Sony system

[Alan Lloys]

I just bought a used 2015 Expedition Limited with the same Sony "premium" system.
I came from a Mountaineer with a system I had modified significantly myself. I also found that the system is pretty poor for an upgraded system.

I listen to all kinds of music and not crazy loud but I do like to have clear, crisp sound with decent bass.
The factory system lacks in the bass as the factory sub hardly makes any sound. If you turn up the bass the front woofers start rattling before you have good bass from the sub.

The front tweeter are of so low quality that they mainly make a sharp hissing noise and doesn't really add to the sound.

Anyway what I did was to replace all the speakers and installed a new subwoofer and amp. Everything I did is pretty much invisible as it just replaced factory components.
I kept the factory subwoofer box but replaced the speaker with a Pioneer shallow mount 8" and installed a 2x175W amplifier with it. I replaced all the door speakers with Pioneer 6"x8" speakers, the front tweeter with Pioneer 3/4" tweeters. This really made a huge difference in the sound. Being able to adjust the sub separately enables you turn the bass down a bit on the door speakers and fill in with the sub.
I did replace the front instrument panel 3.5" speaker as well but this is not really needed for music as it does not contribute much in stereo mode. It is mainly used for Sync and navigation.
The hardest part was to find something to replace the rear 2" surround speakers with. Again not really needed for front seat but since I had everything apart I wanted to upgrade them to improve sound for rear passengers too.

I found that the Sony amp is actually pretty good once you take the subwoofer off it and replace the speakers.
Note that I did replace the front door woofers with full range speakers which meant that the treble was a little too much. I found the sound to be better by just turning treble down 2 notches as opposed to disabling the extra tweeter in the door speaker.

Here are the the components I used:

Door speakers (all 4): Pioneer TS-D6802R
Front Tweeters: Pioneer TS-T15
Subwoofer: Pioneer TS-SW2002D2
Amplifier: Soundstream PN2.350D

These replacements items will make a major upgrade to your system without breaking the bank. I think I spent around $ 400 including fuse holder and install hardware.

The optional changes I made to the front center speaker and rear speakers (which are actually a center speaker and not even in stereo) were:

Front center: Pioneer TS-A878
Rear surround speakers: Peerless 830983

Hope this helps.

 

[2007Limited]

How is the bass compared to the original subwoofer that it came with?

 

[Alan Lloys]

How is the bass compared to the original subwoofer that it came with?

Night and day difference. It doesn't even compare.
The ability to adjust the sub separately is a huge plus that helps balance the system.
It in general also has much more control and power.
The factory system uses a dual voice coil 1.2 ohm speaker rated at 60W+60W.

The one I put in has dual 2 ohm voice coils at 150W + 150W and the amp is rated at 2x175 W RMS.
It hits hard but tight. I don't listen at ridiculous sound levels but the firmness of the bass is enough to make the rearview mirror vibrate.

On a side note I did stuff the box with polyfil and blocked the existing hole for the rear mounting screw with epoxy when I put the new sub in the box.

Let me know if you have any questions or plan on doing a similar upgrade.

 

[Gamecock]

ExpeditonAZ... what unit is that? been thinking of replacing my stock unit (have the nav system but and updated the nav dvd but it's still not like my phone lol).. i like that one!!!!

I was thinking the same thing! +1

 

[Kwik SC]

I just bought a used 2015 Expedition Limited with the same Sony "premium" system.
I came from a Mountaineer with a system I had modified significantly myself. I also found that the system is pretty poor for an upgraded system.

I listen to all kinds of music and not crazy loud but I do like to have clear, crisp sound with decent bass.
The factory system lacks in the bass as the factory sub hardly makes any sound. If you turn up the bass the front woofers start rattling before you have good bass from the sub.

The front tweeter are of so low quality that they mainly make a sharp hissing noise and doesn't really add to the sound.

Anyway what I did was to replace all the speakers and installed a new subwoofer and amp. Everything I did is pretty much invisible as it just replaced factory components.
I kept the factory subwoofer box but replaced the speaker with a Pioneer shallow mount 8" and installed a 2x175W amplifier with it. I replaced all the door speakers with Pioneer 6"x8" speakers, the front tweeter with Pioneer 3/4" tweeters. This really made a huge difference in the sound. Being able to adjust the sub separately enables you turn the bass down a bit on the door speakers and fill in with the sub.
I did replace the front instrument panel 3.5" speaker as well but this is not really needed for music as it does not contribute much in stereo mode. It is mainly used for Sync and navigation.
The hardest part was to find something to replace the rear 2" surround speakers with. Again not really needed for front seat but since I had everything apart I wanted to upgrade them to improve sound for rear passengers too.

I found that the Sony amp is actually pretty good once you take the subwoofer off it and replace the speakers.
Note that I did replace the front door woofers with full range speakers which meant that the treble was a little too much. I found the sound to be better by just turning treble down 2 notches as opposed to disabling the extra tweeter in the door speaker.

Here are the the components I used:

Door speakers (all 4): Pioneer TS-D6802R
Front Tweeters: Pioneer TS-T15
Subwoofer: Pioneer TS-SW2002D2
Amplifier: Soundstream PN2.350D

These replacements items will make a major upgrade to your system without breaking the bank. I think I spent around $ 400 including fuse holder and install hardware.

The optional changes I made to the front center speaker and rear speakers (which are actually a center speaker and not even in stereo) were:

Front center: Pioneer TS-A878
Rear surround speakers: Peerless 830983

Hope this helps.

This right here is awesome. You just made my day. This is similar to what I want to do to mine. I got quoted $950 for the stealthbox installed and running. I'd rather channel that $950 into something along the lines of what you did. How much polyfill did you use for the enclosure?

 

[Alan Lloys]

This right here is awesome. You just made my day. This is similar to what I want to do to mine. I got quoted $950 for the stealthbox installed and running. I'd rather channel that $950 into something along the lines of what you did. How much polyfill did you use for the enclosure?

I used about 1/2 bag of poly batting I had left over from an upholstery job on the boat. Just crumbled it up loosely in there.

I would recommend you start by doing the sub with an amplifier. That will bring you 80% of the way there on sound. It is also by far the toughest part of it. Next step would be the speakers and tweeters.

FYI you have to take darn near the whole rear interior apart to get to the sub. I ran a large 4 gauge cable from the battery to a splitter there so I have power if I wanted a larger sub. However I cannot see any need for it now that I have listened to it.
I put the amp down with Velcro in the area under the dual cup holder. That way you can just pop that out to get to it to make adjustments or if you need to replace a fuse.

 

[Kwik SC]

Not to sound like a n00b but do you think you can give me a basic run down of what panels I need to remove in order to access the subwoofer? Also was the woofer a bolt in affair or did you need to modify the enclosure at all? This is going to be great info for future installs that's for sure!!

 

[Alan Lloys]

Not to sound like a n00b but do you think you can give me a basic run down of what panels I need to remove in order to access the subwoofer? Also was the woofer a bolt in affair or did you need to modify the enclosure at all? This is going to be great info for future installs that's for sure!!

The key panel to remove is of course the driver side interior quarterpanel where the sub is located.
However in order for you to get to that you have to remove a whole bunch of other panels first.

Rear sill plate
Rear top cover panel (can get away with just pulling it down a bit)
Driver Side C pillar top panel
Driver side D pillar top panel
Cover over jack
Plastic tray that the jack sits in. This is needed as there is a single strap from the quarterpanel that is bolted to the floor under this tray. Be careful not to snap this strap like I did.

Note that you will need a T50 Torx bit to remove the seat belt holders to remove the top pillar panels.
Most of the panels are just snaps but look closely as a few have bolts or screws.

In order to run power from the battery I removed the driver side sill plates on both front and rear and ran the power down this way. It is a tight fit to run 4 gauge cable so unless you plan on more subs you could just run 8 gauge.

The Pioneer woofer was a direct fit for the factory woofer and uses the same bolt holes.
Be aware though that the OEM woofer has a screw from the back that holds it in place. The new woofer will not have this so you have to seal this hole somewhow. I put some epoxy putty on there because that is what I had.

You will have to do a little work on the wiring though. You will have to pull the speaker wires out of the box as they will feed the amplifier with high level in.
I also tapped into the power on for the factory sub to turn the amplifier on and off.

Hope this helps.

 

[Kwik SC]

Great info man thank you. I'm going to emulate your setup since I have no idea where to start with speaker selection. Ill let you know how it pans out. Should I buy Ford speaker harness connectors as well?

 

[Alan Lloys]

Great info man thank you. I'm going to emulate your setup since I have no idea where to start with speaker selection. Ill let you know how it pans out. Should I buy Ford speaker harness connectors as well?

I used the harness connectors. You will only need 4 of them for the door speakers.
The dash speaker looks like a standard Ford connector but it is turned 90 degrees.
You will have to cut and splice into the tweeters (front and rear) and sub to install.
The dash speaker can be installed using bare male spade connectors so if you don't want to cut the factory wires.