I've owned my Exp Sport for around 4 weeks now and have been heavily researching the Premium Sony audio System for a buildout. I thought I'd create this thread to help others as this Build will occur over the next couple months. I've had a mess of a time tracking down info on this vehicle. Oh, it's there to be found but it's all over the interwebs.
Kind of interesting in the mean time.. I certainly want a 7.1 Pro-Logic Center Channel Upmixed system (this vehicle is built for it frankly) and thus there are only 2 DSP's on the planet for Car audio that can do that. The Alpine H800 and the JBL MS8 (now discontinued but plenty on Ebay). (there is rumor that Audio Frog is going to release something along the DSP line this year also) I'm going with the MS8 I think though. Anyway, the center channel becomes important in a system like that and I want a little more than a mincy anemic 3 1/2" speaker. I was able to confirm tonight that I can get a 5 1/4" Speaker in there without too much trouble. Looking forward to the extra center audio strength. Kudos to Ford for providing the space. It should reside quite comfortably under the stock grill.
The system I'm looking to do will be as follows (subject to change):
Front Door
Tweeter - SEAS Prestige 27TFFNC
Woofer - 8" Driver Silver Flute W20RC38-04 (Stock Size is a 6x9, I like an 8" Mid Bass so some modification is required)[/SIZE]
Center Channel
Eclipse 5 1/4" Point Source
Rear Door
6 1/2 Coaxial (TBD)
or 6 1/2" Separates
Rear Speakers
3 1/2" (TBD)
Subwoofer
JL Audio Stealthbox 10"
Sound Deadening
Noico 80 Mil (Amazon)
Amplifers
2 Soundstream Tarantula 4.900 150x4 Class D Amplifiers
1 JL Audio JX500/1D for the Sub. It's just finding a place to put them that's the tough part. Not a lot of places to hide amps in this vehicle
DSP
JBL MS8
PAC AP4-FD21 (Essential to connect to the CAN Bus, maintain Steering Wheel Controls and bypass the factory amp with line level signal that has been un-eq'd.
Helpful links to me at this point:
Ford Audio Related
2016 Ford Explorer Premium and Sony Wiring Diagrams !!!!Grab This!!!!!
Unprocessed Variable Line Out (for Sony Amp Delete)
2016 Platinum F150 Sony Speaker Upgrade
2016 Sport Audio Upgrade (thanks for your work, very helpful)
2015 Ford F150 Audio Upgrade
**2014 Ford F150 w/ Sony System (very helpful thread on OEM / Factory Amp integration)**
2012 Limited Upgrades (Long thread full of a lot of great info - great work folks!)
Best Custom Stealth Sub Build I've seen for Explorer (Nice work)
The complete lack of good subwoofer options for this vehicle.. (I ain't losin' muh Spare Tire)
See the PAC AP4-FD21 above in the DSP Section as it's essential for clean amplification in this vehicle
Explorer How To
Door Panel Removal Guide
JL Audio Stealthbox Install in Explorer
Subwoofer Removal Guide
Passenger Side Firewall Grommet Access (and Airbag Removal amongst other things..)
Environment Modification
Active Noise Canceling Disable (Fake Engine Noise Disable - this method is the hard way, I used Forscan and Disabled it . See the Forscan Spreadsheet Below, ACM 727-01-01)
Forscan Software Guide
2015-2016 Ford F150 Forscan Spreadsheet (this thing is freaking legendary...) (Fake Engine Noise Disable on ACM Tab Line 107)
For AsBuilt Data for your vehicle (You really should save this somewhere)
Aux Input (Line In) Cable (I ordered the $55 kit and used Forscan to modify 7D0-02-02 in the APIM - Jason was great to work with and also offers Sync3 Upgrades amongst other things. His site primarily caters to Police Interceptor vehicles so some differences between your vehicle and those will occur)
Forscan ODB2/CAN Bus Reader Amazon $29 (this is the one I have)
General Audio Related
Room Eq Wizard (REW) Tuning Primer
Are Center Channels Relevant, here, in the future?
Wiring Diagrams (up to 2015 - still excellent)
I wanted to post this log over on the Explorer Forum but they charge to allow you to post photos (which I think is quite goofy.. pay money to create posts helpful to other Explorer owners). This will be the log for the build as I'll likely abandon the Explorer Forum thread of the same nature for the reasons noted. (Original Thread For Reference)
- Lexingtonian