ron717

I would like to eventually upgrade the factory speakers as I'm not getting the infinity. How good are the 4 factory speakers in the SLT?

Also, do I have to remove the door panel to get to the speakers, or can I get to from the gril cover? 04 SLY Quad Cab

ttreibel

They sound great even after upgraded to the Raz CD cassete player(165 bucks from upgrader on ebay). The stock CD is also made by infinity I wanted the cassett so I could plug in an adapter for my 20gig iPod all hooked up sounds great.

The door panels come off fairly easy if you search you should find a how to on these boards.

The CD that came with the SLT sounded great for a factory deck My Ford buddy neighbor was jelous his 4 year old Ford player is dead for the secound time.

NJMurvin

I ordered a Laramie which comes with the Infinity system and the indash 6cd changer. I want to later install the RB1 Nav system (don't like the RB4 which can be ordered on the truck) so I downgraded ($175 credit) the indash unit to the CD/Cassette player but it still has the Infinity speakers, etc. I figure to probably sell the indash unit on ebay and use the proceeds to help pay for the RB1 and a changer for under the seat.

Neil

RamDan03

I have to disagree with the above. The stock speakers in the SLT sound horrible in my opinion. They are very muddy sounding and have no highs and an overall poor frequency response. I changed the two in the front doors and it made a world of difference. I used Kenwood KFC-6969ie speakers to replace the stock ones. Door panel removal is one of the easiest I have ever seen. You remove a few screws and it lifts right off. There are no plastic "tree" plugs to break. If you do a search, I posted previously a little more in depth on door panel removal.

rossn2

RamDan,

Did you need any type of jumper harness for the difference between the Kenwoods and the stock spearkers/harness or did they just bolt right in..? I just had XM Radio installed and am looking at replacing the speakers too...

Thanks

Gary C

The Kenwoods were a perfect fit in my '03. Personally, I wouldn't install anything much deeper, but you may have just a tad more space to play with. The other nice thing with the Kenwoods are that they have relatively small baskets. I tried fitting an old set of Pioneer 6x9's with no luck. I would have needed to fabricate a spacer for them to work.

Removal couldn't be easier. I love the door designs on our '03+ trucks. Here is what you do. Remove the inside door handle with a 10mm socket. Don't worry about losing the bolt, as it will stay attached to the handle. Next remove several screws from the door panel. There is one screw up top by the mirror and two at the bottom of the door panel. After this, carefully lift up on the door panel and pull it toward you. Make sure the lock **** gets pushed through and unclip the wiring harness from the power switches. The speaker comes out with 4 screws. Take the plastic surround off the factory speaker and transfer it to the new one. This will ensure the mounting depth is good and minimize vibration.

dcorneli

A tad off topic, but does the Infinity unit with 6 disc changer play MP3s?

Thanks,
David

RamDan03

The Kenwoods were a perfect fit physically. They bolted right in. I transferred the plastic isolation brackets from the factory speakers over to the Kenwoods. GaryC found my old post and copied it above. Basically for the wiring, I just cut the factory harness off and soldered on the quick connectors supplied with the Kenwood Speakers. If I ever needed to reinstall the factory speakers, I could resolder the factory harness back on.

RamDan03

I'm almost positive that the Infinity unit does not play MP3s. However an aftermarket unit is fairly inexpensive. I replaced the entire factory head unit with a JVC KDSH-99 I removed from my old car that plays MP3s.

Stevenc

You guys with the Kenwood speakers, are you still using the cheap stock radio? If so, how muck of an improvement is it? I like to do something but kinda like to keep the stock radio.

RamDan03

Nah, I ripped that thing out the second day I had the truck and sold it on Ebay. I'm sure changing just the speakers would have made a big difference though.

04ctd

how much bass did the kenwoods make with the stock infinity head unit?

i've speakers & can build a lid/speaker box for one of the rear seat holes, but don't want to lose the storage just for some bass.

but it needs some

RamDan03

I can't really answer this for the stock head unit, but with an aftermarket head unit, there wasn't necessarily much more bass. The bass however, was much more accurate and less muddy. If you want deep hitting bass, you probably would need to add some subwoofers. You may be able to get better bass if you use component speakers in the front doors and fabricated some brackets to mount them. You could get a high end speaker like Boston Acoustics or MB Quart, but they would be a little more involved and more expensive to install. I went for the Kenwoods because they were affordable and very little hassle to install.

04ctd

RamDan, ok; agree. i just kinda wanted to have ONE vehickle (I like that sp!) in my life that i did not rip the radio out of & fark it all up.

i've got a 6 1/4 MBQ component set going to waste in the garage, some Lanzar 6x9 3 ways, and a NIB set of 6 1/4 kenwoods. and a XM3 crossover.

are you saying to put a smaller component set in the doors, like mine?

or put in 6x9 component set? I would think that would require massive door sealing & dynamat, and more power to get the bass nice.

i was thinking of splicing into the factory head units wiring before the Infinity amp, and putting the XM3 crossover in there. send mids/highs to Inf amp & stock speakers, and bass to an aftermarket sub.

is the OEM signal level from the head unit to the amp compatible with aftermarket signal processing eqpt?

the infinity tweeters seem very shrill to me, almost like a peizo tweeter., would you agree? turning the treble up just makes them more shrill.
so if do the amp/x-0ver/sub, might as well replace the speakers.

i am just balking at ripping into this truck. want it super reliable for a LONG Time, and like the steering wheel controls.

the stock Infinity system routinely displays "max volume" though, think that means I need more power!!!

RamDan03

I'm not sure if the 6 1/4" speakers would fit, but it is definitely worth a shot. I know a few other members on here have put in 5 1/4" components. Like you said, it would be ideal to make adapter plates with MDF or a similar material and dynamat the doors.

My rig didn't have the Infinity system, so i'm not 100% sure about the wiring. I don't see why you couldn't interface the aftermarket signal processing equipment though.

Aparently they make an adapter so that you can keep the steering wheel controls functional when you use an aftermarket head unit.