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From the humblest of I.C.E. Installs to an absolute monster system there are only two limitations, Money and Imagination.

The XR2 is not the easiest of cars to install a quality system into due to its rattly nature. That is not to say a good quality system cant be achieved!

Headunit:

Start off with probably the most key bit of equipment to your install, the Headunit. The latest offerings will happily trade places with the orignal Ford stereo if you are lucky enough to have one or with what else is keeping your dash board insulated.

Decide what you listen to most, tapes, CD's or Minidisc, from here look at the number of speakers / Subs you want and make sure the Headunit has ample pre-outs, 2 is good, 3 is even better (Eg. Front, Rear, Subwoofer). Also bear in mind if you choose a tape or mini disc headunit you can usually fit a CD multi changer (Which will fit in an XR2 glove box or boot) without too many problems.

Try and spend as much as you can on the headunit as it is obviously from here the sound will be fed out to what ever speakers you decide upon. Having a crap sounding headunit with the best speakers in the world will still sound pretty crap!

Front Speakers:

Next have a look at the front speakers, In an XR2 the doors (As Standard) only support 4" speakers. However, it is possible with a small ammount of cutting, and by drilling 4 new holes that the hole in the door can be enlarged to accomodate a 5 1/4" speaker. It must be pointed out that it is possible to get 6 1/2" speakers and even 6"x9" speakers into an XR door but Major reworking of the door or a door build will be required. For the best and clearest sound a good set of components should be used, something by MB Quartz or Infinity is ideal, money permitting.

With the hole modified in the door and the speakers safely tucked away behind the door card all thats left to do is to cut a hole big enough to accomodate the tweeters and fix them using the arched bracket (usually supplied) or strong glue.

Because of the nature of the XR2 doors, it is important and usually very beneficial to sound deaden them. This can be done with several different products. A spray deadener, adhesive sound deadening pads or strips. Probably the most effective is the Dynamat Xtreme series of adhesive sound deadner which can be fixed in-between the speaker and the door, forming a sound deadening washer and also behind the speaker inside the door. It is easy to position and work with providing a very noticeable difference!

Rear Speakers:

Time to be controversial. Don't bother with 6"x9" Speakers etc. on the rear shelf, they are great if you want to make as much noise as possible but in a high quality set-up there is no point or need for them. An example to support my point, if you go to a concert which direction is the sound coming from? In front of you. This principle is the same in a car stereo install, you want the sound coming at you from the front of the car. To this end you will be better off investing the money you would have spent on rear speakers into even better front speakers.

If you do want to fit them an MDF shelf is easy to construct and provided the dimensions are cut correctly (Use your old parcelshelf as a template) the MDF shelf should fit snuggly in-between the rear seats the shelf supports and the tailgate and can provided some rear fill or deafen the street depending on the operators application!

Amps:

Get a powerful amp if you are going to run a sub-woofer, something buy Alpine (V12 series money permitting) or Kenwood should do the job. If you are running front speakers and they are of any significance run a seperate amp to them, the difference between amplified and headunit driven speakers is VERY noticeable. If you have rear speakers use a 4 channel amp and run these and the fronts from it. If you can only afford to amplify either the front or the back speakers, amplify the front!

Don't cut back on cabling either, it really can make a difference. In the XR2 the rear seats lift up so excess cable running to the boot area can be tidied up here.

The easiest place to mount the amplifiers is on the rear seats this should give suitable cooling whilst still looking pretty good too!

SUB's:

The subwoofer you buy all depends on the type of music you listen to. It is possible to fit a 12" sub in a box in the XR's boot but be warned it is a fairly tight squeeze and as with most of the sub boxes you can buy or could make, you will lose a large portion of your boot space.

Again, it is worth sound deadening the boot area for the ultimate sound quality without rattles! For the boot, a spray or strip deadner like "Brown Bread" is more suitable and due to the size you would need to sound deaden more cost effective too.

Conclusion:

As mentioned previoulsy the main limitation over time will be imagination, TV's, DVD Players and Playstations etc. could all be fitted so let your imagination be your guide and your wallet your restriction!

Something to bear in mind - The more Amps, Subs, TV's etc. you cram in to an XR2 the heavier it will get, and noticeably so to the point that if you go side by side against another XR2 without loads of I.C.E you will be slower!