Pics of speakers inside door

I was wondering what the shaker 500 had under the skin, so I ripped the door apart today(kiddin, I was very gental.) I was surprised of what I saw...

Sub has very small magnet! Sub woofer is in a ported box that runs the entire lengt of the door.
Component speakers instead of 6x8's like Best-Buy told me....

I have pics but don't know how to post them I'll try to figure it out, if any one can help, please do!
here is a link to my yahoo photos. they are on there...

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/drjones633/album?.dir=/1d82

So are those the same speakers they put in the Mach 460 in the older style GTs. I saw "Mach" on one of the component speakers.

Cool, thanks for the pics.

"Made in China" it says on it.

I wonder how much of this "American" car is actually made here...

The component speakers are *not* what is in the older Mach 460 systems. They are what is found in Explorers, Rangers, etc with the 6CD 'audiophile' systems (with subwoofer). They have a 4 inch midrange and 1 inch tweeter, coated paper with rubber surrounds. Not too bad actually, albeit a little smallish. They are in fact a 6x8 footprint, and you can do an easy fit replacement with any aftermarket 5x7 or 6x8 speaker. I've replaced many in recent Ford Explorers. From what I've read elsewhere, the rear 6x8 speaker is the cheap 'full range' units that Ford uses, paper with paper surrounds. Others have said that a full range hi-pass signal goes to those as well, so an aftermarket pair would be a significant step up there. Drjones, have you taken a close look at the subwoofers? What is the cone and surround made of? I'm waiting to order an '06 GT convertible...There are *no* 05s in New England, and my dealer said that any order now won't go in until Ford starts accepting '06 orders...This allocation thing sux...

A picture is worth a thousand words. I have been saying all along that the stereos in this car are absolute trash and now thanks to you we have pictures to prove it. Ford has alot of balls charging $1200.00 for that Chinese junk they call a stereo. The head unit takes 10 minutes to switch a CD, the amplifier is crap and the speakers, well just look at the photos. I got rooked into buying this junk by Ford but at least I admit its garbage. Definately one of the WORST factory stereos I ever owned. Even my WRX had a stereo that blew away this junk.

I just did a quick check on themustangsource - actually, the Shaker 500 is a $665 option over the base system in the Deluxe trim...the Shaker 1000 is a whopping $1770 option! wow! Ford hasn't used good speakers in their cars/trucks since...I don't know when they ever did. The base head units (single CD) are actually comparable in performance to what you'd get in a $100 name brand aftermaket unit. You're right about the lackluster performance of the 6CD unit in the Shaker 500...You can certainly buy alot more power for almost $700, but the 6CD in dash option is nice...I haven't seen anyone making a similar aftermarket unit that fits in that dash opening. Maybe now that Ford is standardized on that unit in the trucks and cars, someone will come out with one.

Yea, I am keepin the stock head unit but God is it one cheap unit. Even my wife who has only nice things to say about anything commented on how much of a piece of junk that stereo is. Just listen to it when you put in CD'S it sounds like there is some HUGE mechanism shuffling 100's of CD'S shuffling around inside it. Then it takes forever for it to even read the disc. Absolutely the WORST factory stereo I ever owned.

I replaced both the door and rear speakers in my GT with Pioneer 4-way 6x8s and I can guarantee you there is NOT a full range signal going to those rear speakers. FORD is getting away with the damn dinky papercone rears because they are NOT receiveing a full range signal. Anyone that thinks they are and is using the factory head unit and amps, just simply turn your fader between front and rear and you'll see firsthand you aren't getting proper highs and mids from your rears - especially if they are 4-way speakers.

Earl

I have a question for those of you who know. If this is like the mach 460. Then is it still running at 2 ohms ( I think that was what it runs at)? I tried to use nakamichi decks in my Cobra with the 460. And I was over powering hte speakers. To the point of blowing them repeatedly. And switching to aftermarket speakers Didn't help any.

"I replaced both the door and rear speakers in my GT with Pioneer 4-way 6x8s and I can guarantee you there is NOT a full range signal going to those rear speakers."

Earl - So if I understand correctly, the Shaker 500 speaker setup consists of: 2 componet 6x8s in the front (4 inch midrange and 1 inch tweeter), 2 8-inch woofers in the front, and 2 6x8 inch woofers in the rear deck. Did you notice if the rear deck speakers were a woven material with rubber surrounds? Those were what Ford used in the Mach 460 for the 6x8 woofers in the previous Mustangs...If what you say is true, and the only full range signal goes to the front doors, I wonder if those component speakers are getting 30W RMS instead of the 15W in the older Mustangs, since the high pass signal is only going to 2 speakers now (In my Explorer limited, the high pass signal is split up between the front and rear door speakers...15W RMS each, and then there's the 85W 8-inch subwoofer in the back. In the Mach 460, the high pass signal was split up between the 4 2.5 inch midrange speakers as well)

No the speakers are all 4ohm. I actually have my old ones on ebay right now but won't post the links as I'm sure it validates rules. But it says 4ohm on them and when I had the 4-ways installed we checked the impedence on them as well as the door subs.

Earl

You've got the number of speakers right. Ford counts the mid and tweater in the components as seperate speakers so markets the Shaker 500 a 8 speaker system. The sizes of the factory door and rear speakers are actually 5x7 but 6x8s will fit in the enclosures (6x9's however will NOT). The rear speakers aren't exactly woofers only as Crutchfields website suggest but a dual cone system. You'll get a bit more than base only but nothing compared to what you'd hear with a quality 2 or 3 way speaker receiving a full range signal. The factory grill doesn't come off the speaker and its a little hard seeing down there but it appears to be paper cone to me. They are 4ohm, 25 watts. The component speakers don't have a wattage rating on their backs unless it is 130 (the number is on the back but no W). I wouldn't be surprised if only mid and high frequencies are going to the door speakers as originally you had only the mid and tweater components plus you have the subs there as well. I still have my subs running although as I understand it most people that replace the factory head unit and amp loose the door subs.

Due to the factory crossover that is at work here, 2-ways certainly would suffice for the rear replacements unless you are totally going to replace the head unit and amps. Eventually I will but I haven't gotten around to it.

Mine has a Rockford Fosgate amp and 10" punch 2 sub added to the trunk to help out on the base.

The "A" Shaker 500 head unit sounded better than the "B" version does. The "B" is alot more muddier with the base. Replacing the factory speakers with the 4-ways was a good step but they are hindered by the fact they aren't receiving full range signals.

Unfortunately to put in a quality 4 channel amp to feed the door and rear speakers, a 1 farad capacitor to handle the power of the 2 amps, and rewire the entire car to get around their damn crossovers it will run a good bit

Earl

I wasn't able to get the plastic cover off the front of the sub woofer, but from the back I saw how it was a paper cone. Everything else looks like any sub Ive ever seen. The magnet is very light, If you look close on one of the pics I posted you'll see "60wx2" I'm not sure if that refers to a dual voice coil or the fact that there are two 60w subwoofers. You can see how there are four wires hooked up to each speaker(two on each side.) this is either proof of a dual voice coil? or perhaps the two woofers are hooked up "parallel."
Any way you cut it we got hosed, this is a nightmare to upgrade. I'm scared to go with a new head unit, because that means I will have to use an amplifier on those subs and would risk blowing them since they are such low power. Also I doubt if I'd be able to find a 10 inch sub with such a small magnet so it would fit in the door.

Has anyone replaced the sub or head unit???? HELP!!!!!

Have you tried MP3 cds?

I have some that will take 5-6 minutes to "load."

The larger the cd and the more Folders you make on it the higher the loading time....After market head units will let you browse by name, tiltle...ect but no such luck for us...how every one can memorize the 180+ songs they put on a cd so they can navigate it.

base=bass???

These subs are indeed dual voice coil. Rated at 2 ohms each but putting out about 1.2 actual. Replacing these would require a little more money and some door modding as well. Not to many dual coil 8's on the market. Rockford Fosgate / JL Audio to name two. Anyone find any others out there?

IMO the Mach 460 I had in my old GT is far better than the Shaker 500. As much as it pains me to agree with Excon, I do.

Those speakers look awful. It's hard to believe that Ford would put that POS in their newest Mustang. I had similar speakers in my Explorer which when I changed them out with Infinity's and replaced the new head unit sounded 1000x better. I just changed out my Mach 460 speakers with Infinity's and replaced the head unit and that too sounds 1000x better.

Several people have replaced the door subs with 8" JL and other similar sized subs. You are right though, they don't fit in the custom enclosure. It requires custom fiberglass work to put them in the doors - you are also right about the magnet size on the door subs and their power capabily. That is why most people loose them when they replace the factory speakers, head unit and amp. The only other option is the custom fiberglass work to fit them to the doors and rewiring and reamping the door subs seperate from the main 4 channel amp. Most people just opt for one or two subs in the trunk.

I was actually happy with the sound I got from my Shaker "A" unit - but had it replaced to take care of the skipping and other issues. Haven't been happy since. Its base is more muddier and there is more distortion at high volume. I had no rattles with the "A" unit but they materialized immediately with the "B". That led to dynomatting the trunk. Then the replacement of the speakers. Sounds better but not as good as it would if I junked the factory amps and headunit and rewired the car.

Earl