Updating speakers in a 

2013 to 2017

 Ford Fusion SE with 

the 6 speaker  

infotainment systems

• Speakers installed:
  • Front – Polk Dxi6501 – Component system with a 6.5” woofer, 1” tweeter, crossover
  • Rear – Polk DX651s – Two way system with a 6.5” woofer, 1” tweeter, integrated crossover

Goal

Improve the quality of sound not quantity.
I am not trying to impress the teenager across the street or piss off my neighbors. The OEM speakers that came with the car are lacking, to say the least. While the volume is sufficient the quality of the sound is not so great. Because the OEM speakers are fairly efficient due to their small and light coil assemblies, I expected to notice a decrease in volume/efficiency. Note the comparison of the OEM woofer and the Polk woofer.

The Polk is on the right. Bigger magnet does not always mean better but usually it does. The larger magnet generates a stronger magnetic field giving it the strength to more accurately move the cone.
I was looking at some Alpine speakers that looked equivalent and sounded pretty good at Best Buy. The problem is, they were 3db less efficient than the Polks. 3db may not seem like a lot but on average, for every 3db increase in volume, you need to double your amp’s output power. Since lack of efficiency is a known issue, I felt it would be better go go with the Polk’s.   

The results:

While I do need to turn the volume up more than with the OEM speakers, the sound quality is much improved. There is no more bass than before. They are a little brighter but adding one notch in the bass boost and setting the front crossovers to -3db did the trick. The improved sound is really apparent with piano and guitar sounds. While there is not more bass, the bass that is there is a lot tighter. I listen to, jazz, classic rock, blues, classical, and blue grass. All sounded significantly better.

This install:

I used this website to find out how to remove the door panels and access the speakers. These are excellent instructions.

http://www.paulstravelpictures.com/2013-2016-Ford-Fusion-Interior-Door-Panel-Removal-Guide/index.html

Issues I encountered:

1. The holes in the doors for the speakers are around 7” in diameter. This leaves around a 1/4” gap around the speaker. This causes the speaker to not be mounted on an acoustically sealed cavity. Not being sealed allows the bass to be muddled. My solution was a $1 piece of foam core poster board between the mounting bracket and the door’s sheet metal. The poster board is the white stuff around the woofer. It does not have to look nice, since nobody should see it. No.. that is not where I put the crossover box.
   

1. Where to put the crossover box. Crutchfield suggested putting it behind the kick plate, in front of the door. This would require running wires between the door and the car frame. I did not want to do that. I was able to mount the crossover box to the door panel, above the woofer, in front and below the tweeter. I used double sided tape to attach it to the door panel.

1. I wanted to put the tweeter in the same place where the OEM tweeter was but it would not fit. The new tweeter’s housing is ~1/8” larger than the OEM one. My solution was to surface mount the tweeter with the flush mount bracket. I had to drill 2 holes in the wire mesh, one for
   
   the wire and one for the mounting screw. I also needed a longer screw.
   

1. Chrutchfield suggested some foam baffles to protect the speakers from the elements. These had 2 issues. First, since the actual holes in the doors were larger than 6.5”, they did not really fit well. Second, they decreased the volume of space behind the speaker, raising the resonant frequency of the speaker enclosure. Since the interior of my 1.5yr old car was perfectly clean and these speakers are bass challenged, I decided not to use the baffles.

 

Some things to consider:

1. If sound volume is important to you, (You want to impress the teenager across the street and piss off your neighbors), consider installing a 4 channel in-line amp such as the Clarion XC2410. http://www.crutchfield.com/p_020XC2410/Clarion-XC2410.html?tp=115
   
2. If bass is important to you, consider a 5 channel amp like the Clarion XC2510 with a sub-woofer. http://www.crutchfield.com/g_120/All-Car-Amplifiers.html?tp=115#&nvpair=AG_Type|FF5@Channel&nvpair=FFBrand|Clarion
   

I did not want to do these because I did not want to mess with the wiring. The wiring would involve fishing wires from the doors to the kick plates to the amp, along with a wire through the firewall for power. I could do it but I just don’t want to.

Why I purchased for Crutchfield?

I have purchased several head units in the past from Crutchfield. Their support and customer service has been excellent. They will usually include wiring harnesses and adapters with your purchase for little or no charge. Most places charge extra and don’t tell you need them. You find out when you have everything apart. For head units, they usually include instructions for the exact model car I am installing in. They did not have instructions for the speaker installation for my Fusion. Crutchfield is in Virginia. I ordered the speakers late Sunday night and they were at my door in North Carolina, Tuesday morning. This was normal shipping.   I am sure there are other good companies to purchase from but this is the one I am familiar with.