Hey guys im thinking of upgrading the weak stock speakers that are on my doors and back of the cabin. What are some suggestions? I will be using the stock radio for now but maybe later on get a pioneer or a kenwood in dash with 2 10's, but for now just upgrade the stock speakers. I just want a plug and play option.

 

Crutchfield.com is your plug-and-play source. They provide adapters for the factory plugs, and F150-specific install instructions. I didn't need either, but it was appreciated.

 

NICE... I want a good all around speaker (mids,high,lows) what do you guys recommend? Price is no object (its for my L)LOL

 

The best speakers I've heard without going to dedicated components were the Boston Acoustic SL80's. I've never owned a pair but even with the crappy Tweeter's display setup.....I was pretty amazed at Boston Acoustic's quality compared to Infinity's and Polk's for the same price. Retail's around $300 a pair...non-authorized dealers on ebay sell them for $200 or so. One day when I have a more powerful amp, I think I'm going to upgrade all 4 to the SL80's.

 

I got Focals in mine but ur gonna need a amp to run them!!

 

i went with pioneer's d-series. I picked them up for $90/pair at etronics.com, havent been dissapointed.

 

I went with MB Quart 6"X8" in all the factory locations. I picked up the factory wiring adapters from Crutchfield. Artie

 

I put in 4 Kenwood 6x8" 3-ways a few years ago that I got from Crutchfield...I still have the stock head-unit and one of those Clarion "camo" sub-woofers that were out at the time...I have been very happy with the sound considering the small amount of money I spent on the upgrade.

 

Wow, Mark. I see you have come a long way since JDM Day. Congrats on the strong numbers.

I am considering adding a sound system incorporating the stock head unit. Trying not to get carried away like I did on my Gen 1 with a 10K$ + bed mounted cut thru setup. This truck won't be going under the knife like the '93.
Jim

 

I did similar to the above, replaced all four OEM's with Boston Acoustics 5x7's and Crutchfield speaker adaptors, sounds OK with the factory head but it's far from a great setup, I too did a big system in a past ride but my issue now is weight- audio boxes, amps, subs ect.. are dam heavy. If I was to do a system, 5 1/4 components on a custom plate in the OEM front speaker door location, keep the 5x7 in the rear for fill, JL's new slim line small enclosure sub, one 5 channel all in one amp and Alpines IPOD head as in my house CD's are all but dead, nice simple basic system that should sound pretty good.

 

yeah you're not going to get a huge improvement in SQ just by doing speakers. I too run Focals in my hoopty. Best sounding speaker I've ever listened to. The stock deck is too weak to adequately power them, however. IMO Focals are head and shoulders above infiniti, pioneer, JL, sony, clarion just to name a few.

 

I was also thinking about replacing my stock speakers with Boston Acoustics SL80 speakers. Will they sound $300 better with my stock 03 head unit?

 

Doubt it. I noticed a major improvement in the sound of the stock speakers by replacing the stock head unit with a JVC...Not really a high end head unit, but just goes to show how poor the stock head unit sounds that it made a drastic difference just buy swapping it out. I'd do the head unit first then the speakers or better yet, do both.

 

I think you'd need to run a decent amount of power to them with an amp instead of a head unit, let alone a stock head unit. I'm sure they'll sound decent up to a certain point, but after that, your head unit will most definitely limit the speakers...and they'll probably blow eventually.

 

The Boston's do make a very nice improvement, but there a little power hungry and could use an amp to help them out, I think the same could be said for many of the speaker options available, 300.00 for two pairs of decent speakers is pretty cheap in my book.