Only the "premium" speakers have a back to them, probably for more bass. The "standard" speakers that are in the rear doors don't have covers over the magnets, and are the ones pictured above, at the bottom.

They don't have covers for water protection. The doors are water tight.

 

The enclosure is designed so the speaker sounds better. It may also provide minimal protection against the elements but that's not it's primary purpose. With an airtight seal, it gives the speaker backpressure so the speaker can be pushed harder before it reaches full excursion.

I would recommend speaker baffles - a few dollars and they will make it sound better, as well as protect from the elements a little.

 

For those of you who installed the db570s in an '03, is there enough room to put baffles in?

Here is a quote from Crutchfield: "Waterproof 5"x7" foam baffles from XTC fit behind speakers to keep them clean and dry. They compress easily to fit the installation area."

These are foam and compress, will they help sound wise? Or, do I need to go with something "harder," like a plastic? Should, I even bother?

 

A solid one would be better, but would require a custom job for each speaker/door.

Think of it like an airbag in a car, they deploy instantly and the air stays in the bag long enough to provide a cushion to the impact. A 5x7 speaker doesn't have much excurshion, and they are probably pretty airtight. It WILL help, how much is in the eye of the beholder.

The way I see it, is it would be a pain to add later, and for $5 or so why make yourself guess?

 

My '03 FX4 Expy came with the dual media radio and 4 speakers. No sub or amp that I know of.

The reason I went with this deck and not the CD changer was that I have 1000s of hours of Grateful Dead on cassette, that I have not yet converted to CD. So, I need both cassette and CD.

The db570s we're talking about I believe are 2 way speakers. Is there a nice 3 way speaker I should look at, over these db570s? I have no intention on putting in a sub, maybe an amp, but probably not.

I would rather just get 4 nice speakers to make the system sound better...

Thanks in advance...

 

Ben... I installed the Polk db570s in my '03 last month; it also does not have a sub, nor do I plan to put in an amp. They sound great & made a HUGE improvement. Takes about an hour, very easy. Good luck w/ the conversion, what a project.

Dave

 

I put in Alpine Type S 4X6 2 way coaxials, and they sound very good off of the Alpine 9815 internal amp. I did not see many 3 way coaxials, at least that would fit the Expedition. I did (and also recommend) put in a subwoofer as well, as you can really only expect so much bass from little 4X6 speakers, and certainly not the range that a sub can produce. That being said, some people are satisfied without a sub - I am just not one of them.
: >

 

Guys,

I've got a RF 900 watt amp pushing two RF 12" subs behind the rear of my third row seats. My door speakers are stock and I'm using the stock head unit. Will new door speakers really make that much of a difference in the sound quality? I'm up for it but am wondering if it will make a large difference.

 

900 watts & two subs? Can you even hear anything else? You fly? That would explain the hearing loss/need for 900 watts. Only kidding! The factory ford speakers are junk, much distortion when cranked up loud. New ones are much cleaner and handle much more volume, it just sounds so much better.

Happy New Year!

Dave

 

I will have 4 upgraded speakers, makes a world of difference that will fit a 03-04 Expedition. They are Alpine SPS-5729, I paid $259 from Crutchfield but Ford is Buying my Expy back so they are for sale if interested !

 

I installed some Memphis Audio speakers in my 03EB this past week. I would reverse the instructions where your remove the control panel off the door before the door handle trim.

If you do it the way listed here it is harder to remove the control panel (where the switches are) on the doors. If you remove the door handle trim first the control panel unclips and pulls straight up instead of up and out. Makes it much easier and less chance of breaking a clip.

Also....you may want to skip on the baffles. On my truck the speakers sit in plastic enclosures (not completely enclosed though) that are built into the door. You would have to smash the baffles in order to get them to fit right.

I thank you all for the ideas here to replace the factory crap.

Now I am off to go swap out my sub to the Kenwood recomended here.

 

Yes, I would also recomend taking off the door handle trim first. I figured that out after the first one.

 

Ok...I got the sub in (thanks BiggusDiccus for the excellent instructions).

I think I may have it wired incorrectly. I took the +'s off the factory sub and the -'s off the factory sub and hooked them both to each side of the new sub so the positives and negatives were on the cooresponding locations on the new sub.

I must have done someting wrong because I have a definite loss of the low end. Should I have only connected one side to the new sub? FYI - I am working with the Kenwood KFC-W2005.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

My guess is that the new sub speaker has different power requirements than the factory sub. The factory amplifier is probably very specifically matched (power, ohms) to the factory sub, for optimal output. Do you know how many ohms the Kenwood sub is rated at? You may be able to wire the amp for a lower ohm rating, which will send more power/wattage to the Kenwood.

 

Only connect one side, should be an improvement. The factory amp goes to 1.2 ohms so you'll see a big loss of power, however the kenwood sub has very very high sensitivity, somewhat evening it out.