DIY stereo upgrade for under $500.00

[smurfslayer]

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_113KA...c3MyFQImVQJ4cgJN7Xei1LMc_TJVcemxoCc-QQAvD_BwE

...

• preamp and speaker-level inputs
• fuse rating: 30A x 1
• 10-gauge power and ground leads recommended — wiring and hardware not included with amplifier

The inverter uses 10 gauge multi-strand, which is plenty for a 30amp draw.
Not saying he shouldn’t run a bigger, better and dedicated power/ ground run, but unless he’s holding something back or what have you, he’s not melting any wires.

This was done for about 2 years before the Gen2 Rap even came out, I got the self same instructions from the F150 forum.

again, he should run battery home runs, power and ground. but if he did everything correctly there shouldn’t be any Raptor fires reported on FRF or his local news.

 

[MattRobPhoto]

@K223 @smurfslayer

To use the ZEN piece....it is all or nothing.

Zen uses the can-bus for the car as an input. You can't split that and have it power the factory B&O and the ZEN. It is one or the other.

The reason why you can't just pull the sub signal off a full range set of speakers like the rear doors is because of the B&O bass management. In order to not have their cheap speakers constantly blow and have warranty claims out the rear, the more you turn up the volume, the less bass signal is passed. So while at listening level 10 on the main screen, you are getting all the bass the factory sub is ever going to give. Move the dial to 20, the factory sub still plays like it did at 10, but now, the rear doors have little to no bass being sent to them.

So, if you pulled the signal off the rear doors, and turned it up to 20. your new aftermarket sub amp, would have little to no input signal for any tones below 100hz, and your subs will have little volume and sound like shit.

that is all well before we ever get into the argument about how high level speaker inputs are just bad, and should never be done. ever.

if you are tight on cash now........buy the zen. buy a 5 channel amp. buy a sub box. keep the factory door speakers.

The B&O amp is the problem. It has too little power, like 12 watts a channel. And the bass management just sucks the life out of all the speakers. When i was building my system. I Did the Zen, the Amp, and the sub box one weekend. Hooked up the factory speakers to my new 600 watt amp, and it was great. Sounded 100x better then the B&O amp. The next weekend i replaced my factory door speakers with my components. but the point is.......to save $600 now, but get you some bass, you can leave the factory doors. they sound fine when you actually give them plenty of power.

People are very uneducated when it comes to speakers. you can almost never have too much power. Too little power is what destroys speakers. you exceed the power of the amp, which causes square waves (distortion) to go to the speaker. Distortion kills speaks.

WOW!!!!! Just WOW! Thank you! This makes COMPLETE sense to me now. Freakin Factory crap... why do they do things like this to a 80k truck?? crazy!

Thank you again, now I "get it" - Great explanation.

 

[John Rathjen]

There are so many posts on here and I admit to being a little confused. I think some of it is due to there being different factory radios and therefore different requirements to upgrade.
Let me see if I understand this correctly. My truck is a '19 with the BO stereo

Run Morel Ultra component speakers - drivers in the door using adapter plates and adapter wire harnesses. Tweeters in pillars - will have to fab brackets. Question - how are tweeters wired in - use stock wiring? Is there a crossover already built in to the system? Or use the new crossovers and new wiring?

Leave rear door speakers stock - they don't get much power with the stock amp so it wouldn't be worthwhile to upgrade them.

Center dash speaker - I'll disconnect this and will use the speaker for a VHF offroad communications radio.

Subwoofer - I want to run a sub behind my rear seat, as I want to install a Tuffy underseat storage locker. I will use the LMI brackets to move the rear seats 2" forward to give a little more room behind the seats. I'm looking at the JL 10" sub box mentioned a page or two back. 4.5" deep, so should fit behind the seat OK I hope. Questions - recommended amp for this speaker, and where do i get/tap into the input from the stock amp to this new subwoofer only amp?

Hoping I'm understanding this correctly

thanks

 

[smurfslayer]

Run Morel Ultra component speakers - drivers in the door using adapter plates and adapter wire harnesses. Tweeters in pillars - will have to fab brackets. Question - how are tweeters wired in - use stock wiring? Is there a crossover already built in to the system? Or use the new crossovers and new wiring?

@dhmcfadin & @gobues38 have more experience with the ‘18+ Rap. that said, wiring wise, if you’re just doing the speakers, straight swap the front doors, pull the tweets up front and fab brackets for the component tweeters. Run wire for the tweeters while you’re in there, down the door trim, all the way to the rear with some extra to connect to amp / DSP. Connect your tweeters to a) factory tweeter wires if you’re not changing anything else or b) your new wire if you’re doing a full upgrade. The wires will go to the crossovers, which you can put close to the amp(s).

Leave rear door speakers stock - they don't get much power with the stock amp so it wouldn't be worthwhile to upgrade them.

If you’re going to eventually upgrade, then yes, replace the rear door speakers. Just look at them, you’ll know why you’re replacing them. with stock amp, not much to gain, but, once you replace the factory amp and undo the poor sound Ford saddled the F150 with, there will actually be sound from the rear doors. Admittedly, as the driver this should only be fill sound but not anywhere as weak as ‘18+ owners describe it.

Center dash speaker - I'll disconnect this and will use the speaker for a VHF offroad communications radio.

good idea.

Subwoofer - I want to run a sub behind my rear seat, as I want to install a Tuffy underseat storage locker. I will use the LMI brackets to move the rear seats 2" forward to give a little more room behind the seats. I'm looking at the JL 10" sub box mentioned a page or two back. 4.5" deep, so should fit behind the seat OK I hope. Questions - recommended amp for this speaker, and where do i get/tap into the input from the stock amp to this new subwoofer only amp?

LMI brackets? hmm... This would be the bees knees for the MTI sub box. link or info?

MTI box will fit back there, see my thread on fitting the MTI sub behind the seat.
I’ve got a ’17, so I cannot answer how to get the signal on your truck. I can say that with one of the DSP (NavTV or zen ? ) and a harness, that part is pretty much plug and play. I have have the R/F DSR1, and harness and it taps the signal wire from the factory harness and you connect to your amp(s) for a turn on signal.

 

[smurfslayer]

I wonder if this would help us:
http://www.lmiwelding.com/kits_supercab.htm

 

[John Rathjen]

Smurf - that’s exactly the bracket I mentioned

 

[prowakeskater]

how are you guys getting your subs amp on/off signal?

speaker signal? like tapping into your speaker wires?

is there a better way?

edit: just realized the amp turns on with input signals from the RCA's.

 

[prowakeskater]

I took very few pics, but here's one of how I had to wire the factory sub output spliced into the RCA input for the new amp. Took me a few tries, but the signal finally worked with the below combo.

edit: pic deceived me

 

[smurfslayer]

this isn't making any sense to me, and it isn't working

if the Kenwood amps light is red, does that mean it's on?

not getting any bass. not sure wtf to do.

If your’e following this thread, which truck are you doing this in, the 2017 or the 2018?

for the 2017, the kenwood can be set up for speaker level input as described in this thread, probably several times and the ‘added a sub’ thread I authored, which links to the source F150 forum thread. You don’t -need- signal input for speaker level, but there is a signal wire on the harness to the factory sony amp, which the signal processor connects into, if/when you go that route.

For the 2018+ I don’t believe you can use speaker level inputs ( @goblues38 or @dhmcfadin can better speak to the sub setup for the 2018+)

 

[prowakeskater]

Omfg whoever took that photo needs a punch to the throat. Hella people in here asked about the wiring because it looks like some weird ohm connecting shit it going on. Got it working, had polarity backwards originally. The subs “smaller” spade connections on the speaker were positive feeds, not negative which I thought all speakers were. Oh well