2019 Ranger XLT - Full Custom Stereo Install - Picture Heavy

[thomas461]

Whenever a new vehicle comes into the garage I always think, what is the stereo going to look like. I have been doing car stereo stuff since Sony came out with the first in car single CD player back in 1984. Over the years I have installed hundreds of car stereo’s. First as an installer at a Small shop in North Atlanta in the late 1980’s. Then for all my buddies overseas when I was in the service in the 1990’s. For friends and family in the 2000’s until now. I have seen technology change dramatically in this arena. Over the last few years I have put stereos in my kids cars so they can enjoy tunes in their first car like I did.

Fast forward to 2021. The ranger wanted a little love in the stereo dept. I knew I wanted to go full custom. So I got out my pad and pencil and started sketching what I wanted. This took a dramatic shift mid stream and what I am going to show is the outcome of the final solution.

First, I knew the head unit was not going to be replaced. The Sync III when updated is actually a pretty nice head unit. Since I use my iPhone and SiriusXM its the perfect vehicle to get tunes to my ears.

Second, I had to hone in on the equipment. I like to stick with a single vendor if possible because after years of doing this I find the stuff designed together works really well together. Initially, Audison was the equipment of choice. I love the AFP8.9 Amplifier/DSP and everything Audison makes. Only one problem. The global pandemic was making it difficult to find all the pieces I needed.

Hertz-Audio is Audison’s cousin (both made by Elettromedia out of Italy). They make great equipment and most of it was available from Crutchfield. A plug for Crutchfield, they were the only company that would ship to me when I was overseas for 10 years; so they will get my business now for anything I can buy from them. They have the worlds best customer service and equipment return policy. Until this build I had never returned anything to Crutchfield. This was the first and I made up for all the times I never returned anything.

By the time I was done most of that went back and was replaced by other Hertz equipment.

I wanted to start with a nice quiet truck so I sound I applied sound deadening material to each of the doors and the rear panel below the back glass.

Once that was done it was time to start getting some speakers mounted. Initially, I started off with Components Hertz MPK165.3 with a passive crossover and Hertz MPX165 2 Way in the rear doors. This was all wired up to a 5 channel amplifier Hertz Power5 and I was going to add a subwoofer. It sounded pretty good but I wanted more. So I sent the Hertz MPX165’s, Hertz 10” subwoofer, Hertz Power5 AMP, Bass control knob all back to Crutchfield. This is when I got serious.

I decided I was going to build a full front 3 way with Hertz MP70.3 3” Midrange speakers in custom A-Pillars, the Hertz MPK165.3 would stay, in the factory positions but the Passive Cross over would come out and the Hertz H8 DSP would function as the active crossover for the system. Two Hertz Power4 4X100W AMP‘s would provide the 6 Channels of individual control and the last two channels would power the Audison 10” 4ohm shallow subwoofer in the Aussie 10“ under seat box. So, this is where the purchasing became interesting. I ordered the Sub box just before Christmas and received it about 10 days later. I ordered two Hertz Power4 Amplifiers from a dealer in Poland and those arrived 5 days later. The only place in the US with the Hertz DSP in stock was OnlineCarStereo.com. All of my wiring from CEAutoElectricsupply.com out of Phoenix(Tony Candela is an amazing car wiring guy. He has written some really good books on Car Electronics and has high quality gear at very reasonable pricing)All of the parts were coming from points all over the world. This is most certainly a international system. Oddly enough, it took me longer to get the 1/4 24X48 ABS Plastic sheet from Florida than any of the other parts.

Once everything was planned I had to fashion the amp board out of cardboard and trim the carpet back. I sent the template in place and insured everything fit as I planned. I then started the process of wiring everything and creating the AMP board.

This is about 12 hours of work to get everything mounted properly. From left to right. Tyco Relay for AMP turn on (triggered by the Hertz H8 DSP), Blue Sea Fuse Panel (12+, 12-, Relay Switched 12V), Hertz H8 DSP, Hertz Power 4 Tweeter/Midrange, Hertz Power 4 Midbass and Subwoofer, 4Ga Oxygen Free Copper wiring, KnuKoncepts Power/Ground Distribution.

This is the final before I wired everything into the truck.

It took some doing and quite a few hours to get everything wired. All runs from each of the speakers is a home run 16Ga speaker wire back to the Amplifiers. I wired in pigtails from the Amplifiers to 16Ga Deutsch Connectors so I can remove the board without having to undo each speaker wire. I trimmed the carpet back so everything would fit and ran all the signal and power wires throughout the truck. Since Ford glues more than screws anymore both power and negative 4Ga wires were ran from the battery (I went through the main harness grommet on the drivers side).

Mounted the Audison 10” subwoofer into the box and got it into the truck.

The DRC Wired controller was wired into the dash.

My friend Scott at Audition Audio fashioned the A pillars to fit the Hertz MP70.3 speakers.

Lastly came the tuning with all of my tools. SMD DD-1, SMD CC-1, Fluke Multimeter, Hertz H8 DSP Software. I will say after a couple of days tweaking the EQ and level adjustments the stereo is one of the very best I have ever heard.

Lots more pictures can be found here

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[OC4095]

Whenever a new vehicle comes into the garage I always think, what is the stereo going to look like. I have been doing car stereo stuff since Sony came out with the first in car single CD player back in 1984. Over the years I have installed hundreds of car stereo’s. First as an installer at a Small shop in North Atlanta in the late 1980’s. Then for all my buddies overseas when I was in the service in the 1990’s. For friends and family in the 2000’s until now. I have seen technology change dramatically in this arena. Over the last few years I have put stereos in my kids cars so they can enjoy tunes in their first car like I did.

Fast forward to 2021. The ranger wanted a little love in the stereo dept. I knew I wanted to go full custom. So I got out my pad and pencil and started sketching what I wanted. This took a dramatic shift mid stream and what I am going to show is the outcome of the final solution.

First, I knew the head unit was not going to be replaced. The Sync III when updated is actually a pretty nice head unit. Since I use my iPhone and SiriusXM its the perfect vehicle to get tunes to my ears.

Second, I had to hone in on the equipment. I like to stick with a single vendor if possible because after years of doing this I find the stuff designed together works really well together. Initially, Audison was the equipment of choice. I love the AFP8.9 Amplifier/DSP and everything Audison makes. Only one problem. The global pandemic was making it difficult to find all the pieces I needed.

Hertz-Audio is Audison’s cousin (both made by Elettromedia out of Italy). They make great equipment and most of it was available from Crutchfield. A plug for Crutchfield, they were the only company that would ship to me when I was overseas for 10 years; so they will get my business now for anything I can buy from them. They have the worlds best customer service and equipment return policy. Until this build I had never returned anything to Crutchfield. This was the first and I made up for all the times I never returned anything.

By the time I was done most of that went back and was replaced by other Hertz equipment.

I wanted to start with a nice quiet truck so I sound I applied sound deadening material to each of the doors and the rear panel below the back glass.

Once that was done it was time to start getting some speakers mounted. Initially, I started off with Components Hertz MPK165.3 with a passive crossover and Hertz MPX165 2 Way in the rear doors. This was all wired up to a 5 channel amplifier Hertz Power5 and I was going to add a subwoofer. It sounded pretty good but I wanted more. So I sent the Hertz MPX165’s, Hertz 10” subwoofer, Hertz Power5 AMP, Bass control knob all back to Crutchfield. This is when I got serious.

I decided I was going to build a full front 3 way with Hertz MP70.3 3” Midrange speakers in custom A-Pillars, the Hertz MPK165.3 would stay, in the factory positions but the Passive Cross over would come out and the Hertz H8 DSP would function as the active crossover for the system. Two Hertz Power4 4X100W AMP‘s would provide the 6 Channels of individual control and the last two channels would power the Audison 10” 4ohm shallow subwoofer in the Aussie 10“ under seat box. So, this is where the purchasing became interesting. I ordered the Sub box just before Christmas and received it about 10 days later. I ordered two Hertz Power4 Amplifiers from a dealer in Poland and those arrived 5 days later. The only place in the US with the Hertz DSP in stock was OnlineCarStereo.com. All of my wiring from CEAutoElectricsupply.com out of Phoenix(Tony Candela is an amazing car wiring guy. He has written some really good books on Car Electronics and has high quality gear at very reasonable pricing)All of the parts were coming from points all over the world. This is most certainly a international system. Oddly enough, it took me longer to get the 1/4 24X48 ABS Plastic sheet from Florida than any of the other parts.

Once everything was planned I had to fashion the amp board out of cardboard and trim the carpet back. I sent the template in place and insured everything fit as I planned. I then started the process of wiring everything and creating the AMP board.

This is about 12 hours of work to get everything mounted properly. From left to right. Tyco Relay for AMP turn on (triggered by the Hertz H8 DSP), Blue Sea Fuse Panel (12+, 12-, Relay Switched 12V), Hertz H8 DSP, Hertz Power 4 Tweeter/Midrange, Hertz Power 4 Midbass and Subwoofer, 4Ga Oxygen Free Copper wiring, KnuKoncepts Power/Ground Distribution.

This is the final before I wired everything into the truck.

It took some doing and quite a few hours to get everything wired. All runs from each of the speakers is a home run 16Ga speaker wire back to the Amplifiers. I wired in pigtails from the Amplifiers to 16Ga Deutsch Connectors so I can remove the board without having to undo each speaker wire. I trimmed the carpet back so everything would fit and ran all the signal and power wires throughout the truck. Since Ford glues more than screws anymore both power and negative 4Ga wires were ran from the battery (I went through the main harness grommet on the drivers side).

Mounted the Audison 10” subwoofer into the box and got it into the truck.

The DRC Wired controller was wired into the dash.

My friend Scott at Audition Audio fashioned the A pillars to fit the Hertz MP70.3 speakers.

Lastly came the tuning with all of my tools. SMD DD-1, SMD CC-1, Fluke Multimeter, Hertz H8 DSP Software. I will say after a couple of days tweaking the EQ and level adjustments the stereo is one of the very best I have ever heard.

Lots more pictures can be found here

Nice work and very clean. Hertz and Audsion is some of the best out there. Pillars look great. Mine is a work in progress, Ill probably keep adding and redoing. I want sound quality and loud as a concert, a tremendous task in a Ranger.

 

[Colo_Ranger]

That's beautiful. Nice work.

 

[mailbox4449]

Whenever a new vehicle comes into the garage I always think, what is the stereo going to look like. I have been doing car stereo stuff since Sony came out with the first in car single CD player back in 1984. Over the years I have installed hundreds of car stereo’s. First as an installer at a Small shop in North Atlanta in the late 1980’s. Then for all my buddies overseas when I was in the service in the 1990’s. For friends and family in the 2000’s until now. I have seen technology change dramatically in this arena. Over the last few years I have put stereos in my kids cars so they can enjoy tunes in their first car like I did.

Fast forward to 2021. The ranger wanted a little love in the stereo dept. I knew I wanted to go full custom. So I got out my pad and pencil and started sketching what I wanted. This took a dramatic shift mid stream and what I am going to show is the outcome of the final solution.

First, I knew the head unit was not going to be replaced. The Sync III when updated is actually a pretty nice head unit. Since I use my iPhone and SiriusXM its the perfect vehicle to get tunes to my ears.

Second, I had to hone in on the equipment. I like to stick with a single vendor if possible because after years of doing this I find the stuff designed together works really well together. Initially, Audison was the equipment of choice. I love the AFP8.9 Amplifier/DSP and everything Audison makes. Only one problem. The global pandemic was making it difficult to find all the pieces I needed.

Hertz-Audio is Audison’s cousin (both made by Elettromedia out of Italy). They make great equipment and most of it was available from Crutchfield. A plug for Crutchfield, they were the only company that would ship to me when I was overseas for 10 years; so they will get my business now for anything I can buy from them. They have the worlds best customer service and equipment return policy. Until this build I had never returned anything to Crutchfield. This was the first and I made up for all the times I never returned anything.

By the time I was done most of that went back and was replaced by other Hertz equipment.

I wanted to start with a nice quiet truck so I sound I applied sound deadening material to each of the doors and the rear panel below the back glass.

Once that was done it was time to start getting some speakers mounted. Initially, I started off with Components Hertz MPK165.3 with a passive crossover and Hertz MPX165 2 Way in the rear doors. This was all wired up to a 5 channel amplifier Hertz Power5 and I was going to add a subwoofer. It sounded pretty good but I wanted more. So I sent the Hertz MPX165’s, Hertz 10” subwoofer, Hertz Power5 AMP, Bass control knob all back to Crutchfield. This is when I got serious.

I decided I was going to build a full front 3 way with Hertz MP70.3 3” Midrange speakers in custom A-Pillars, the Hertz MPK165.3 would stay, in the factory positions but the Passive Cross over would come out and the Hertz H8 DSP would function as the active crossover for the system. Two Hertz Power4 4X100W AMP‘s would provide the 6 Channels of individual control and the last two channels would power the Audison 10” 4ohm shallow subwoofer in the Aussie 10“ under seat box. So, this is where the purchasing became interesting. I ordered the Sub box just before Christmas and received it about 10 days later. I ordered two Hertz Power4 Amplifiers from a dealer in Poland and those arrived 5 days later. The only place in the US with the Hertz DSP in stock was OnlineCarStereo.com. All of my wiring from CEAutoElectricsupply.com out of Phoenix(Tony Candela is an amazing car wiring guy. He has written some really good books on Car Electronics and has high quality gear at very reasonable pricing)All of the parts were coming from points all over the world. This is most certainly a international system. Oddly enough, it took me longer to get the 1/4 24X48 ABS Plastic sheet from Florida than any of the other parts.

Once everything was planned I had to fashion the amp board out of cardboard and trim the carpet back. I sent the template in place and insured everything fit as I planned. I then started the process of wiring everything and creating the AMP board.

This is about 12 hours of work to get everything mounted properly. From left to right. Tyco Relay for AMP turn on (triggered by the Hertz H8 DSP), Blue Sea Fuse Panel (12+, 12-, Relay Switched 12V), Hertz H8 DSP, Hertz Power 4 Tweeter/Midrange, Hertz Power 4 Midbass and Subwoofer, 4Ga Oxygen Free Copper wiring, KnuKoncepts Power/Ground Distribution.

This is the final before I wired everything into the truck.

It took some doing and quite a few hours to get everything wired. All runs from each of the speakers is a home run 16Ga speaker wire back to the Amplifiers. I wired in pigtails from the Amplifiers to 16Ga Deutsch Connectors so I can remove the board without having to undo each speaker wire. I trimmed the carpet back so everything would fit and ran all the signal and power wires throughout the truck. Since Ford glues more than screws anymore both power and negative 4Ga wires were ran from the battery (I went through the main harness grommet on the drivers side).

Mounted the Audison 10” subwoofer into the box and got it into the truck.

The DRC Wired controller was wired into the dash.

My friend Scott at Audition Audio fashioned the A pillars to fit the Hertz MP70.3 speakers.

Lastly came the tuning with all of my tools. SMD DD-1, SMD CC-1, Fluke Multimeter, Hertz H8 DSP Software. I will say after a couple of days tweaking the EQ and level adjustments the stereo is one of the very best I have ever heard.

Lots more pictures can be found here

Wow! Awesome work and thank you for the detailed photos and info. I myself wouldn't tackle this, but nice to know there are people out there that know their $hit!!

 

[jvm051]

Nice Setup!
Just finished mine using Morel speakers and Kicker Key amps.

I am curious on your thoughts on the Audison sub and the Aussie box. I am using the same enclosure but a Kicker shallow 10. I was not expecting it to go as low or loud as my old days using Digital Designs speakers with giant boxes, but it does not go that deep in my opinion. I'm now looking at a JL audio 10TW-1, but knowing you are using the same box I'm interested in your setup. I also did sound deadening in the same locations and added to the hole where the sub goes and to the outside of the sub box.

 

[thomas461]

Nice Setup!
Just finished mine using Morel speakers and Kicker Key amps.

I am curious on your thoughts on the Audison sub and the Aussie box. I am using the same enclosure but a Kicker shallow 10. I was not expecting it to go as low or loud as my old days using Digital Designs speakers with giant boxes, but it does not go that deep in my opinion. I'm now looking at a JL audio 10TW-1, but knowing you are using the same box I'm interested in your setup. I also did sound deadening in the same locations and added to the hole where the sub goes and to the outside of the sub box.

I like the Audison for two reasons. First the box is almost exactly the size the sub requires for air space 11 liters and the box is 10.3liters as measured. So it operates really well. Second I can get the sub down to about 33hz according to the RTA in this enclosure. What I have found is that I was getting reverb off the box itself and the panel underneath the sub. My wife actually heard it first. I ended up putting a layer of sound deadening inside the sub enclosure and underneath the box and it tightened the bass notes up significantly. Does it hit as hard as my old Trans Am with four punch 10’s in the package tray? No, but you can feel it for sure. The original Hertz 10 just needed too much air space to be effective. Hope this helps.

 

[BuzKilington]

Super clean install. Glad it worked out for you. I’m still waiting on a ‘21 head unit wireharness to finish mine up.

 

[Msfitoy]

Whenever a new vehicle comes into the garage I always think, what is the stereo going to look like. I have been doing car stereo stuff since Sony came out with the first in car single CD player back in 1984. Over the years I have installed hundreds of car stereo’s. First as an installer at a Small shop in North Atlanta in the late 1980’s. Then for all my buddies overseas when I was in the service in the 1990’s. For friends and family in the 2000’s until now. I have seen technology change dramatically in this arena. Over the last few years I have put stereos in my kids cars so they can enjoy tunes in their first car like I did.

Fast forward to 2021. The ranger wanted a little love in the stereo dept. I knew I wanted to go full custom. So I got out my pad and pencil and started sketching what I wanted. This took a dramatic shift mid stream and what I am going to show is the outcome of the final solution.

First, I knew the head unit was not going to be replaced. The Sync III when updated is actually a pretty nice head unit. Since I use my iPhone and SiriusXM its the perfect vehicle to get tunes to my ears.

Second, I had to hone in on the equipment. I like to stick with a single vendor if possible because after years of doing this I find the stuff designed together works really well together. Initially, Audison was the equipment of choice. I love the AFP8.9 Amplifier/DSP and everything Audison makes. Only one problem. The global pandemic was making it difficult to find all the pieces I needed.

Hertz-Audio is Audison’s cousin (both made by Elettromedia out of Italy). They make great equipment and most of it was available from Crutchfield. A plug for Crutchfield, they were the only company that would ship to me when I was overseas for 10 years; so they will get my business now for anything I can buy from them. They have the worlds best customer service and equipment return policy. Until this build I had never returned anything to Crutchfield. This was the first and I made up for all the times I never returned anything.

By the time I was done most of that went back and was replaced by other Hertz equipment.

I wanted to start with a nice quiet truck so I sound I applied sound deadening material to each of the doors and the rear panel below the back glass.

Once that was done it was time to start getting some speakers mounted. Initially, I started off with Components Hertz MPK165.3 with a passive crossover and Hertz MPX165 2 Way in the rear doors. This was all wired up to a 5 channel amplifier Hertz Power5 and I was going to add a subwoofer. It sounded pretty good but I wanted more. So I sent the Hertz MPX165’s, Hertz 10” subwoofer, Hertz Power5 AMP, Bass control knob all back to Crutchfield. This is when I got serious.

I decided I was going to build a full front 3 way with Hertz MP70.3 3” Midrange speakers in custom A-Pillars, the Hertz MPK165.3 would stay, in the factory positions but the Passive Cross over would come out and the Hertz H8 DSP would function as the active crossover for the system. Two Hertz Power4 4X100W AMP‘s would provide the 6 Channels of individual control and the last two channels would power the Audison 10” 4ohm shallow subwoofer in the Aussie 10“ under seat box. So, this is where the purchasing became interesting. I ordered the Sub box just before Christmas and received it about 10 days later. I ordered two Hertz Power4 Amplifiers from a dealer in Poland and those arrived 5 days later. The only place in the US with the Hertz DSP in stock was OnlineCarStereo.com. All of my wiring from CEAutoElectricsupply.com out of Phoenix(Tony Candela is an amazing car wiring guy. He has written some really good books on Car Electronics and has high quality gear at very reasonable pricing)All of the parts were coming from points all over the world. This is most certainly a international system. Oddly enough, it took me longer to get the 1/4 24X48 ABS Plastic sheet from Florida than any of the other parts.

Once everything was planned I had to fashion the amp board out of cardboard and trim the carpet back. I sent the template in place and insured everything fit as I planned. I then started the process of wiring everything and creating the AMP board.

This is about 12 hours of work to get everything mounted properly. From left to right. Tyco Relay for AMP turn on (triggered by the Hertz H8 DSP), Blue Sea Fuse Panel (12+, 12-, Relay Switched 12V), Hertz H8 DSP, Hertz Power 4 Tweeter/Midrange, Hertz Power 4 Midbass and Subwoofer, 4Ga Oxygen Free Copper wiring, KnuKoncepts Power/Ground Distribution.

This is the final before I wired everything into the truck.

It took some doing and quite a few hours to get everything wired. All runs from each of the speakers is a home run 16Ga speaker wire back to the Amplifiers. I wired in pigtails from the Amplifiers to 16Ga Deutsch Connectors so I can remove the board without having to undo each speaker wire. I trimmed the carpet back so everything would fit and ran all the signal and power wires throughout the truck. Since Ford glues more than screws anymore both power and negative 4Ga wires were ran from the battery (I went through the main harness grommet on the drivers side).

Mounted the Audison 10” subwoofer into the box and got it into the truck.

The DRC Wired controller was wired into the dash.

My friend Scott at Audition Audio fashioned the A pillars to fit the Hertz MP70.3 speakers.

Lastly came the tuning with all of my tools. SMD DD-1, SMD CC-1, Fluke Multimeter, Hertz H8 DSP Software. I will say after a couple of days tweaking the EQ and level adjustments the stereo is one of the very best I have ever heard.

Lots more pictures can be found here

Wow, amazing craftsmanship...you and @OFC Ranger would make a dangerous team... ?

 

[jvm051]

I like the Audison for two reasons. First the box is almost exactly the size the sub requires for air space 11 liters and the box is 10.3liters as measured. So it operates really well. Second I can get the sub down to about 33hz according to the RTA in this enclosure. What I have found is that I was getting reverb off the box itself and the panel underneath the sub. My wife actually heard it first. I ended up putting a layer of sound deadening inside the sub enclosure and underneath the box and it tightened the bass notes up significantly. Does it hit as hard as my old Trans Am with four punch 10’s in the package tray? No, but you can feel it for sure. The original Hertz 10 just needed too much air space to be effective. Hope this helps.

Yes it does, thank you

 

[jvm051]

Super clean install. Glad it worked out for you. I’m still waiting on a ‘21 head unit wireharness to finish mine up.

What are you finding that is different on your 21? I installed a Kicker Key from plugandplaykits.com with the wiring harness, and it connected right up on my 21. Running 2 amps without a single wire cut, crimped or tweaked in the factory setup. So if I wanted to go back to stock it is 100% reversible. With the tweaks in Forscan enabling low pass outs I did not even use a LOC for the sub amp.

 

[BuzKilington]

What are you finding that is different on your 21? I installed a Kicker Key from plugandplaykits.com with the wiring harness, and it connected right up on my 21. Running 2 amps without a single wire cut, crimped or tweaked in the factory setup. So if I wanted to go back to stock it is 100% reversible. With the tweaks in Forscan enabling low pass outs I did not even use a LOC for the sub amp.

The head unit Pin out is different. Instead of two rows, I have three rows of pins. I have everything ran, been waiting almost 6 months. Even if you look on the maestro site, they don’t have a harness for 21 only says 19-20

 

[Dr. Zaius]

This is awesome!

You aren't far from me at all.

If you are ever up near the Outlet Mall in Dawsonville, I'd love to hear this setup!

 

[Extreme01]

Nice solid unit and install bud..

 

[thomas461]

Well sad to say the Ranger didnt do well enough towing my travel trailer so I sold it. I took some of the gear out and am selling the Ranger Specific gear. Mainly the subwoofer and box. If interested have a look here.

 

[onemanlan]

Dang brother, hate to hear that. Stellar set up you had going there!

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