[olympicwiz]

Hey guys, just wanted to ask, did anyone looked into upgrading the sound on your Fiesta ST? Just wondering how hard/expensive would it be to upgrade it.
I would assume that swapping the head unit would be out of the question but hopefully it would be possible to get a better amp, better speakers and a sub-woofer?

Cheers

 

[Maximum]

Does the stock system have a subwoofer? I thought it was only 8 speakers?

In terms of upgrade, it shouldn't be a problem - it will more be physical size of replacements than compatibility. Just find stock speaker sizes and find a good brand that will fit in the mounts and under the plastic shrouds. The amp will be more difficult as you'll have to work out which wires do what job when replacing. If you're not electrically minded, it'd be best to take it to someone who knows what they're doing so they can make it neat and factory looking and you have someone to blame and tell to fix it if it's not right

 

[olympicwiz]

No, no sub-woofer. I meant to say to replace the speakers and add a sub-woofer. Or perhaps just add a sub-woofer. It just the sound is quite thin and any more volume than 1/4 becomes annoyingly brittle.
Definitely will pay someone professional to do a professional job. Just need to conduct a research as what to get.

 

[Maximum]

What do you mean by "brittle"? Buzzy plastics like frequency buzz or speakers start to overdrive and crackle? For a "premium" 8 speaker sound system you'd expect a better quality set of audio gear?

 

[olympicwiz]

Hard to articulate, but it feels like Sony head unit built-in amp has enough power as it seemingly overdrives the speakers to the point of distortion at less than half of the volume. However it is probably the quality of the speakers that let the overall system down. There is no "Sony" plaque on speakers themselves so I assume they are quite cheap and somewhat nasty no-names.

 

[joker96]

8 speakers? Where are they at? I can only find 6 including the twitters

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[airjor13]

someone learn me, what is the big speaker right behind the screen on top of the dash? Is that a sub?

 

[joker96]

I think that's just ventilation for the radio itself

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[Wheelhopper]

I think the factory system sounds pretty good. Way better than the 4 speaker system in my '85 Mustang GT.

 

[Maximum]

Well that's a bit of a change of cars wheelhopper - keep in mind this is the Australian section so there may be minor changes between the continents. If it is just crappy speakers and you're saying the radio sounds like it does have plenty of punch, maybe just try replacing the speakers first? May be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Chestinator]

Tossing up whether to transfer most of the sound system from my 05 Fiesta Zetec to my future FiST. Intalled a double din aftermarket head unit (slight modifications to the dash involving an electric saw), a 12 inch sub in the boot and front door speakers with two amps to power it all. Kick ass sound but sucks needing half the boot space for the sub. The two amp's are screwed onto the back of the seat in the boot with the sub box in front of them. The back seat in my Zetec doesn't fold down (broken) so not losing that storage option.

Would be pretty easy to replicate this in the FiST, but effectively halves your room in the boot. A mate of mine did up a box using a mold of the side of the boot so it sits nicely in there but looking at the photo's on the web it doesn't look like there is a concave section there big enough? In another thread a guy has built a shallow sub box that covers the spare wheel well - actually looks pretty good.

http://www.fiestast.org/forum/fiesta-st-electronics/344-custom-sub-box.html

Like Maximum said I might just replace the fronts and see what happens. I'm used to as much bass as my ears can handle tho so I don't think that's gonna cut it.

 

[olympicwiz]

Would anyone know what is the speaker size/spec to ask for? I gather it is 6.5" I the back and in the front doors, but how do you explain the size of the tweeters in the front?

 

[olympicwiz]

8 speakers? Where are they at? I can only find 6 including the twitters

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i think that strictly speaking there are only 6 speakers. The once in the back MUST have combined woofer and tweeter combined speaker deal so they specked it as four speakers in the back.

 

[Maximum]

I am very iffy about putting a sub in the back - it's a pretty damaging projectile in the event of an accident and yes, it definitely limits your boot space. Aside from that, it's a fair bit of extra weight and we all know what that does to acceleration!

If you want to do it properly, see if you can peel back the interior plastics of the boot and see if there is anywhere you can mount a small subwoofer so it is concealed, neat and factory looking. Then mount a speaker grille over top and you're done. Did it on a previous car - heaps of work but came up a treat!

 

[stuntdoogie]

No Gigantic subs for me...I wanna keep my car light. Maybe a small side panel sub and speaker upgrade but thats that.

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[Wheelhopper]

Well that's a bit of a change of cars wheelhopper

That's the point. If you grew up with the sound systems I did you would be happy with Fiesta system. With that being said. I installed a small powered subwoofer behind the seat of my truck that works great. Not the best if you want to crank up the bass for rap music but it does add some nice punch and takes up very little space. No way I could do all the subs and a big sub box in the back of the Fiesta. I use the limited space it has.

 

[joker96]

I am using the space between the back floor and the spare tire to fit a subwoofer and amps down there. One of those shallow sub enclosuredls made for pick ups. I think the space is like 7 inch depth

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[Maximum]

That's a good idea joker - I know a few OEM setups do it that way. I know that the upgraded sound system for the Mazda 3 MPS (I was considering a used one before settling on a FiST) uses a wheel mounted subwoofer system that fit into the well of the oem spare wheel. I'd be interested in seeing how it turns out!

 

[b17drvr]

Usually, distortion is caused by over-driving the amp (underpowered amplifier). The amp doesn't have enough power to drive the speaker and it starts clipping, which distorts the signal.

 

[Maximum]

That's a fair point to consider b17 - another avenue to explore. Gotta love sound systems