# 2006 Mustang GT Shaker 500 Replacement



## ChrisB (Jul 3, 2008)

I finally have a sense of direction with my 2006 Rustang GT's sound system. I didn't log the Tang Band W4-1757SB placement in the 6x8 hole, but I did take photos of my Shaker 500 subwoofer replacement.

First I started out with some cutting boards from Target. Unfortunately, I had a blonde moment and set my Jasper Jig to cut a 8.5" hole with the 1/4" upcut bit. Can you say DOH!









After making one dumbass mistake, I finally managed to get some rings fabricated. On the left, you have one Mach5Audio MLI-65. On the right is the Shaker 500 "subwoofer":


















I used a heat gun to pull the factory grill from the stock sub. I had tried freezing the passenger's side overnight, but that didn't work out so well.









They went into place rather easily, but I had to purchase some #10 1 1/4" sheet metal screws because the stock screws were too short:



















They stick out a tad bit more than stock, but, it isn't that bad.










Quick shot of the passenger's side:


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## ChrisB (Jul 3, 2008)

This is the head unit I am using:









My subwoofer:









And this is the next area I am going to address:










At the rate I have gone through gear, I found it pointless to make the trunk look better. Until now that is.


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## bose301s (Dec 8, 2008)

You run a W6? I didn't know that.


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## ChrisB (Jul 3, 2008)

Yep, sure do.

HU - Alpine CDA-9887
Mids/Highs amp: Lunar L450
Mid/Tweet - Tang Band W4-1757SB
Midbass - Mach 5 Audio MLI-65
Sub Amp - Clarion DPX1851
Subwoofer - JL Audio 13w6v2 Stealthbox


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## rommelrommel (Apr 11, 2007)

How's the W4-1757 working out tweeterless?


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## TrickyRicky (Apr 5, 2009)

I thought you said it was worthless to work on car audio, as there is no control of enviromental noise around a car. If you really want top notch SQ get a soundproof room and run some expensive equipment. Just kidding.
I hate to say it but its the samething with me. Whats the point of adding expensive equipment in a car if there is always going to be enviroment noise that is not controlable.

Anyways how does your current install sound?


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## ChrisB (Jul 3, 2008)

rommelrommel said:


> How's the W4-1757 working out tweeterless?


Thus far I am liking the Tang Bands without tweeters. Even though they are mounted IB, they get too dang loud at the top end, so I need to reduce my amplifier gains even more because I already have them attenuated by -12 dB on the HU. 



Jeanious2009 said:


> I thought you said it was worthless to work on car audio, as there is no control of enviromental noise around a car. If you really want top notch SQ get a soundproof room and run some expensive equipment. Just kidding.
> I hate to say it but its the samething with me. Whats the point of adding expensive equipment in a car if there is always going to be enviroment noise that is not controlable.
> 
> Anyways how does your current install sound?


Sadly, it pretty much is pointless. There is NO WAY one will have complete control of a car. 

It does sound pretty good, but there is room for improvement, tuning, and tweaking. The first anomaly I had to cure was an in cabin resonance at 250 Hz. The next thing I need to do is get my time alignment dialed in properly. It isn't what I would call a SQ competition squasher, but it is light years ahead of the stock setup.

As for calling my choice of equipment "expensive".... The subwoofer was the only expensive thing in this install.

If memory serves correctly, this is about what I paid for the current setup:

CDA-9887 - $250
Lunar L450 - $225
Clarion DPX1851 - $150
Mach5 Audio MLI-65 - $80
Tang Band W4-1757SB - $130

IMHO, $835 before the outrageous price of the JL Audio Stealthbox isn't that bad. Then again, I had a $1,200 economic stimulus check in 2008, so that offset the cost of the stealthbox.

How much did it cost you to purchase ONE of your bigger Linear Power amplifiers then send it off to Ray for modification?


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## TrickyRicky (Apr 5, 2009)

06BLMUSTANGGT said:


> Thus far I am liking the Tang Bands without tweeters. Even though they are mounted IB, they get too dang loud at the top end, so I need to reduce my amplifier gains even more because I already have them attenuated by -12 dB on the HU.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


A lot. But my bigges LP right now is a 5002 (which I have two, not including the 5002IQ that is still in need of TLC). I can believe you would put a 150.00 amplifier on that sub though. I would of bought a JL 1000/1 or something of that grade.


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## benny (Apr 7, 2008)

Looks good Rustang! I hope you're enjoying the MLI's.




Jeanious2009 said:


> A lot. But my bigges LP right now is a 5002 (which I have two, not including the 5002IQ that is still in need of TLC). I can believe you would put a 150.00 amplifier on that sub though. I would of bought a JL 1000/1 or something of that grade.


Why not a $150 amp?? I have an amp on my sub that I got for $20!


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## ChrisB (Jul 3, 2008)

Jeanious2009 said:


> A lot. But my bigges LP right now is a 5002 (which I have two, not including the 5002IQ that is still in need of TLC). I can believe you would put a 150.00 amplifier on that sub though. I would of bought a JL 1000/1 or something of that grade.


Why not? A former business partner of LWE Loudspeakers challenged me to use a less expensive amplifier on my subwoofer and said HE would reimburse me if I noticed a significant difference in sound quality. 

Let's see... how did he put it.... Power is power! As long as the amplifier produces unclipped RMS power for the sub bass frequency range, one will be hard pressed to tell the difference between amplifiers. 

I would be willing to bet that I could level match two different amplifiers on subwoofers, and you would not be able to tell one amp from the other at normal volume levels. Servo setups don't count though.


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## TrickyRicky (Apr 5, 2009)

06BLMUSTANGGT said:


> Why not? A former business partner of LWE Loudspeakers challenged me to use a less expensive amplifier on my subwoofer and said HE would reimburse me if I noticed a significant difference in sound quality.
> 
> Let's see... how did he put it.... Power is power! As long as the amplifier produces unclipped RMS power for the sub bass frequency range, one will be hard pressed to tell the difference between amplifiers.
> 
> I would be willing to bet that I could level match two different amplifiers on subwoofers, and you would not be able to tell one amp from the other at normal volume levels. Servo setups don't count though.


Well the 13W6V2 is a nice sub, I had one and sold it right away since it blew up my speaker box (which was made out of 1/2" MDF, I know I know). It was funny how it blew it up. Split it right in half in a single bass note.

I notice difference between my JBL BP1200.1 and my LP 2502IQ. The bass was deeper and cleaner. I know bass is bass and THD or damping factors dont count or even matter. But there was a difference and I was powering my LP with 13.5V and 50amperes and the JBL was at 14.4V and free to pull as much as 120amperes. And as we all know the LP2502IQ is rated at 125wpc (250watts total) while the JBL is rated at [email protected] [email protected] 2 or 1ohm and the JBL was being used at 1-ohm. Big difference with numbers and also sound quality.

If I had a W6V2 series subwoofer, I know I would use a JL500/1 or a JL 1000/1 or something of that grade. I wouldnt trust a cheap amp with a high end sub, dont know why but I just cant.


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## ChrisB (Jul 3, 2008)

If it makes you feel any better, the MSRP on the Clarion amp was $499.99. Crutchfield blew them out when Clarion discontinued the line. Another plus is they were designed by the same company that designs Arc Audio's product line, so they can't be all that bad.


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## TrickyRicky (Apr 5, 2009)

NO MSRP doesnt mean anything to me. Its the lowest price thats repeated in different sites. The lowest price I've seen repeated for that amp was just what you paid, no more than 200.00 so thats what it is (well for me) and thats new, imagine used that amp probably aint worth more than 100.00 to someone that knows those websites were their 150.00-200.00 new, you know what I mean...

I havent met a single person in my surroundings that have paid MSRP for an amplifier or even subwoofer. Theres always a site that offers the same product for cheaper (yeah yeah, warranty this warranty that) something the official sites dont even want to warranty the item/s. One time I contact Xtant and they told me send the amps back and we can give you a discount on a new amp, I asked "how much of a discount" the sales person for Xtant told me we can do only 10%, I hanged up. 10% for a 600.00 amp is only 60 bucks and they were going to keep my xtant amps that cost me more than 60 bucks. Thats why I can say most warranties are jokes especially when their only a year or less, ofcourse a product is going to last more than a year.


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## ChrisB (Jul 3, 2008)

Don't feel bad because up until two years ago I shared your sentiment. There was a point in time where you wouldn't catch me running any "budget" gear in my vehicle, period. Had I not started looking around on the forums, it is highly likely that I would be running top notch everything in my vehicle. I am quite certain that I would have Alpine SPX Pro components up front, the same sub, and some top notch amplifiers such as Zapco, Arc Audio, Audison, Genesis, etc.

Then again, as it was put to me, one CAN get away with going cheap on their subwoofer, as long as they know what to look for. After all, what did I have to lose? If I didn't like the Clarion amp, there was an offer on the table to reimburse me for the cost of it. Well low and behold, it worked out perfectly. Will it last 20 years? Who knows. I will tell you this though, it won't sit in a closet for the majority of its life!  

Oh yeah, the DPX is WAY more efficient than the blue 5002 that you purchased from me. I hope you budgeted for electrical upgrades for when you decide to install that beast in your vehicle. Also, I would highly recommend looking into having the DIP board replaced with a Servo board. IMHO, the DIP board is useless, but a servo drive isn't.


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## TrickyRicky (Apr 5, 2009)

06BLMUSTANGGT said:


> Don't feel bad because up until two years ago I shared your sentiment. There was a point in time where you wouldn't catch me running any "budget" gear in my vehicle, period. Had I not started looking around on the forums, it is highly likely that I would be running top notch everything in my vehicle. I am quite certain that I would have Alpine SPX Pro components up front, the same sub, and some top notch amplifiers such as Zapco, Arc Audio, Audison, Genesis, etc.
> 
> Then again, as it was put to me, one CAN get away with going cheap on their subwoofer, as long as they know what to look for. After all, what did I have to lose? If I didn't like the Clarion amp, there was an offer on the table to reimburse me for the cost of it. Well low and behold, it worked out perfectly. Will it last 20 years? Who knows. I will tell you this though, it won't sit in a closet for the majority of its life!
> 
> Oh yeah, the DPX is WAY more efficient than the blue 5002 that you purchased from me. I hope you budgeted for electrical upgrades for when you decide to install that beast in your vehicle. Also, I would highly recommend looking into having the DIP board replaced with a Servo board. IMHO, the DIP board is useless, but a servo drive isn't.


Thanks for the tip on the upgrade for the servo. I've been thinking about getting it done but no funds. Yeah, I got a bunch of amps just sitting in a storage collecting dust. But thats because I have absolutly no funs and NO TIME to do an install. 

Thats funny how one can change so quick, not too long ago (maybe 3 years or so ago) I use to run cheap stuff. Like my first set up was a pair of Audiobahns 12's (the nasties sounding subs ever) with a Lanzar (optima??) also sounded nasty and too flashy in an ugly way. That set up run me 250.00 for subs and amp all new. Now I rather pay 250.00 for just an amp or sub even if its used. Well too bad am working 10 hours and driving 3 hours daily otherwise I would start the install in my car, oh even then I woulnt have time since wife gets mad as soon as I start playing with my audio stuff that biach, lol.


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## ChrisB (Jul 3, 2008)

Here is my Mustang as it has been sitting for the last month or so:










What's next? Hell, I don't even know!

Edit: I was going to do this:









But then I lost motivation to press forward.


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