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Ditching Fg Premium Sound For Aftermarket


G6Eman

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Hi everyone,

I know the FG premium sound has copped alot of flak (and for damn good reason) and I'm at the point where I just want to rip it all out and start fresh.

The last stereo install I did was in my old AU3 XR8 so it's been a while for me and I'm not really familiar with all of the new products on the market ie. slimline subs etc...

I want to run the stereo off the factory icc but add some new splits, replace those povvo rear door speakers and get rid of that rubbish mid-range (I think they marketed it as a "subwoofer") and of course add a couple of amps. I am looking at a set of MB Quart 40watt RMS splits, 40watt RMS 2ways for the rear doors and maybe a slimline sub for the boot.

Has anyone run a setup similar to this in an FG? Would I be needing any special wiring kits/adaptors to fit this up to the icc? Are slimline subs any good? I don't want to take up too much boot space...

Cheers everyone :beerchug:

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  • Resident idiot.
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Are you going to use the factory location for the sub or an enclosure of some sort?

I'm still deciding what to get for mine. Just removed a 12" sub and box from mine as I prefer the space. Ironically the system sounds ok with no sub, it's when you add that factory crap it goes pear shaped.

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  • Member For: 12y 10m 8d
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I wasn't planning on using the factory sub, it's only 8" and in my experience free air subs aint that great.

I've got a kicker 12" sub + box from my old system but it takes up so much space that I'm not keen on using it. I'm looking into slimline subs but I've had mixed reviews.

I'm after a nice clean sound, not so much a real doof system, but I listen to a wide range of music so I want something that can cope across all genres.

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  • Resident idiot.
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I would spend big on great front speakers and deaden the doors. Then a decent 8" sub -most are not free air dedicated but will still work well.

A set of decent focals or alpine type x pro or similar in the right door set up will surprise most people and should support a nice 8". More than enough for most people.

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I'll definately be getting quality splits for the front, IMO they are the cornerstone of good sound. In the past I've simply had boston acoustic splits in the front and a sub in the boot and it was one of the best sounding systems I've had. I'm heading out today to check out some free air and slimline boxed subs so I can have a listen and see which ones (if any) are any good.

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  • Three pedals are better then two..
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Not a massive fan of free to air, all I can say is don't skimp on the dynamat.

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Ok, so the free air subs I've seen are rubbish - I think partly because of the design of the parcel shelf and also because (lets face it) subs are primarily designed to run in an enclosure.

As for speakers, I checked out the Boston Acoustic website and they no longer ship to australia - you need to buy from an authorised dealer here. Hello markup.

Luckily I have a mate in the US so I'll probably end up getting speakers shipped to his place and he can send them on to me. This might end up being a long process...

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  • Member For: 17y 5m 6d
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Contrary to what you guys are saying here, 'free air' or Infinite Baffle (Trunk baffle) is actually a purer design than any enclosed system. In any speaker system, there are 3 variables that introduce distortion - Driver, Enclosure, Environment. Unfortunately you can't do much about the environment, its in your car after all and you aren't going to be installing sound panels or bass traps in it! The driver? Well that comes down to the model of driver unit that you purchase, and how much you are willing to spend, although not all expensive drivers are great. And then there is the enclosure. All enclosures will distort the sound in some way by their very design, but a low QTS driver will assist in keeping this distortion to manageable levels. Infinite baffle speakers remove the enclosure altogether, and this results in a purer sound, its just an electromechanical driver operating in a car environment. The problem is, doing IB is in itself quite difficult. You must completely separate the front wave of the woofer from the back wave otherwise they will interact, and most factory car systems aren't actually setup this way. They have plenty of gaps and non sealed areas, and soundwaves will easily filter through. Some of the best SQ systems in the world use IB however, as it is extremely linear and will play very low. Generally a well setup IB system will play lower than any enclosed system in a car.

Here's a couple of shots of how I installed IB in my EF XR6:

Fully sealed parcel shelf.

XR6IB3003.jpg

Fully seal baffle behind the seats.

XR6IB2003.jpg

A couple of the head judges from MEASQ over here in WA listened to this system and convinved them to go IB in their own cars, it was that good.

With respect to the rest of your install, from my experience with the FG's installing aftermarket speakers and connecting them to the OEM unit results in a much quieter (albeit better sounding) system. The OEM source unit is poor, has poor output and is quite noisey. I recommend using amplifiers from JL Audio, as they use differential balanced inputs on the preamp, which removes the possibility of ground loops (alternator noise), which is prevalent in these cars. When installing the midbass, it is important to follow Fords lead, and seal the midbass speaker against the trim, so a deep MDF baffle is the go:

A-Pillars002-1.jpg

You mentioned sound deadening, but persoanlly, if you aren't going to seal up the service holes as well, I probably wouldn't bother. I was running this setup for a couple of months:

A-Pillars001.jpg

And the results were ordinary. Midbass was ok, but nothing to write home about (and that's with a Focal BE Kit No.7 - nearly $5k speakers).

However, when I fully sealed the service holes (remember what I was saying about IB and preventing the back wave from interacting with the front wave - the same applies here) the difference was night and day.

A-Pillars003.jpg

I hope this was some help, if you want to run IB do it properly. JL amps are very good due to their input topology and well suited to cars using OEM source units (VE commo, FG's etc). If you are going to run a processor, I would say that the JBL MS-8 is a winner due to similar input topology. Spend your money on speakers not amps, speaker distortion is typically in the range from 10% - 40%, your average amp is going to be in the 0.01-0.1% THD range. Pretty easy to see why there. In other words, running a $400 amp on $1k speakers will net a much better result than $1k amps on $400 speakers. Listen to as many brands and systems as you can, particularly in cars. Sound boards give you and idea, but that speaker that sounds like a party on the sound board is going to be way over the top when installed in a small cabin space in your car. Likewise a flat sounding speaker system can come alive when installed well in a car.

Good Luck!

Edited by Gonadman2
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  • Resident idiot.
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Jet car audio on eBay aus sells Boston, decent prices too. Does great deals on alpine type x pro stuff too. Worth a look at the price he asks.

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