Audio upgrade shenanigans. (picture heavy)

geophb

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I did, didn't really like the look of them though, and wanted components. They probably sound better than the stock speakers, would be a good deal for the price I think.
The Powerbass are components in the front. Idk how good they are I just see that its 100% drop in.
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speedczar

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Thank You for your write up, now I will attempt to tackle my own ( I have already switch out rear speakers with Morel"s coaxial, and have front componets to switch out ), but I was not sure how to add sub.
 
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pocket_geek

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Thank You for your write up, now I will attempt to tackle my own ( I have already switch out rear speakers with Morel"s coaxial, and have front componets to switch out ), but I was not sure how to add sub.
Which Morel's did you use? Some of those are crazy expensive.
 


Richard Conley

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when I finish my performance mods....maybe something....perhaps more sound deadening. Admire the project regardless.....my previous was a Lexus with a Mark Levinson and nothing I could do to my truck would match it, but wouldn't expect it to....Lexus didn't have 4WD either :)
 

Roscoe P

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Looks Great ,Nice Work.... In a couple of my pass mid sized PU,I used a powered Sub. I'm sure it wasn't quality sound but it made a big improvement over what I had. I'm usually have my windows down unless it's melting hot. Need to be able to hear the tunes going down the road with the breeze blowing. I use the shoe box style . Gonna have one installed soon .
 

Plinky

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Nice! I have the same setup, already installed/matted/fast ringed Fosgate 50 watters front & rear, just received a Key200.4 to install, but haven't sat down & researched wiring until today, so sorry if I bombard you with questions.

Would love to see some sort of schematic & more pics of how you wired this up if possible (routing, fuse block, etc). I'm assuming the radio speaker outputs to the converter, then to the amps, then back to the radio harness to speakers? What are you using for remote turn on (LOC or the amps)? What kind of preamp voltage are you getting to the amps with that LOC installed (still 2 volts)? For your sub install plate, do you think there's enough room to install an 8 inch sub?

Was looking at installing a couple of JBL powered subs, but I like this idea better, especially the power wiring part & I have some leftover stuff from my Focus ST install that I might still have use for (LCQ1 converter & a couple of Kicker low profile 300w 8 inch subs). I still have my 700w JL amp, but it's rated too high for the speakers I have installed, & I do NOT want to route 4 gauge wire again if I can help it. :)
 

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Looks nice. That sub amp seems like a lot of power for a 6.5" subwoofer however, regardless of whatever the factory rating is. For example, the 8" sub I picked up that's rated for "600 watts peak power" can only take a little over 100 watts in a normal enclosure.
 

Langwilliams

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nice work...I have a supercab too, how hard are the rear doors to take the skins off of an swap speakers? I'm not going to add an amp or sub, just some better than stock speakers. I have a set of infinity Kappa's I can put in the back an I'm looking at JBL components for the front doors. The Kappa's are 2 ohm an JBL's I'm looking at are 3, not sure it that's a problem or not. I have Hertz 6.5's on my Harley but they need some power to sound good.
 
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pocket_geek

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Looks Great ,Nice Work.... In a couple of my pass mid sized PU,I used a powered Sub. I'm sure it wasn't quality sound but it made a big improvement over what I had. I'm usually have my windows down unless it's melting hot. Need to be able to hear the tunes going down the road with the breeze blowing. I use the shoe box style . Gonna have one installed soon .
Thanks!

Nice! I have the same setup, already installed/matted/fast ringed Fosgate 50 watters front & rear, just received a Key200.4 to install, but haven't sat down & researched wiring until today, so sorry if I bombard you with questions.

Would love to see some sort of schematic & more pics of how you wired this up if possible (routing, fuse block, etc). I'm assuming the radio speaker outputs to the converter, then to the amps, then back to the radio harness to speakers? What are you using for remote turn on (LOC or the amps)? What kind of preamp voltage are you getting to the amps with that LOC installed (still 2 volts)? For your sub install plate, do you think there's enough room to install an 8 inch sub?

Was looking at installing a couple of JBL powered subs, but I like this idea better, especially the power wiring part & I have some leftover stuff from my Focus ST install that I might still have use for (LCQ1 converter & a couple of Kicker low profile 300w 8 inch subs). I still have my 700w JL amp, but it's rated too high for the speakers I have installed, & I do NOT want to route 4 gauge wire again if I can help it. :)
Wiring is pretty simple. T-Harness I linked in my first post and then just used 9-conductor speed wire to run from the stereo output side of the T-Harness -> LOC -> amps -> speed wire back to the T-Harness speaker side. (Except for my added sub)

I did use forscan to turn off the inbuilt DSP and turn the speaker outputs into line outputs. I still used the LOC so I could get a summed sub line out. This LOC supports auto sense/turn-on and has a remote turn-on output that I use to power up the two kicker amps. Even with the LOC gains turned all the way up I still only get a little less than 2 volts, but it seems to be enough. And no clipping either as tested with an oscilloscope.

I really wanted to use an 8" sub, but just not enough room to make it work. This sub is rated at 150rms/300max @ 4 ohms. The kicker sub amp I'm using is rated at 500 watts at 1 ohm or 150 watts at 4 ohms so it matches pretty well.

The fuse block has two 20 amp fuses for the fancy factory system that I don't have. I used those two circuits for my amps. I'm really not pulling more than 20 amps per amp, haven't blown a fuse yet. And yeah, I hate running giant power wire, wanted to avoid that.

I'll see if I can get some better pictures this weekend.

Very nice write up, thanks.
Thanks!

Looks nice. That sub amp seems like a lot of power for a 6.5" subwoofer however, regardless of whatever the factory rating is. For example, the 8" sub I picked up that's rated for "600 watts peak power" can only take a little over 100 watts in a normal enclosure.
It actually matches pretty well. The sub amp is rated at 500 watts at 1 ohm or 150 watts at 4 ohms. The sub is 4 ohm and rated at 150rms/300max. "Peak Power" is all silly marketing for sure.

nice work...I have a supercab too, how hard are the rear doors to take the skins off of an swap speakers? I'm not going to add an amp or sub, just some better than stock speakers. I have a set of infinity Kappa's I can put in the back an I'm looking at JBL components for the front doors. The Kappa's are 2 ohm an JBL's I'm looking at are 3, not sure it that's a problem or not. I have Hertz 6.5's on my Harley but they need some power to sound good.
The rear door panels are a pain in the ass to take off. 5 billion clips all of different kinds. I still have a rattle in my drivers rear door I need to chase down. I took a ton of pictures of those, I'll dig them up and post them.
 

WyoRanger

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Your build make me want to build mine. Have the equipment. Just need to wait for warmer weather. Working outside in 20 degrees isn't fun.

Looking for a little better sound and some bass. I doubt it will be close to my Sound Quality world champion. but stock is boring. Never heard a stock system that sounded better than a well build aftermarket. I will have to check and see if an 8" will fit in the passenger side storage hole.

Kym
 

Plinky

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That’s what I thought. Ran into the same issue with my Focus install. Tried to use the factory head unit, couldn’t get more than 2 volts preamp voltage even with the LCQ1 or a DSR1 installed, ended up installing a Kenwood head with a Maestro RR (got 5+volts).

Would love to do the same to the Ranger, but the factory head is so integrated I’m afraid it’ll be too much trouble, & no one has a good interface solution that I know of since this body style is probably going away soon.

Honestly, just replacing the speakers made an amazing difference, so I may just install whatever I go with without a converter. I will definitely look into ForScan for 86ing the DSP & turning line outs on.
 

Richard Conley

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Great - I'd never be able to do it. I really like the idea of sound deadening!
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