Replacing the standard Ford Edge sound with a new processor audio system

Replacing the standard Ford Edge sound is one of those cases when the car owner wanted to listen to music in good quality, when the factory audio system was not to his liking at all, and when it was completely unclear what exactly the sound in the car should be and how much it should cost.

The future audio system started with the idea of ​​simply replacing the speakers, and ended with a processor with all the consequences. In this work, we started from the maximum requirements for the system composition and strove for a minimum budget. The maximum composition of the audio system is when all the standard places of the car for speakers are used, there is a subwoofer, amplifier and processor. Staying with such a composition of the audio system in a reasonable budget often becomes a real challenge for us, a difficult task to correctly select all the components. I think, as always, we succeeded.

This is the composition of the new audio system we proposed for Ford Edge:

1. The Ground Zero processor will regulate the work of all components among themselves.
2. The amplification of all speakers and the subwoofer is taken over by the five-channel amplifier Ground Zero Mini Five (front and rear acoustics, both sets are component – we will connect via crossovers, NON-CHANNEL, ideally it would be nice to make per-channel amplification, but this would increase the budget)
3. Front acoustics – Focal PS 165FE set
4. Rear acoustics – a set of the younger line Focal 165AS
5. The subwoofer is two separate components, a Focal P 25FSE speaker and a compact enclosure

Before installing the speakers, we made audio preparation of the doors. This is what a disassembled door looks like after leaving the manufacturing plant:

And these are the doors after our work, all four doors were treated in three layers (two layers of vibration insulation 3 mm thick and one layer of sound absorber 15 mm thick). I think this is optimal for the sound that we will get in the end.

The speakers for the front were Focal from the Flax series. The flax diffuser works wonders, making the speakers sound sincere, and the tweeter with a concave dome made of aluminum-magnesium alloy makes the highs ringing, but without harshness and roughness. As a result – a very dynamic sound. And real. For the rear, we chose simpler speakers – after all, the task of the rear acoustics is to support, and not to take on the main role.

The tweeter was normally located in the front doors at the driver’s shoulder level, which is very bad for the correct sound picture. We decided to move the tweeter forward to the dashboard:

This time we chose an unusual subwoofer. We did not offer a ready-made solution from Audison, as we often do (the reason is trivial – it is not available in Ukraine at the time of the project). And we did not offer a stealth case, the reason is also trivial – deadlines (we had five days for everything, and stealth is not so fast to make it qualitatively) and finances (a stealth case is usually an increase in the budget from $300 to $700, and our entire budget for this project is $2600).

We didn’t want to compromise, so we chose the best speaker for this system (this is Focal P 25FSE, the speaker has a flat design, the installation depth is only 88 mm). This 25 cm subwoofer will give us excellent bass and will allow us to use a very compact case, which will be almost invisible in the trunk. We chose the ready-made Blam CR25 case – its dimensions are only 32×50 cm and the height is only 14 cm! And most importantly – the speaker will work with the diffuser down, which will allow us not to be afraid to place luggage directly on the subwoofer case.

But before placing and connecting the subwoofer in the Ford Edge, we prepared the trunk – we made vibration and noise insulation.

This is what the trunk looked like after leaving the factory (small inclusions of vibration insulation and felt on the wheel arches as sound insulation(((

And this is already the process of soundproofing the trunk:

Here is the subwoofer in the case and placed in the trunk of the Ford Edge, as you can see, it does not take up much space and the functionality of the trunk is preserved.

Our sabik is upside down)

The amplifier with the processor was also placed in the trunk, in the niche for accessories. First fitting:

The niche was large enough to place two devices nicely and securely. As always, the wires were made of pure copper. The power ones were placed in “snake skin”:

Well, the last stage of the project is the processor setup. Despite the fact that the processor in this case is not Audison, we still performed automatic setup using the Audison Bit Tune setup complex. Then, as always, we manually adjusted the system.

Improve the sound in your cars, remember that good music in good quality improves your mood and saves your nerves!)

We are waiting for you at the address – Kyiv, Podil, Konstantinovskaya street, 71. Phones – (066) 607-45-19 or (068) 359-71-76