Hi all

I am about to upgrade the main stereo in my 97 E-150 Starcraft conversion. It currently has a factory head unit and 6 - 6x9 Ford premium speakers. All are well past there fresh date.

I am looking a 2-Din DVD/GPS unit like this one eBay I want a DVD unit so I can play movies for the kids on the main TV while still listening to radio and use GPS.

I want to replace all 6 speakers with new 6x9 speakers and a small sub or 2 hidden somewhere in the van. There is tons of places to put an amp.

So what would you do if this was your van?

 

Were the door openings modified by Starcraft? I thought 6x8 was the biggest you could put in a Ford E series.

Jack

 

I will double check Jack. They are Ford speakers.

Thanks

 

ill take a pic and show you what i put in my 99 e250 ext cargo.

jvc double din JVC KW-AV50
rockford fosgate p300.1
jl w3 v3-4 12" sub in custom box

waiting on shipping... about to receive JL Evolution Series 2-way Speakers for the front doors.

watching movies sounds like your in the theater. music is awesome. people on the street look to see where the bass is coming from but dont notice its from my van.

dvd screen is big, touch screen and easy to work with, dvd in dash while driving is fun, i would recomend hooking up to a toggle switch, just in case you get pulled over. by the fuzz.

 

I updated the stereo and speakers in my 1998 E250 Extended Sportsmobile van this summer. I posted a thread over on the Sportsmobile forum. See: Sportsmobileforum.com • View topic - Updated stereo, speakers, added camera and speaker switch

I was worried about the increased theft risk of a big-screen head unit vs the OEM Ford stereo, so I hacked up the OEM stereo faceplate and made a fake cover for the new stereo. Details and pics at Sportsmobileforum.com • View topic - Project: creating a fake faceplate to hide new DIN stereo

I also installed a rear-view camera while I was at it. All in all, a very nice upgrade.

Yes, your speakers are 6x8, not 6x9. A goofy Ford size. They are easy to find, though, at Crutchfield and other stores. I got mine used off Craigslist. The OEM ones were totally shot, with the foam surrounds all but gone.

FYI, with vans that have six speakers, the middle ones are likely wired in parallel with the rear speakers. Doesn't really make a difference from an install standpoint, but it means the middle speakers are part of the rear loop from a fader standpoint.

There are some very good wiring diagrams out there on the Web if you need them. A search will turn them up.

The self install is pretty easy, assuming you are mildly competent with electric connections and pulling body panels off, etc. PM me if you need more help.

 

Yes, they're 6X8, pretty much "A goofy Ford size" NOT 6X9 speakers. Note that some companies sell 5X7 speakers as an "also fits 6X8" size.

 

Fords 6x8 speakers are a slightly odd size, but every speaker maker makes a speaker that fits. Some are specifically 6x8, while most are 5x7/6x8 universal.

It is most certainly worthwhile to upgrade those speakers. Even when new, they were quite... uh... limited.

My van is a 95, and has 6 speakers. It had the 'premium' audio option, which means it had an amplifier. The middle speakers and rear door speakers were paired together on the left and right side. They share a set of wires, and are wired in parallel, reducing the measured resistance. Aftermarket head-units will NOT tolerate this particularly well, and with either run hotter or distort at lower volume levels. If you install 4ohm speakers, rear left and rear right will read 2ohms resistance. If you are gonna roll with an aftermarket amplifier you will have to do additional level tuning to get the fade right. Verify its okay with 2 ohms on two channels and 4 on the others. Some common rail amps are not happy with that. If you DO have a factory amplifier, and do not want to use it or an aftermarket amp, get a bypass harness for an explorer. It will let you run the wires from the amp location directly to the head unit, saving you a lot of headache.

I pulled all new speaker wires throughout my van (easy, since I had the carpet out already.) I removed the factory amplifier in the passenger footwell, and installed a JL audio 6 channel inside the left wall panel behind the driver, along with a 300 watt single channel for the subwoofer. I pulled some 0 gauge from the battery and fed that to a dist block in the wall. I of course did a big 3 upgrade to ensure the power flows freely. An intake mesh plus a few vent slits in the top of the panel and I was in business.

Paired with a Pioneer headunit, 10 inch infinity woofer, a properly sized box I built (using Anderson Powerpole connectors, fits under the rear bench, easy to remove). The system sounds great. I spent nearly 1500 bucks, but you could save quite a bit with lower range amps and speakers. I could probably produce a system most people would be happy with for ~400 bucks, using the internal amp on the headunit and a small amp for the subwoofer.

 

I'm having the issue noted below, where my aftermarket headunit is distorting when at higher volume levels (not lower as suggested below). It's definitely being caused by the addition of the middle speaker in the circuit (my van only has one middle speaker, on the passenger side, due to being a campervan). When I updated my stereo I also put a basic toggle switch on the middle speaker in the barn door, and can easily turn it on/off and isolate the issue with 100% confidence.

So, short of running new wires to my rear and middle speakers, is there any way to fix this issue, with a resistor or something? Gotta admit that while I'm pretty good with wiring things up, I don't get the electrical-engineering/math part of things. While I know the easy answer is to just disconnect the middle speaker, it really rounds-out the sound nicely when it's on and I'd like to keep it live.

 

By lower level I meant it would distort at a lower volume level than a system at 4 ohms.

You can replace the left rear and left middle speaker with 8 ohm speakers (which will get you 4 ohms in parallel and resolve the issue) or you can replace the right rear speaker with a 2 ohm speaker and adjust the Front/Rear fade on your headunit. Some headunits do not like 2 ohm loads.

You might have to use an aftermarket amplifier to allow per channel adjustment. You could also use a cheap amplifier, use the preouts on the back of the ehadunit, and run only the single side speaker on its own. That would also allow you to turn it on and off (power the amp on and off) and with a bit of wiring kick on with the ignition/acc.

Something like this would be pretty easy....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Optimus-XL-5...-/280948543208

 

I've got a Kenwood DNX6990HD



...and Rockford Fosgate R1682 speakers ... 4 of em, since I have a cargo van that only came with 4 speakers. They fit perfectly.



I like both a lot. The speakers are only $50/pair on amazon. I really like that the Kenwood head units use Garmin navigation - I am more confident that I'll be able to find map updates and such. I also installed a reverse camera.


I am definitely thinking about a small sub now that I have the speakers..

 

That's one very crafty faceplace disguise! A few years ago my cargo van was jacked for what I guess was the elaborate-looking-but-relatively-cheap Sony single DIN unit. What I did was make some front door window covers, install a partition curtain and year 'round using a high-quality windshield sun shield. With no windows other than side and rear doors there is little for crooks to see inside other than the blinking armed light for the aftermarket security system.

While not fool proof by any means since 2008 two different work/cargo vans have remained unattached. Oddly there's a lot more stuff in each one now than when they first hit me.

 

Hey guys not to thread jack, but i'm going to start compiling my parts for a Stereo upgrade in my 99-E-150 Mark III conversion van and am wondering since i have the tv and the switch would installing new speakers in the back and running a line out from the rear speakers be better than just running RCA's to the back of the van for a sub?

I'm also looking to do a Gauge Pillar to monitor the engine Oil Pressure tranny temp and vacuum since I started getting a puff of blue smoke on starting. We use the van to tow a trailer filled w/ band gear when we tour.

Any input would be greatly appreciated... again not trying to thread-jack

J

 

Some more details on your current setup would help. What do you mean by "I have the TV and the switch"?

Regardless, if your main question is about installing a sub, then you are best served by running an RCA cable to the sub from your headunit, preferably one of those RCA cables with an extra lead for a remote turn-on signal from the HU. You'll always get a cleaner sub signal using RCA-level inputs than trying to bridge off speaker-level inputs.

If you have a TV now, and assuming it has RCA-in for video and sound, you may also want to run RCA cables from your new headunit's video and sound out jacks to the TV. (Assuming you are getting a DVD-capable HU.) This will allow you to watch DVDs from your HU on your rear TV.

If you have six speakers in your van now (OEM Ford ones in the middle and rear), beware that you may run into some issues with aftermarket headunits if you keep the middle speakers, as they are usually wired in parallel with the rear speakers, creating impedance issues with aftermarket headunits.

 

My current setup is 100% Stock I have an On/off switch for the rear speakers. I also have an on off switch for the tv speakers. which i believe are the center mounted ones and the rear mounted are the radio speakers.




on off switch overhead

 

You might be better served by a valve job than a new stereo or more gauges.

Sixto
93 E150 Chateau 5.8 185K miles