Started my Shelby Kicker upgrade

[BadHabit2Break]

BH2B,

Do you think the Kicker 1 ohm subs totally removed the muddiness compared to the OEM Shaker 500 subs or do you think the Ford OEM amps might benefit from inline subsonic filters to knock out say 30hz and lower range?

When I installed mine, I also installed the Shelby/Kicker amp. The amp has a built in crossover for the door amp. I believe it is 80hz - 120hz. So anything below 80hz is filtered out.

If running the OEM setup, the Kicker subs once broke in should be alot better at reproducing the low end.

It's not that I think the 8" subs could ever reproduce 30hz and lower, it's that I think some of the muddiness might be distortion from the amps and speakers "trying" (and failing) to reproduce what they can't possibly do in that range.

You have to remember, its an 8" sub in a door. 30hz is possible but not likely.

Regarding thickness of the Shelby/Kicker kit supplied spacers:

I measured the ones in the 05-09 Shelby/Kicker kit I'm not going to use and they are almost exactly a half inch thick. I ordered in round half inch mdf spacers from fleabay to avoid cannibalizing the kit. Going to paint them black so they don't stick out like a sore thumb with the grilles I'm using.

My subs are taking awhile to get here because I had to order them from 2 different sellers - and any accelerated shipping was too expensive ($50 each!), so I went standard.

Since the 1 ohm Kicker subs seem to have a large hole in the magnet probably for voice coil cooling, I may mod the door trim panel in that area since a bolt can't be used now anyway. I'll have to make sure water can't get into them but that they can vent air/heat downwards or sideways or something. Not that the stock amps are likely to overheat the coils... ...unless the oem amp starts clipping..

mm

Was Sonic Electronix out of them? They offer free shipping and have been giving 5% off if you use the mobile site.

 

[MountainMichael]

Sonic has a profile in Amazon and that showed they had 1 in stock. So I ordered that one and got another somewhere else also shipped free for the same price. I didn't get the extra 5% off buying thru Amazon I don't think but no biggie.

Sonic shipped fast; the other place delayed a day or two. Could be a drop ship on that one, I don't know since it isn't here yet.

Yeah, I know an 8" sub can't reproduce 30hz and lower... or even close to that. Though their spec sheet has some unbelievable numbers... But if the OEM amps are as cheap as I think they are and therefore lack a subsonic filter allowing the amp and speakers to try (and of course, fail) to do very low hz, it can be a primary cause of muddiness. They can't make the sound, but they can seriously distort while trying... Not sure if I'm articulating that clearly.

I'm going to give this a try with the stock amps for the door subs so I'll probably throw on the inline subsonic filters. They are rated for nothing below 30hz but I've read they have a slope so I doubt they will allow the door speakers much signal until 60 or 80hz. I'll follow your lead and pass them at 120. I'll start with 12db slope.

I should stay away from the web when drinking. The other night I also ordered a fleabay 12" mdf carpeted sub box (1.1cf) made for 05 - 09 stang coupes (fits in RR trunk side), an Infinity Kappa 120.9 sub and an Alpine MRV-M500 amp so I guess I'm glad I laid in all the wiring for the trunk sub while the car was gutted. The 12" sub and amp are here & the sub is drop-dead gorgeous . Seems way heavier than I expected for whatever that means; it's the big magnet and basket mainly, I suppose.

As such, my 8" door subs don't need to handle the very low hz.

I expect the inexpensive sub box is gonna need some mods like re-gluing every joint, some quality time with a beatin' iron and a sawzall, etc. Sigh.

I had the insane spending on this car in "remission" for about 18 months until this stereo thing...

mm

 

[BadHabit2Break]

sounds like you bought a nice sub setup for the trunk.

OEM amps are cheap.

 

[MountainMichael]

Warning: Fleabay MDF spacers probably won't work

A warning to make sure others don't think cheap-o MDF half inch spacer rings from eBay might work:

The Shelby/Kicker plastic molded spacers are in fact a half inch thick. However, they have two sets of bolt holes on them that are NOT concentric.

Without this pair of eccentric bolt patterns, the basket of the Kicker 1 ohm speaker will hit inside the door trim panel and I'm talking like 3/8" of interference.

 

[MountainMichael]

duplicate; covered 2 posts down

 

[Wicked GT]

Bad habit or Michael... either of you have a factory plastic sub grille you can part with? I am doing a sub install and modified mine. Turns out I didn't need to so want to put a factory one back on so I can utilize the trim rings... please let me know.

 

[MountainMichael]

Bad habit or Michael... either of you have a factory plastic sub grille you can part with? I am doing a sub install and modified mine. Turns out I didn't need to so want to put a factory one back on so I can utilize the trim rings... please let me know.

Wicked GT:

Clarification needed: Are you talking about the OEM sub's mesh covering and rings... or?

First off, it appears you have a later 'stang. Not sure if that matters but my car is a 2006.

 

[Wicked GT]

Yes, I am talking just the plastic mesh grille. there is a spot on the outside of the sub frame where you can insert a standard screw driver and pop the grille off. Not sure if they are the same from 2005+... anyone out there know if the speakers are the same?

 

[MountainMichael]

1 ohm Kicker CompRT sub update - OEM door sub amp

(Wicked, if you can figure out if they interchange from my year to yours, pm me your address and I'll mail them to ya'. Let me know if you want the rings as well.)

Update on door subs: I'm amazed.

I installed my door trim panels with the 1 ohm Kicker subs, Shelby/Kicker spacers, both voice coils hooked up in each sub.

The Kicker grilles don't interfere with anything in the car and even with my artificial "hinges" I can get in and out without kicking them if I think about it.

I have 30hz subsonic filters installed inline before the OEM sub amp. These knock back signal all the way across somewhat and with the OEM sub amps, I used the Alpine head unit's sub output boost. Had to take it up a whopping +14db. But the result is amazing. Probably a lot of that boost was necessary to keep up with the aftermarket 4 channel amp driving the 5x7's..

Muddiness is GONE. Power is excellent & keeping up quite well with the Soundstream Picasso 520 (100w RMS X 4 channel) amp. No more confused sound or distortion whatsoever. That includes volume levels all the way up to "... way too damned loud for me..." or nearing my hearing's threshold of pain.

A separate note: I'll need to use the Alpine's 9 band graphic eq to knock back higher midrange for the four JL Audio 5x7's, but I'm waiting to tinker with that until all of the interior is back in since that will influence tonal response.

I don't believe the inline subsonic filters would be acceptable with a stock head unit and stock door sub amp since it knocks overall signal back too far. However, with aftermarket head unit that can kick sub preamp signal up a lot, the result is freaking amazing.

Thanks going to BH2B for this thread & for suggesting these 1 ohm Kicker door subs! They are amazing. Massive improvement.

Oak trunk sub amp rack stain/clear is drying, so I hope to try out the trunk sub tomorrow. Maybe begin interior final assembly at long last!

 

[BadHabit2Break]

Here's is the pic requested of how far the sub sits out on the door.

I still have not had time to mount the Shelby grills.

Sent from my Ironman suit using Jarvis

 

[BadHabit2Break]

So I will be ordering the trunk sub today. Might go ahead and order the rear speakers also since half the back is going to be removed for running the sub wiring.

When it arrives, I will post pics of it.

 

[BadHabit2Break]

Well it looks they finally shipped it today.... Only a month after I bought it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

 

[RetroGT2006]

That's what you get....you give up the subwoofers to gain the track pack........

Or you custom build it and get both.. lol jk

 

[BadHabit2Break]

So I got the trunk sub in last week, just had not had time to put it in till last night.



Took about an hour to install. Everything was plug and play with the Shelby/Kicker 4.1 amp. Ran one set of cables to the back that were already loomed, and one wire to the battery connection on the fuse box.



So the pros and cons.....

Pros:
All plug and play
Built in crossovers and time alignment on the Shelby/Kicker amp
Easy install and all hidden
Definitely sounds better than OEM Shaker setup.

Cons:
$1500 for everything (yes I could have built something for cheaper, but did not want to have to go hunt wires down and run a bunch of wiring or build a box for the trunk)

 

[07TGGT]

Looks great Stephen!

 

[BadHabit2Break]

Looks great Stephen!

Thanks Ryan

 

[07TGGT]

I'd like to hear how that sounds. I'm wanting to do something with mine but don't want to be hacking shit or running a lot of wires

 

[BadHabit2Break]

I'd like to hear how that sounds. I'm wanting to do something with mine but don't want to be hacking shit or running a lot of wires

It sounds very good. You have to leave the Shaker seat setting to ALL SEATS as it will kill the time alignment for the Shelby/Kicker amp.

You can here it when you get to Texas, and have that beer I am going to buy you.

 

[KonaBlue11]

This is a great thread, I'm only reviving it because I'd like to steer my setup this way pretty soon. I have an 11 GT Premium with the Shaker 500. I'm wondering if the offset for the sub mounts is the same depth as the Shaker 1000?

I like the idea of the 1 ohm 8" subs in the door, as long as it's clean. 10+ years ago, I'd have hacked up a Honda with a car stereo system worth more than the car, but now I only want quality that is plug and play, that doesn't stick out like a sore thumb.

 

[BadHabit2Break]

This is a great thread, I'm only reviving it because I'd like to steer my setup this way pretty soon. I have an 11 GT Premium with the Shaker 500. I'm wondering if the offset for the sub mounts is the same depth as the Shaker 1000?

I like the idea of the 1 ohm 8" subs in the door, as long as it's clean. 10+ years ago, I'd have hacked up a Honda with a car stereo system worth more than the car, but now I only want quality that is plug and play, that doesn't stick out like a sore thumb.

On the Shelby sub, there are 3 mount locations. One on the top, and two on the floor from a bracket.

Problem is the two on the bottom from the bracket doesn't bolt anywhere on my '12. There are no bolts on the floor like the Shaker 1000 subs have.

I have mine mounted with the top bolt, and am looking at a way to mount the bottom bolts, just have not committed to anything yet.