I have been thinking about upgrading my OEM AM FM CD cassette player

[EaOutlaw1969]

Hi guys have been window shopping for a new complete system for my 2007 Crown Victoria until I bought some old school cassettes and CDs to see if my OEM headunit even worked properly or not.

I have not spent a lot of time in my car and to get me out of the house I figured a nice sounding audio system would help nudge me out the door. No I am not looking to shatter my windows or ear drums https://youtu.be/7cavIegx-zo

But I am looking for the same immersive sound I used to get back in the day when I would be enjoying my favorite music on cassette. for some reason no matter how good of a system I could afford or how well it was adjusted I never got the immersive sound I liked or was used to with cassettes from CD's MP3's or over the air radio.

I know CD's seem clearer and louder especially if you have a CD playing then switch to cassette the CD volume is much louder yet at equal Decibel levels I seem to enjoy the sound of most cassettes better. Anyone feel the same or is it just me?

This being said now that I have 20 or so Cassettes and replaced some of my Well worn CD's I spent a little time in my car yesterday trying them out and I will say I am pretty pleased with the Factory headunit. Since I replaced both my Steering wheel controls all the buttons work and are very responsive and I am surprised how functional and multipurpose they are when playing different sources. Now I find that I absolutely will be keeping my OEM headunit.

I am a bit curious about some of the menu settings I found while in cassette mode you can turn on Dolby NR and also adjust the speed which I found weird ( why would I need to adjust the speed?)

Anyways as you can tell I love the headunit and it will stay,but I think I will upgrade the speakers and add some more bass if needed with a OEM Subwoofer and amp with a upgraded sub for the box.
I have a MTX Thunder 1004 Amplifier I was going to use but it seems to be overkill for my needs not to mention I would need to upgrade my battery, Alternator, Do the big three upgrade and run 1/0 wiring to this Amp that will only kill my wallet and ear drums.

With all this being said does anyone on this forum have a OEM Sub and Amplifier for sale? and did the 07 come with a multi disk player as a option?

[EaOutlaw1969]

I could not resist I ordered 4 5x7 Alpine type s speakers to replace my stock ones with the pig tail harness connectors. I will probably wait to install them until I can get some sound damper products for the back deck and doors.

[DerekTheGreat]

I personally have found type S to be too bright for my liking. That plus low sensitivity of 88dB isn't going to get very loud with the factory deck. No one listens to me, but the best bang for your little bucks are factory JBL's found in Lincolns. A 2000ish roundy Continental would have set you up proper.

But if aftermarket is something you're dead set on, I'd suggest Infinity, their Kappa Series. I put them in my truck and dig their sound, upper mids & treble don't hurt my ear drums.

https://www.infinityspeakers.com/speakers/KAPPA+86CFX_.html?cgid=speakers&dwvar_KAPPA%2086CFX___color=Silver-USA-Current#start=1

Those would be my suggestion, 94dB sensitivity and 2.5 ohms. Your factory deck would have no trouble pushing those.

[clutch47]

I, too like the stock head unit in appearance and function.
I agree on the Infinity speakers. I have 4 of them in my truck that I picked up from Crutchfield on their scratch and dent/open box site.

I'd really like to get it re-conditioned over the winter while my car sleeps.
Any recommendations for a good place to do that.?

[DerekTheGreat]

The factory deck?
I couldn't tell ya, wish I could but of the places I've scouted on they only touch home audio stuff. Might be worth a shot to make an account on AudioKarma or something like that and create a thread asking for leads. That's how I came across an outfit to properly recone the 128H's in my JBL L150A's. Without that, I think I would have set them on fire..

[EaOutlaw1969]

I agree there are many speakers I would have preferred over the Alpines I ordered yet after window shopping for speakers for weeks and comparing reviews specs etc I guess you could say I just hit the buy it now button out of being sick of looking at speakers.

[clutch47]

Might be worth a shot to make an account on AudioKarma or something like that and create a thread asking for leads. That's how I came across an outfit to properly recone the 128H's in my JBL L150A's. Without that, I think I would have set them on fire..

I'll have to check that out. Thanks.

[EaOutlaw1969]

I just finished installing the Alpine 5x7 inch speakers in my car, I will say I used the Metra Speaker cable adapters and according to the wiring diagram I found online they had the polarity reversed.

After modifying the harness adapters I found I did have to use the backside adapter plates to completely cover the openings of the factory cut outs. and I think I will have to take the door panels back off and shorten the speaker harness adapters because when I roll both front windows down I can hear what sound like the harness getting slapped.

I decided not to use any sound dampening products just yet because I found some rust starting at the bottom of the doors that need to be treated somehow to prevent it from getting worse so I will take care of the harness adapters at that time.

As far as sound improvements with the Alpine speakers installed they seem to play louder and clearer with no distortion compared to the OEM speakers and I can leave the Bass and treble at the factory settings where with the OEM I was always messing around with those settings trying to get the sound from songs I was used to.

I have to say these speakers at higher volume levels do not hurt my ears and sound good where the OEM speakers would hurt my ears at the higher volume levels and just left me wanting more sound and better sound if that makes sense.

They do look like quality speakers for the cheap price and I know they will handle much more power if one day I decide to install a amplifier.

[sly]

Yeah... the added wire needs to be tied up somehow to make things not slap.

[EaOutlaw1969]

I did shorten them some with a tie strap but I guess I should have just cut off most of the wire on the harness adapter since the original harness connector plugged directly to the speaker. At least it is not hard to take the door panels back off.