver) - and then apply low pass filtering to the sub channel and high pass filtering to the rest of the speakers- that’s where the DSP comes in.
Some of the newer multichannel amplifiers from JL Audio and others have good DSP built-in, so you could get this down to a “1-box solution” - not low cost though.......as an example check out the JL Audio VX700/5i