Upgrade Ideas for 2015 Lincoln MKS with THX System

[happy4ya]

I'm looking to upgrade my wife's sound in her car.  She has a 2015 MKS with the THX audio system that I believe has 14 speakers total and it sounds like garbage.  I played with every setting in the car and although turning off THX mode made it sound better, no amount of playing with controls will make this sound good.  She's already jealous of my crappy Caravan with 6 stock speakers and a Pioneer head unit that sounds 100x better.

Unfortunately her radio cannot be changed as just about every damn thing from this can goes through it.  There is a small factory amp I believe on the sidewall in the trunk that I will have to tap into as I don't think I can completely disconnect and bypass it. So I'm thinking about running the factory amp into a DSP and then to a couple of new amps, and just eliminating some of the speakers in the car and putting in some better ones.

In the front, there are speakers in the lower front door (I believe they are 6x8's) and I think a pair of tweeters near the top of the door panel, a set of tweeters in the a-pillars, and a set of 3.5's in the dash corners, and a center channel dash speaker.  I'm thinking about just going with a component set with the tweets either in the pillars or the upper door panels and eliminating the rest.

In the rear, there are speakers in the lower rear doors (I believe they are 6x8's), a set of 3.5's on the rear deck, and a 10" sub in the center of the rear deck.  Not sure what I want to do back there but I'm thinking a pair of speakers just in the rear doors for some rear fill, and probably just ditching the stock sub and putting in a small box with a single 10 or 12" sub in the trunk.  Unless there are any good subs out there that would work in place of the stock one.

I'm looking for any advice/feedback on the following:

• speaker/sub setup
  
• if there are any better ways to integrate new amps into the system and getting from factory to aftermarket stuff
  
• DSP or no DSP
  
• any feedback on replacing the stock sub with a better one (using stock location) or just putting in a box
  

If anyone has ever done anything with one of these cars or just has any good ideas or this setup I would love to hear them.  Any info is appreciated.

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[happy4ya]

Damn, a few days and nothing?

 

[Talontsi90]

https://catalog.pac-audio.com/catalog/amppro-amplifier-interfaces/ap4-fd11

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

Damn, a few days and nothing?

I'm checking with PAC Audio to get confirmation that their AmpPRO factory sound system integration part has been tested with the MKS with THX.

update: no go

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

I'm looking for any advice/feedback on the following:

• speaker/sub setup
  
• if there are any better ways to integrate new amps into the system and getting from factory to aftermarket stuff
  
• DSP or no DSP
  
• any feedback on replacing the stock sub with a better one (using stock location) or just putting in a box
  

If anyone has ever done anything with one of these cars or just has any good ideas or this setup I would love to hear them.  Any info is appreciated.

The speaker upgrades would be the easiest part of the job for an experienced and fully qualified car audio technician. It's the signal processing that will stop 99% of technicians from doing this full system upgrade most correctly. I said "most correctly" because there are a lot of possible ways to handle this project that could range from piss poor to stunningly transformative.

Leave a note in my private message inbox with your ZIP code and I will refer you to qualified professionals who would be happy to give you an in-person consultation. You're going to need someone who can do a system check similar to what's shown in this video:

 

[nauc 10+ year member]

get one of these.. http://www.jlaudio.com/car-audio-processors-oem-integration

some good comps upfront, a sub and an amp or 2

 

[THATpurpleKUSH 5,000+ posts]

You dont run a factory amp into a dsp because the factory amp has preset eq curves that you cannot overcome.  Run music directly into the dsp and wire the factory speakers to your aftermarket amp. You will want to splice into the factory speaker wires AFTER the factory amp. 

 

[Savemice]

Damn, a few days and nothing?

There must be something very wrong with that system. Blown processors and speakers? I have a 2014 mkt and had a 2011 mks and these are one of the best factory systems me, a long time audiophile, all of my musician friends, and 2 different pro installers were all shocked when they heard it. The mks was very similar.
I used to compete in IASCA challenges. There is absolutely no possible way a factory 6 speaker system in a Caravan can compete with these systems.I've heard the 2021 new lincoln systems more than a few times, and they are not as good as these thx systems.
Sure hope you got that sorted out

 

[RCM]

Yeah, lincoln changed something in 2015 0r 16, a lot of people comment how tinny their music sounds. My '14 sounded great, until it broke...still working on getting it fixed.

 

[RCM]

Yeah, lincoln changed something in 2015 0r 16, a lot of people comment how tinny their music sounds. My '14 sounded great, until it broke...still working on getting it fixed.