I was wondering, after having searched and read a few threads on adding audoophile, if my head unit which is 6cd and MP3 is ready to have a subwoofer added.

All of the threads i searched for and read regarding adding the audiophile did not mention the stock 6cd MP3 capable head unit that my truck has.

Is this head unit ready for the audiophile? There are two MP3 options listed at ford.com and only one is listed with audiophile.

I haven't looked for the wiring under the rear seats. Where exactly should I look for the harness?

If I find it, can I just order the speakers (tweeters for the doors and sub for the rear)?

I understand that true audiophiles will always want nonstock equipment, but I think I'de be happy with the stock audiophile.

Thanks for any info.


Loving the truck so far. Had an 01 lariat screw and this one is much nicer.

john

 

Hey John, a lot of good info here. Go to the audio section of this site for more help.

 

Hey John, I originally looked into this on my truck, but it wasn't pre-wired. The sub/amp wire harness you are looking for "might" be under the rear seat on the driver's side. If you feel under the rear seat near the rear driver's side bracket, you should find a "slit" or hole in the carpet. Reach in that slit and see if you feel any wiring harness in there. If you don't then you're not pre-wired for it.

as far as that head unit, I doubt the regular MP3 6-cd has the subwoofer controls. You have to order the Audiophile radio. But if you would like to check, the easiest thing to do is pop off that center panel and take your radio out and check the back of it. If it has 3 plugs, or at least a spot for a 3rd plug, then it would be able to control the sub/amp.

 

thanks guys

I will take a look tomorrow to see if i am prewired. Since I just bought it and am heading to the dealership this saturday for a bed liner, I might mention getting a different head unit and seeing if they'd give me a good price.

I am going to search the audio forums now.

John

 

Hey John, don't bother trying to upgrade to an Audiophile system, they are not that great. They only have an output of about 10w per channel, and around 80w for the sub. It would be cheaper and easier to just add a sub and amp to your factory system

 

yeah, I was going to add that too about just going aftermarket instead. I only have $400 into my system, while still using the factory head unit. A nice set of Kenwood components for the front doors, a 10" sub box from supercrewsound.com, a 10" MTX Thunder 4500, and a 250-watt mono MTX Thunder amp. All together, it sounds great and didn't break the bank!

 

Hey John, I told you you could get great info here.
Good luck with your system!

 

You know the aftermarket stuff does sound better, but some people prefer the factory look. Like me, I wanted the factory stuff, so when I traded it in it would be no big deal. I got a heck of a deal on my audiophile stuff and even had to make my own harness. It was not that hard to do. I found a catalog at my work that you can order the plugs through. Then you just have to pin them out and run the wires. Pretty easy.

 

The toughest peice of the puzzle is the sub wire.
If you have that, get an audiophile hu and sub off ebay,
and its simply plug and play.

 

after much adventure i finally got my audiophile setup working.

I purchased the audiophile headunit and a subwoofer off ebay a couple months back. I also picked up a set of infinity component speakers for the front too.

After reading alot on this site, I was real happy because i had the wire under the rear seat. But i sure was PO'd when there wasn't the extra plug in the dash behind the stock radio.

After alot of googling, and reading post after post on this board and others, I finally got all the pieces together and figured out.

I bought the subwoofer wire harness for the back of the radio from http://www.installers.com

It turned out that even though i had no harness for the back of the radio, the sub WAS getting power, since the power comes from the fuse box, and not the headunit. So that was a relief. Strange that power would be wired and working and not the headunit connections. hmmmm.

The sub wiring harness that was under my rear seat went up to a junction box behind the emergency/parking brake. That's where it ended though (except for the power connections). I ended up splicing the sub signal wires in the driver side door jamb and than up to the headunit.

Here's a couple links to some helpful diagrams i found here for the wiring help.

Audiophile sub wiring diagram
https://www.f150online.com/galleries...3264&anum=7765

This post lists the wire colors for the subwoofer connector in the back if you have it.
https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...n&pagenumber=3

This link has a hand-drawn diagram of the headunit plug for the subwoofer. Its the same plug as used on the expedition system.
http://www.the12volt.com/installbay/...TID=51199&PN=1

I'm sure a real aftermarket system would have sounded better. But I'm really pleased with the audiophile. It adds just a little punch and rumble to the bottom of the sound. Nothing that's gonna give you a headache though! The volume isn't gonna blow anyone away, but it's good enough for me!

Thanks to all who have posted the tidbits and install photos here and there to help me figure it all out!!! Much appreciated!

Now if i could only figure out a decent way to get the ipod hooked up, other than the FM thingys.

good luck with your install!

 

thanks again for all the input.

it is so nice to get this info in one place.

Toddlermn, thanks alot for the links and experience. That should help me make an informed decision.

Dupuis, you were right

Steve, how does the aftermarket sub look? You didn't mention adding tweeters? isn't there a mounting space in the front door panels? Or are the kennwood components enough.

John

 

Yes, there is a spot for them.

 

I checked ,my truck at lunchtime and it has the harness under the rear seat driver side.

From what you guys say that is the power harnes.

If I go aftermarket (seems to be the best sound option), I would have to get the woofer, amp and wire its sound to the head unit and then add tweeters.

is that about right?

john

 

jwnpgh...

that plug under the rear seat has power connections AND the signals from the head unit.

All the wires run from the sub up to a junction box behind the parking brake.

From there the wires go to the fuse box for power, and to the headunit for the other signals.

My particular truck had all the power connections from the sub to the junction box to the fuse box, but not the headunit wiring. I've heard of other people here that already had the headunit wiring in place....unused.

I think if you went aftermarket you would probably have to run additional power and the headunit connections.

My multimeter was reading about 12v from each of the two power wires on the sub connector. Both those wires run from an 25A fuse at the fuse box. Many aftermarket subs require more power i believe.

-todd

 

John, since you have the rear under seat harness, you could look behind your radio then and see if the other 4-pin plug/harness is there (should be taped to the main radio harness). That's if you want to go with the stock Audiophile components.

I added a 2 pics of my sub box in my MODS gallery. I forgot to take a pic of my amp, but it is tucked underneath the front passenger seat.

My Kenwood components came with a seperate 6x8 mid range speaker, the tweeters, and also crossovers.

The MTX Thunder 251D amp I chose has high level speaker level inputs, which makes hooking up to a factory radio very easily. Because the factory radios don't have RCA outputs, you either need a amp with speaker level inputs, or you need a line output convertor that converts speaker wire/level input into RCA output. I just tapped into the rear speaker wires for my amp input. And then add your own power wire straight from the battery to power the amp, don't tap into any factory wires for that.