Lessons learned from stock stereo upgrade.

[Paulbh]

rear speakers
L. Blue or brown with green stripe. +
Gray with purple stripe. -

I say blue or brown because I wrote B as a color and I can’t remember which.

R. Green with purple stripe +
Gray with purple stripe. -

findings: I had to pull a rear speaker and unsolder one wire from a cone to 9v test which way the speaker moved to determine positive. This was do to what I think is a capacitor on the speaker. Gray/purple was wired to the + terminal. After getting everything hooked up I had muddy bass and decided to reverse the polarity of the rear speaker wire inputs into my line converter. While I was doing it I disconnected one low level out and the bass got tight. I thought this was odd so I tested for continuity between left and right rear grey/purple and had continuity. I decided to switch to the front speaker wires as inputs to my line converter and bass is amazing with both channels plugged in. I believe the two rear speakers are using a common ground and ford purposely wired them reverse phase.

Front Speakers
Left. Blue. +
Gray with brown stripe. -
Right. Yellow with red. +
Green with brown stripe -

this is opposite what another poster put. This is what I found in my truckby 9v testing what terminal on the speaker was positive and then looking to see what wires were connected to them. I don’t think ford would reverse phase the door speakers but that is an assumption.

wiring
I ran all speaker wires and rca cables under the center console. It was super easy to remove. 7 bolts and one master harness disconnect and it lifts right out.

my system
Stock Head unit
Skar equalizer in front of center console
Boss 400 watt 4 channel amp powering front and rear speakers
Boss 1100 mono amp powering two Rockville 2 voicecoil 2 ohm 6.5 subwoofers
Line converter is a LC2i
Door speakers are pioneer TS 600m 6.5 4 ways. These were only 58 bucks at Walmart and come with adapters. They sound much better than stock but I will probably up grade to higher end when my bank account settles a little.

Overall I am very happy with the sound. Bass is dramatic and the rest is very clear. The skar equalizer allows me to fade front and rear. I still have a bunch of tuning to do and I have to clean up/loom all the wiring behind the seat, but other than that I am done. Oh yeah I also have to cut the trim piece under the back seat to fit back in around my sub box.

box is just a square box built to the right cubic feet for my two subs. Quick and cheap. Maybe I will customize a better looking setup later.

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[littlemattymaverick]

Only benefit of waiting for months to get the truck is that hopefully by the time mine gets here there's a simple, out of the box solution to upgrading the stock audio.

 

[BootXL76]

Tell me more about the center console bolts and it “lifting right out”. If you’re able to highlight where those 7 bolts are that would be awesome.
Also with running all the wiring together, you don’t have any engine whir/noise from running the speaker wires and power together (the lc2 and eq would help a bit, but I’d guess it’s still present to an extent).
I still need to run the remote wire and running it up the middle my preferred option

 

[LongshotXL]

What did you replace the rear speakers with? Thank you.

 

[Paulbh]

Tell me more about the center console bolts and it “lifting right out”. If you’re able to highlight where those 7 bolts are that would be awesome.
Also with running all the wiring together, you don’t have any engine whir/noise from running the speaker wires and power together (the lc2 and eq would help a bit, but I’d guess it’s still present to an extent).
I still need to run the remote wire and running it up the middle my preferred option

I actually ran the power cable under the truck. Only the speaker wires and rca cables and one remote wire for the eq under the console. Two bolts on each side of the console close to the floor. Midway and at the back. You have to move the seat all the way forward to get the two in the back and all the way back to get the two midway. The small black panel on the psg side just pulls out with the clips like all the rest of the plastics. On the drivers side there is one additional bolt in the black plastic. After that you just have the two in the front compartment of the console that’s face forward. Right under at the back of where my eq is. The harness disconnect is on the psg side behind the black plastic. I have zero noise. I did have a pop when I would turn it on or the truck would restart at a light. I ended up taking the power off of an ignition fuse and running it direct to battery and that solved the problem.
Paul

 

[Paulbh]

What did you replace the rear speakers with? Thank you.

I haven’t replaced them yet but I am looking at the kicker two way 4”. I think it will mount up and add some highs coming from the rear without having to add a separate tweeter like others have done
Paul

 

[potatosalad]

did you use any speaker adapters for the doors?

 

[Paulbh]

did you use any speaker adapters for the doors?

The pioneer speakers I used cam with the adapters and I cut and soldered the electrical connections

 

[uh50]

rear speakers
L. Blue or brown with green stripe. +
Gray with purple stripe. -

I say blue or brown because I wrote B as a color and I can’t remember which.

R. Green with purple stripe +
Gray with purple stripe. -

findings: I had to pull a rear speaker and unsolder one wire from a cone to 9v test which way the speaker moved to determine positive. This was do to what I think is a capacitor on the speaker. Gray/purple was wired to the + terminal. After getting everything hooked up I had muddy bass and decided to reverse the polarity of the rear speaker wire inputs into my line converter. While I was doing it I disconnected one low level out and the bass got tight. I thought this was odd so I tested for continuity between left and right rear grey/purple and had continuity. I decided to switch to the front speaker wires as inputs to my line converter and bass is amazing with both channels plugged in. I believe the two rear speakers are using a common ground and ford purposely wired them reverse phase.

Front Speakers
Left. Blue. +
Gray with brown stripe. -
Right. Yellow with red. +
Green with brown stripe -

this is opposite what another poster put. This is what I found in my truckby 9v testing what terminal on the speaker was positive and then looking to see what wires were connected to them. I don’t think ford would reverse phase the door speakers but that is an assumption.

wiring
I ran all speaker wires and rca cables under the center console. It was super easy to remove. 7 bolts and one master harness disconnect and it lifts right out.

my system
Stock Head unit
Skar equalizer in front of center console
Boss 400 watt 4 channel amp powering front and rear speakers
Boss 1100 mono amp powering two Rockville 2 voicecoil 2 ohm 6.5 subwoofers
Line converter is a LC2i
Door speakers are pioneer TS 600m 6.5 4 ways. These were only 58 bucks at Walmart and come with adapters. They sound much better than stock but I will probably up grade to higher end when my bank account settles a little.

Overall I am very happy with the sound. Bass is dramatic and the rest is very clear. The skar equalizer allows me to fade front and rear. I still have a bunch of tuning to do and I have to clean up/loom all the wiring behind the seat, but other than that I am done. Oh yeah I also have to cut the trim piece under the back seat to fit back in around my sub box.

box is just a square box built to the right cubic feet for my two subs. Quick and cheap. Maybe I will customize a better looking setup later.

I've been looking for lower cost solutions for amps and remembered your use of Boss amps in your system. I noticed you like the sound of your system. What Rockville subs did you use? Are they bone jarring or a full balanced base sound?

I'm reconsidering my choice of amps and may purchase the boss amps like yours.

Thanks for your posting.

 

[awscheetz]

I replaced one door at a time. And with just the driver I faded it left to right. New speakers have alot less bass then the stock ones. Idk what I did but I might put the stocks back in and loose the treble.... I liked the stock bass...

 

[uh50]

I replaced one door at a time. And with just the driver I faded it left to right. New speakers have alot less bass then the stock ones. Idk what I did but I might put the stocks back in and loose the treble.... I liked the stock bass...

What speaker did you install? I assume, since you did not mention an amp you did not install one. Is this correct?

 

[awscheetz]

So on the rear speakers the grey/purple is - on both sides ?

And when I ran aftermarket front speakers I lost all bass. Is the only way to keep bass in the front to add an amp?

 

[Paulbh]

I've been looking for lower cost solutions for amps and remembered your use of Boss amps in your system. I noticed you like the sound of your system. What Rockville subs did you use? Are they bone jarring or a full balanced base sound?

I'm reconsidering my choice of amps and may purchase the boss amps like yours.

Thanks for your posting.

Sorry for the delayed response. I am using the Rockville 2 ohm dual voice coil 6.5 woofers. They sound amazing. Not going to rattle the car next to me crazy, but clean low bass that sound great inside the truck. If I had to do it over I might step up to the eights, but I am very happy with what I have including the boss amps.

 

[Paulbh]

So on the rear speakers the grey/purple is - on both sides ?

And when I ran aftermarket front speakers I lost all bass. Is the only way to keep bass in the front to add an amp?

Yes same on both sides in the rear, but different in the front. Assuming you went with a better quality speak in the front I would double check your polarity. They should absolutely give better bass, based upon the magnet size of the stock speakers. At very least bass level should not decrease!

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