I have only had a chance to drive the new truck twice since I purchased it, but I have to say I am a little disappointed with the stereo system. I guess I assumed the "Premium" sound system would in fact be a premium system. To me, it sounds a little flat. My wife's Explorer LTD has the Sony system, and it is AWESOME. I thought it would be the same system in the truck. Why didn't Ford put the Sony system in the SD's. Heck, the Infinity system in my 2005 Dodge sounded much better. Other than that, I love the truck so far. Just gotta get home to drive it.....

 

The speakers are horrible. Replace just the speakers and it will be a huge improvement and not much work/money.

Front door speakers

I took the advice of Bigziff on this post from that thread:

View Single Post #15 from Front door speakers thread

 

Thanks for the info. I am heading over to the Crutchfield website to "browse"....

 

I also agree these speakers are poor quality. I even installed a high end after market navigation head unit and they still sound bad. And that's with lots of equalizer tweaking. I have never been impressed with any ford "premium" sound systems I have owned. That's not to say there aren't well made systems installed by ford, but I have never owned one.

 

Agreed.

The 2011 Premium Sound System with Navigation is a far step down from the 2008 Audiophile Sound System with Navigation, but still at the same price.

I tried to provide feedback to Ford on this issue but they were not interested in listening.

 

Well, I ordered a set of Infinity Reference speakers from Crutchfield today. When I get home in a couple of weeks I'll install them and see how they sound. If I like them, I'll get another set for the rear.

 

When you replace the first one, take a quick listen to it out of the door before you disconnect it. Plug in the new Infinity speaker and do the same, out of the door. Guaranteed you will be running inside to get your rear speakers ordered.

This picture is a comparison of the new Infinity speaker and the OEM speaker...see a difference?

 

I am thinking I will order the Infinities so they are here when the truck gets here.
how hard is it to get the panels off to do the switch? Are there screws or tabs or what?

 

They don't need to put in excellent audio systems as factory installed equipment because the people that hate OEM systems will be changing everything out anyway, and the people that don't care, don't care.

By keeping the dash opening a normal double DIN size it avoids having to get expensive pieces of plastic aka dash kits. They've made it quite easy for you to change the head unit out. Heck you can do a radio delete package and just have wiring and an antenna for you to build your own and not have to deal with their inferior electronics.

 

Front door panels are easy. It's been a little while but IIRC, the link I provided in the second post of this thread, had information on how to remove the front and rear panels. I do know the rears were more difficult but I did not remove the rear seat belt assemblies. Without removing the seat belt assemblies, room is a bit tight but manageable.

The sound is so much better once all four speakers have been replaced while still being connected to the OEM head unit. I have contemplated replacing the sub-woofer but am not in a rush to do so.

 

Thanks ..........

 

I put the Kicker 6x8 in mine.

Front door panels are 4- 7mm screws. 2 at the bottom of panel and two in the center under a little pop out panel. Lift up and the door panel comes right off. The tweeter pods just pop off, no screws. Each speaker held in with 4- 7mm screws. Took under half an hour to swap out both.

 

What did you replace the speakers in the tweeter pods with? What tweeters will fit the pod?

Thanks

 

I left the factory tweeters in just removed the pods to make it easier to remove the door panel.

 

Did mine today. It was really easy, even for someone that normally beaks something. No problems. Approx 20 minutes for both front speakers. It is amazing how minimal the stock speakers are. I am amazed at the sound that did come out of them. Would like more info on the rear replacements if possible.