Speaker upgrade on my 2009 XLT Supercab with basic radio. No Navigation or Sony.


I wanted to upgrade the speakers in my 09 Supercab without changing out the stock head unit (HU). I know that there are a few people out there that are looking to this as well but don’t know where to begin. I’ll give you a run down of what I did and how I did it. Hopefully this will help you along.
Don’t be discouraged about doing it yourself. I have a minimal amount of experience with this stuff and with a little research was able to do it myself. This thread is not so much as a “how to” as it is a “how I did it” as I am by no means an expert in this field.

What I ordered:
1) 2 pairs of Alpine type-R 5x7’s
2) 2 Alpine 10” type-S subwoofers
3) Alpine PDX-4.100 (4 channel amplifier for 5x7’s)
4) Alpine PDX-1.600 (mono amplifier for subs)
5) Subwoofer box from Supercrewsound.com
6) Metra BT-5520 wiring harness
7) Maxxsonics MX-1 high to low lever converter (sound processor)
8) Kicker PKD1 amplifier wiring kit
9) 20 ft. of nine JL nine wire cable
10) 2x 1 meter & 1x 3 meter kicker RCA cables

Note: A sound processor (SP) is necessary for two reasons. One, the stock head unit does not have any RCA outputs. A SP converts the speaker wire and gives you RCA outputs to feed into your amplifier for your door speakers as well as adding a 5th channel, allowing you to add a sub. Secondly, because stock speakers are low quality, they cannot handle all of the frequencies at higher volume. To prevent the speakers from blowing, factory stereos are programmed to limit certain frequencies as the volume increases (specifically low bass frequencies). A sound Processor eliminates this and allows you to control the frequencies based on what your speakers can handle.

Also the use of the BT-5520 wiring harness allowed me to make all the connections behind the dash without cutting any factory wires.

Changing the speakers

My first step was to replace the door speakers. To do this you have to remove the door panels. Get a set of plastic upholstery tools. You’ll save your paint and you’ll be less likely to damage other components. The first door took me a while to figure out but then I was able to remove the other 3 door panels and hook up the new speakers in about an hour.

To remove the front door panels:
-Pop out the control panel for the door lock and windows and disconnect the wires
-Remove 2 bolts at the bottom of the door panel.
-Pop out the little plastic cover in the armrest handle and remove the bolt.
-Carefully remove the black cover behind the door handle and remove the bolt.
-It is not necessary to remove the speaker grill.

Lift the door panel up and it will come up and away from the door. The panel will still be attached by a steel braded wire that controls the door latch so have a friend near by to hold it or have a box or stool handy that you can prop the panel on so its not just hanging from the wire while you change the speaker. Remove the speaker bolts and disconnect the speaker.

My new speakers would not plug into stock speaker connector so I cut them off and put on new connectors. This was the one and only step that I had to cut the stock wiring. If you were to look around I’m sure you could find an adaptor.







To remove the rear door panel (supercab):
Pop off the window control panel.
Pop off the two top pieces of trim (it’s not necessary to unbolt the seatbelt).
Remove the screw from the bottom of the panel.
Remove the 2 covers and bolts from the side of the panel (for some reason I was able to skip this step on one of the doors.)
Remove the 2 bolts at either end of the top of the panel.
Again, lift up. Work the panel around the door handle.



The new speakers alone made a noticeable difference in sound quality. However, I was looking forward to installing the sound processor and amplifiers to unleash their full potential.





Amps and Wiring

I won’t get into to much detail about the amps or wiring. There are just to many variables. Do you want a subwoofer. One amp, or two. Do you want to mount them under the seats or on the back wall. Etc.

I chose to mount my amps under the front driver and passenger seats. I brought in power for the amps and sound processor just to the right of where the factory wires come through the firewall. Remember to disconnect your negative battery lead before making your final connections.

I made up a wiring diagram but cannot figure out to attach it (its a word doc.) PM me and I can eamil it to you if you want.





Installing the Sound processor

Removing the Head Unit

-Remove the rubber insert that sits on top of the radio and remove the 2 bolts.
-Open the ashtray and pop out the accessory input with your finger, remove the bolt.
-Remove the piece of trim to the left of the radio by pulling out, starting from the bottom and working your way up. Unplug the 4x4 wire switch.
-Do the same to the trim on the opposite side. This one seems to be tight against the air bag compartment and doesn’t want to come out. I never fully removed this one but it is still necessary to pull it out about an inch.
-From the bottom working up, pull the radio plate towards you. Once it’s off you’ll need to disconnect some of the wires to get access to the HU.
-Remove the 4 bolts holding in the head unit and pull it out.





Wiring Harness

Have your aftermarket wiring harness ready for the next step. I cut the speaker wires and the radio chassis ground wire on the Metra harness and crimped on male and female bullet connectors. The factory and Metra harness use the same colors to identify speaker wires and they are even labeled on the Metra harness.





LF+ ------------------------------- white
LF- ------------------------------- white/black
RF+ ------------------------------- grey
RF- ------------------------------- grey/black
LR+ ------------------------------- green
LR- ------------------------------- green/black
RR+ ------------------------------- purple
RR- ------------------------------- purple/black

-Disconnect the factory16 bit connector from the HU (the one on the left, looking down).
-Plug in the Metra harness to the HU and the factory harness to the Metra harness.
-Now make your connections from the wiring harness to speaker wires that you have run to the Sound Processor. This is where I used the blue 9wire conductor (seen in the photo bellow). I also ran a remote lead but did not use it because the SP has sound sensing capabilities and works well without it.
-Make the connections from the SP to your amplifiers using RCA cables.
-Run speaker wire from your amplifiers to your speakers and subs.



Note: You can run new speaker wires directly from your amp to your speakers however I ran another 9wire conductor back to the wiring harness to utilize the factory speaker wire. I did this because you cannot simply run new wire to the doors through the rubber boot attached to your door. There is a pin connector inside the boot so unless you want to drill through the pin connector, you’ll have to find another way to get the wires into the door. I might make this a summer project, as it would be nice to have a higher gauge/quality wire feeding the speakers.

Pics of sub:








Project Review

Over all I am very satisfied with my new System. All of my aftermarket components are hidden away and the truck still looks stock. The Speakers are very loud and the sound quality is crystal clear. The subs provide excellent bass and the MX-1 sound processor gives me full control over the bass via a control dial. So whether I want to reproduce the crisp bass notes and kick drum while listening to Dave Matthews Band or annoy the neighbors some Hip-hop, It’s all possible. I get the same volume with about 6 bars as I did with 75% volume with the factory setup. I was expecting some electrical noise, which I understand is quite common when using a sound Processor, but there is virtually none. The only time its noticeable is when the volume is turned up and there is a break between songs. I consider it a non-issue. I recommend running a remote wire to the SP even if it does not require one. My amps tends to cut out when I have the volume really low. I ran a remote wire during install just in case I wasn’t happy with the sound sensing technology. I’ll be hooking it up when I get a chance. The sub box fits nicely under the seat and does not get in the way. You just wont be able to fold your seat up unless you pull out the box a few inches because of the way it pivots. I recently took a ride in my friends F150. If I didn’t notice how crappy the stock speakers were before, I sure notice now. IMO This is a definite must do upgrade.

Please post your comments and tell me what you think.

 

Wowser!

That is a very well done and well photographed write-up.

It will be very helpful to many.

Thanks for putting in all the effort!

 

Nice writeup - spared no expense!

 

Very nice install, although it looks like the power wire for your amps runs through the hole in the firewall WITHOUT a grommet. This can be a very dangerous situation if the metal edges cut through the sheathing of the power cable.

 

Yes, I agree. A grommet has been attached.

 

Nice install and great write-up. Question - do you know for certain that the standard HU's (non Sony) reduce bass at higher volumes. I plan to do an install this summer and was hoping to get away with a non-bass summing type converter to save some money. However, never heard of the Maxxsonics MX-1 before and for the price, looks like it can't be beat. Was originally looking at the Audio Control LC6 if bass summing was needed.

Also, do you have any vibration problems in your door panels?

 

I'm 98% certain that this is the case for most stock systems. All you have to do is turn up the volume and it become apparent. I'm 98% certain the the stock HU has a curved EQ to eliminate bass. All you have to do is turn up the volume to hear it. I ran the alpine speakers with the stock HU before installing the converter. The speakers didn't really perform very well until I put in the converter. I ordered both the MX-1 and the MTX REQ-5 from sonicelectronics. I used the MX-1 because the quality seemed to be much better. The REQ made for a great x-mas gift. Do some research before you decide. crutchfield has some great articles and you can't beet a google search. IMO a sound processor is a must.
None at all. Not even with the volume up and bass pounding. Ford has done a really good job insulating this truck. There is a black mat glued to the inside of the door panels which looks similar to dyna-mat. I think it help eliminate the vibrations. Nothing on the outside of the truck rattles either.

 

Here's the wiring diagram:

Red - Power wire
Green - BT-5520 wiring harness
Orange - aftermarket 9 wire conductor
Blue - RCA cables
Grey - Stock speaker wire- Thick grey wiring to subwoofer is aftermarket.

 

Thanks for the info. Either you saved me a bunch of money or spent a bunch. Now if we can get Ford better ways to determine oil life, turn off TC, or a more realistic trans temp gauge, we would be golden.

 

Excellent write up and a very nice system. It's nice to do it yourself; save $ and you know it's done right!

Hope you enjoy it for many years!

 

if u dont mind me asking how much was the total price for everything?

 

wow, thats a great write up! I really want to up-grade my speakers, the stockers suck.

 

Total Price...If you need to ask you cannot afford it. Just kidding. That's why I did it myself.

When the dust settled, it came to around $1,500. Of corse you can do it for a lot more or a lot less. The biggest ticket items where the amps. they were $350 each The sub box was next at $200.

 

$200 the sub box? :O
i have some friends that do that boxes in less than $60 D:
but here in mexico, and don't think that they don't have quality
they sound great also

Grats for your system, it looks great, hope it sounds the same

 

Excellent write up! Great way to go if ya wanna keep the stock head unit. Would love to have something like this in my truck.