2018 Sound System Upgrade

Searching the forums and online it doesn't appear there is any easy plug and play method to do an entire upgrade (speakers, amps, subs, etc.) to the stock sound system. I have seen multiple posts on adding a sub, replacing the stock sub, putting in upgraded door speakers using the stock amp.

Currently there is no:
-PAC audio interface yet for 2018 Raptor
-Metra wire adapters to easily interface/bypass the stock B&O amp.

I have pieced together the following gear with some inspiration from mcasseba's and The Car Stereo Company/Noah's build on the 2017 among others. Some of my gear isn't ideal but I was looking for deals here and there to avoid breaking the bank.

Audiocontrol DSP 608
Focal ES165KX2 6.5" components - front
Focal FDP 4.600 4ch amp to power front kids/tweets
Focal PD165F 6.5 2-way coax - rears
Rockford Fosgate PBR300X2 to power rears (currently I using the factory amp to power rear doors)
2 10" JL CS110TG-TW3 subs
Focal FPD 900.1 2ch amp to power both subs

Edit/update:

I got everything up and running and can confirm the following wiring diagrams are correct. I hooked my system up as follows and so far everything is working and sounding great, more tuning is needed but so far so good!

Front HU - Tweeter output -> DSP input -> Focal 4ch Amp -> Focal Tweeters
I did this by running a 2 pair/4 wire bundle from each tweeter to the back of the truck, 2 wires carrying the tweeter signal to the back DSP, 2 wires carrying the amplified signal back to the tweeters.

Factory B&O Amp Outputs:
L/R Front Midbass -> DSP Input -> Focal 4ch Amp -> Amplified signal going to Front L/R Focal Midbass Drivers
Sub1/2 -> DSP Input -> Focal 2ch Amp -> Amplified signal going to each JL 10" sub

Again to confirm, there is no rear tweeter signal output from the factory amp, you must grab the signal from the tweets themselves, this is also confirmed in the wiring diagram.

I have the rear Focal door speakers running off the factory amp right now, I may change that but for now they seem fine.


Here is the wiring diagram:
Wire harness plugged into factory amp are all outputs:
Left = Driver
Right = Passenger

L rear : Wt/Grn+ Brn/Yel -
Sub 1: Vt/Or+ Yel -
R rear: Brn/Wt + Brn/Blu-
L front mid bass: Wt+ Wt/Brn-
R front mid bass: Wt/Vt + Wt/Or-
Sub 2: Grn/Vt + Grey-
Center channel: Grn+ Yl/gr -
Empty Space
Gn-Blu (Network Communication)
Wh-Gn(Network Communication)


Wiring Diagram attached below I found on the 150 forums all proved to be correct.

I have an 18 and have dealt with the same issue. No PAC and no easy method yet. I have LOC (I think it is a Metra) grabbing signal after the B&O amp and then running to an amp for my 12" sub. I replaced all the factory speakers with Pioneer speakers. I am struggling to get the sub dialed in and the mids/highs don't get super loud.

Overall its a big improvement over the B&O system, but I am not happy with it yet. After a fair amount or research and asking around I have resolved to deal with it for now and wait for PAC to come out with an approved unit. Then I'll amp the mids/highs and be done with it.

Good luck and if you find a better solution please post it.

Well I found a post where Audiocontrol recommends NOT bypassing the factory amp. Unless I discover otherwise I will just go this route. I’ll try to map out the cables as well and post the details for future installs


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There's a harness that folks have been using for 17's that has worked - check the F150 forum. Basically it breaks out all of the channels. Use Forscan to knock out all processing and run it to your DM-608 for processing. Feed amp from there.

Mind you I haven't done it, but it's on my radar. Maybe. lol.

I’ll check it out, thanks for the tip.


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Kbobk said:

I have an 18 and have dealt with the same issue. No PAC and no easy method yet. I have LOC (I think it is a Metra) grabbing signal after the B&O amp and then running to an amp for my 12" sub. I replaced all the factory speakers with Pioneer speakers. I am struggling to get the sub dialed in and the mids/highs don't get super loud.

Overall its a big improvement over the B&O system, but I am not happy with it yet. After a fair amount or research and asking around I have resolved to deal with it for now and wait for PAC to come out with an approved unit. Then I'll amp the mids/highs and be done with it.

Good luck and if you find a better solution please post it.

Click to expand...

I have not found an easy solution either, and I am looking to tap the speaker level outputs as well. Which ones did you tap? And are you still getting all your alert tones and voice feedback?

I tapped the LOC after the factory amp and am running an amp and a 12” sub. All the alerts work fine. It works. Just hard to tune.

Kbobk said:

I tapped the LOC after the factory amp and am running an amp and a 12” sub. All the alerts work fine. It works. Just hard to tune.

Click to expand...

Nice. Did you tap the front or the rear speakers after the amp? Or did you sum them together?

I tapped the wires that previously powered the factory sub.

I PM'd Noah (The Car Stereo Company) since he has done a number of installs on these systems asking about connecting the DSP eg. Mosconi, Audiocontrol etc. to the factory amp outputs and then to aftermarket amps. It looks like that is the way to do it to retain all signals etc. but will take some tuning of the DSP. I haven't torn my system apart yet but I will take pics and post everything I find when I do as far as wire colors mated to which speakers and frequency response curves for each line so we know what is being sent.
Here is his response:



"yeah, you are fine connecting at the oem amp outputs. thats how i do most systems. it retains all signals. it just means more time tuning is all. the pac piece worked ok but had noise issues at higher volumes in some trucks"