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How To: Disconnect Center-Speaker on Sony 9 Speaker System

55K views 70 replies 35 participants last post by  AaronG 
#1 ·
Many people have mentioned the improved sound stage when disconnecting the center speaker in the focus. From personal experience, I can tell you it results in much more distinguished left and rights, and a less muddy sound up front.

What you'll need:

4 Pennies
Flathead Screwdriver (Optional - If you don't want to risk cutting yourself)
Some tape (Scotch)

I recommend using either your fingers (being extremely careful not to cut yourself) or a flathead screwdriver with tape around the end to prevent damage to your dash. With whatever you chose, very lightly pull up on a corner until it's high enough to slide a penny under the edge. Repeat until you have 3-4 edges held up by pennies, then evenly pull the speaker out of the slot.


Don't pull too hard. The wire connecting the speaker is very short and there isn't any leeway.


You'll see the connector at the end of the wire. Again, the cable is short, so maneuvering your hand in to pull the little tab out and pull the wire out of the connection will be tricky. Big hands, good luck.


You'll see the little recessed tab on the right of the connector, that;s what you need to pull out to release the lock.






At this point, use some scotch tape to tape the now loose connector to the inside of the slot, this will prevent inevitable vibrating and/or loss of the cable (though I'm pretty sure that can't happen).

Now you can lightly and evenly re-insert the speaker into the slot. You'd never know it was even removed.


Spoke to my dealer today, they had no concerns about this mod what-so-ever.

Enjoy!
 
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#3 ·
Well, I never used pennies or scotch tape with my "9 speaker mod" but good write up. Also didn't use a flathead, but that's a good idea because I did cut myself on the plastic grill when I did this last week, lol.

Thanks for the pictures! I was too lazy to bother.
 
#19 ·
Yes, it goes from sounding like crap to providing the critical listener with a reasonable illusion of a soundstage and most of the harshness is gone as well.
The tweeters aren't great but are passable once the mediocre center channel is disconnected.
I went one step further and removed it and tossed it. Not everyone will agree with my assessment but that's fine.
 
#8 ·
For me it was a vast improvement. I found that the center speaker, which had a big mid-range presence, really muddied up the sound of the Sony to the point that it was often like listening to mono rather than stereo. To compensate, I had shifted the balance/fade pretty far in the cabin. This diminished the center presence but also the other front speakers as well and while you could tell that it was in stereo, it sometimes sounded as if it was coming from the car behind me.

Five minutes (and a plastic trim tool) and the above problem was gone. Speaker out, disconnected, plug stowed, speaker in, balance reset, problem gone.

Now it's easy to distinguish between the left and right channels and having the balance set properly lets me really enjoy my Sony system.

It takes very little time or effort to do and is easily reversed - give it a shot and see.
 
#9 ·
Just unhooked mine with just a screwdriver, no tape, didnt cause any damage at all. I just ran the screwdriver along the edge of the speaker cover and it loosened up nicely. I do agree it gives the car a nice R/L separation. I could tell right away that the highs sounded much crisper, no more mid muddeling up the highs. I just used a command strip to secure the plug against, what i think is, the driver side vent duct. should be easily enough removed if i want but i doubt i will.
 
#15 ·
How was your balance/fade set? Some people compensated for the center speaker by adjusting theirs, if you did the same, maybe a test with the balance/fade set back to default would help.
 
#22 ·
Thread Bump.....

Tried this out,

it made an improvement. I noticed right away the "harshness" that others have described is now gone. I cant see how that cheap little mono speaker benefitted the sound system. I am an audiophile in my own way (mid range guy) and my ear can discern the finer poitns of higher end setups. My last car had a really clean install featuring Boston Acoutics SC60 components up front, and two sealed JL 12" woofers in the back (just the W0 series, but still sounded great) The bostons were seeing 200 watts RMS each and the subs saw 400 watts combined. It sounded great and tight, and no this ford system cant touch that, but Im not in the mood to gut out the Mytouch and spend all the time and money to put in a higher end system....

Either way, to those complaining about their system, at least do an A and B comparison. In my experienced ears, I noticed a nice improvement :)


My only hiccup is that I damaged one of the plastic tabs when reinserting the grill, I bent it, and not sure if the plastic will hold or not, but I could have pulled it off, and its one of the 4 securing "snap" pillars to keep the grill in place. Oops :eek: No major deal though, its fairly strong plastic and was still holding despite being bent pretty good.
 
#25 ·
If you listen to a radio or low bit rate songs then yea, you'll find that the center speaker is useless because its just throwing out the same channel of sound.

If you have 5.1 music or adjust your system to compensate, yea it will work better.

I'm surprised Ford is so heavily invested in Sony...Bose makes fantastic in car systems that are calibrated for each car and have a plethora of adjustment options which really make the system pop.

Hell, our Impala was only a 8 speaker setup, no subwoofer, and that thing positively kicked when you wanted it to and for things like voice it was crystal clear.

I just never really liked Sony, despite the fact that in our small cars the system is good, its still Sony.
 
#26 ·
If you listen to a radio or low bit rate songs then yea, you'll find that the center speaker is useless because its just throwing out the same channel of sound.

If you have 5.1 music or adjust your system to compensate, yea it will work better.

I'm surprised Ford is so heavily invested in Sony...Bose makes fantastic in car systems that are calibrated for each car and have a plethora of adjustment options which really make the system pop.

Hell, our Impala was only a 8 speaker setup, no subwoofer, and that thing positively kicked when you wanted it to and for things like voice it was crystal clear.

I just never really liked Sony, despite the fact that in our small cars the system is good, its still Sony.
probably has something to do with money.
 
#28 ·
Im still waiting to hear back from some members, but i am still curious if it is worth swapping my Sony stock components with some aftermarket Boston Acoustics SR60's. Im aware its a BIT of a pita to install, but Id be willing to do it IF its worth the time and effort. The system doesnt have very good definition, and Im not sure if the active EQ'ing and such will alllow the BA's to perform (already disconnec center channel btw) :)

Anyone running components on factory power with good results?!?!?
 
#58 ·
Except for the really top end stereos in luxury cars the speakers that come with even the upgraded stereos of cars like the Focus and most other cars the OEM speakers are junk. I used Infinity Reference in a Ford 500. It was like a whole new stereo. The Sony sounds good but some new speakers would make it sound awesome. You want to hear a really sound system. Listen to a Fender unit in a VW Beetle. That's a nice factory piece of gear.
 
#29 ·
music is best with just a front left and right. However I do 1/2 audio books and like the center speaker for them so its going to stay..

Sony is the bottom of the barrel in brand name audio equipment IMO, but I think Bose is just overpriced junk too. While the system isn't as good as my 3k system in my truck it's not 1/2 bad for stock. It has me thinking that the speakers must not actually be made by sony, just like the stock rockford system that was offered for my truck wasn't actually made my rockford...
 
#30 ·
It has me thinking that the speakers must not actually be made by sony...
They are mass produced drivers made in a factory in China.

This was the point of my previous post. The Sony branding of that system has very little real meaning.

For example, it is likely that the tuning of that system was perfomed by an individual (that may or may not have been a Sony employee) and that the tonal balance reflects that individual's expertise and personal tastes.
 
#31 ·
If you guys want to make an actual improvement to SQ, replace the capacitors to the front tweeters... the stock ones are limiting. You'll increase the dynamic range of the system, introducing new levels of high frequency ranges than will actually improve clarity (rather than the illusion of clarity by reducing the high midrange frequencies; the result of this mod).

Sony claimed to have designed this class D digital amplifier specifically for this car (although they're now using the same one in the Escape), and the speakers are all Sony (despite wherever they may be made... everything's like that..).
 
#35 ·
Reading this post, I ran out to the parking lot with a scredriver and disconnected the center channel. Psychoacoustics may be to blame, but I am very happy. I've hated that center channel since I bought the car. The soundfield is definitely expanded and the overall presentation sounds less muddy to me. Now if I can only do something about that (what I believe to be) underpowered amplifier.
 
#36 ·
Another happy audiophile.
I have a hard time understanding how some people do not find this simple mod to be an improvement. Maybe it's their choice of listening material.
Maybe the prolonged exposure to mediocrity becomes the norm.
Whenever I make a change to my home system I give it a few days before I pass judgement.
 
#38 ·
The only redeeming part of the Focus was the smaller interior space so the system could flood it with sound easily.

My 8 speaker, non subwoofer Lincoln sounded a hell of a lot better than this 10 speaker system.
 
#47 ·
The key for me is to test a system with a well produced and engineered recording. I have about 500 CDs and a large iTunes library. Recordings in this category are in a minority. Trying EQ adjustments with a muddy recording will not accomplish much. Just as you can't make a pig sing you can't make a bad recording sound good with EQ. Garbage sounds like garbage.

If I get a chance tomorrow I will suggest a few recordings.
 
#52 ·
A quick way to fiddle with EQ is to load an app called EQu onto your iPhone or, better still, your iPad. Once loaded you can test the effects of different EQ presets on your Sony system while looping a song. EQu is incredibly intuitive in that when you find a preset you like you can drag the EQ line with your finger into any curve you want to fine tune it. The results are immediate and dramatic. When you find the EQ profile you like best you can try to come as close as possible in the albeit limited Sony EQ.
 
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