DIY stereo upgrade for under $500.00

[dhmcfadin]

The fact that oem harness was cut is where I would start. You can have a short on the negative side of the speaker channel and a multi meter will still show continuity. You can also have a positive from one channel and a negative from another channel mixed. This will cause static. A polarity test will not tell you this.

I would strongly recommend going back in and getting rid of the butt connectors for solder and heat shrink. As someone who has been in car audio for years and is very familiar with both Ford F-150 amplified and non amplified systems, you need to determine with certainty that your connections are solid and correct.

Please describe your signal chain in detail. From headunit to speaker.

 

[Bent22]

So, I never put a meter on the speaker connections as my troubleshooting never got to that level. There is a for scan mod to send a flat “line” signal, rather than the altered one we have with Sony or b&o. I have not done that and I don’t recall the path of the speaker wire.

so, the crackling sound, if you balance/fade the system, is it present in any / all the other speakers? Do you have sound at all other speakers?

how much from stock does this system deviate?
- did you amp the sub?
- did you amp the rest of the system and did you implement some sort of signal processor?
- or did you leave the stock amp?

I know what you were thinking; push through and finish up what you can, but you really should’ve stopped when you had the problem. I think it would have lessened the frustration level. Easy for me to say, but TBH, I probably would have done the same thing, even though I know better.

Take a break from it, come back to it with fresh eyes.

- The Fade/balance does not affect the crackling (although music does change as expected with alteration of fade/balance)
- I did amp the sub, per this thread
- I did not add any additional signal processor nor amp the rest of the system
- Stock amp still in place

 

[Bent22]

The fact that oem harness was cut is where I would start. You can have a short on the negative side of the speaker channel and a multi meter will still show continuity. You can also have a positive from one channel and a negative from another channel mixed. This will cause static. A polarity test will not tell you this.

I would strongly recommend going back in and getting rid of the butt connectors for solder and heat shrink. As someone who has been in car audio for years and is very familiar with both Ford F-150 amplified and non amplified systems, you need to determine with certainty that your connections are solid and correct.

Please describe your signal chain in detail. From headunit to speaker.

- I've checked again... swapped the negative and positive wires onto the speaker to see if speaker audio adjusts and it doesn't sound right. Sounds like a muted speaker (as I would probably expect with swapped wires)

- I did remove the butt connectors by cutting them off. Then stripped the wires a bit more and just twisted the connection together (as a temporary connection until I resolved the issue.

-- It is possible that his connection isn't solid and causing static, however, it does not pass the wiggle test. In the wiggle test, I maneuvered the wires to see if I could get any change in the static sound.
--I did a wiggle test at the speaker connections, the "twisted wire" connections, up the wires in the door, and the harness connecting to the amp. Nothing seemed to make a noticeable impact to the static (for worse or better)
​

- My next step is to remove the RF speaker pins and swap them with another door speaker. If the crackling changes speakers, then I can conclude that it is at the amp/harness connection point. If it stays in the same speaker, then its the wiring. If its in the wiring I'll just have to run additional wires.

- And to answer your question about the signal chain

- Signal from H/U to Sony Amp
- From Sony Amp to Molex wire harness
- Pins with White/Orange and White/Violet lead to RF speaker​

 

[dhmcfadin]

Can you post a picture of your connections please?

Since you have the sony system, adding an amp would have been as simple as tapping the sub output on the sony amp.

Just to confirm, you did or did not have crackling prior to replacing the speakers?

 

[dhmcfadin]

Also, please show me the harness you used.

 

[Bent22]

Can you post a picture of your connections please?

Since you have the sony system, adding an amp would have been as simple as tapping the sub output on the sony amp.

Just to confirm, you did or did not have crackling prior to replacing the speakers?

Thats what I did... tapped into the sub output to the kenwood monoamp into the sub (outside this circuit to the RF door speaker).

I never noticed the crackling from the speaker prior to installation.

I didn't use a harness to connect to the door speaker.

The picture i attached is just a doing some tests with my multimeter.

 

[Bent22]

sound: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1EmbYgDgb7vJ5SmORLNE0YoYBulqN0Lg8

 

[BIG TIME BALLER]

Thread hijacked...

 

[dhmcfadin]

So you tapped the sony amp subwoofer output or you taped the the right front midbass speaker output?

Plug you factory speaker back in and check for crackling again.

 

[dhmcfadin]

Thread hijacked...

I agree. Sorry for hijacking.

@Bent22 Please PM me and we will get this fixed.