I have a 10" sub I am trying to make work with the existing audiophile sytem. I got a wiring diagram for the plug going to the stock subwoofer and I found the + signal wire, - signal wire, and a remote turn on wire. Still cant get it to work. I tried two different amps and they seem to be working just fine. I have even tried both a line converter and a amp that takes speaker level inputs. Is there another wire from the ford harness I need to connect to make it work?

 

You say you found the signal feeds and the remote turn on....but what about the continuous power and ground?

 

Are you sure the amps are working? Most aftermaeket amps require a 12V remote switch. I know that the factory remote only supplies 3V. I had the same problem, and never really figured it out since my truck has been in the shop lately. I used a low voltage trigger and did get it to work although it was not very loud. I thought my problem was with the line converter, but need my truck back and more time to figure it out.

 

As for power, I have a seprate 4 guage coming straight from the battery. I know the the amps is turning on because when I turn on the radio, there is a led on two of the amps I have tried that turn on. I am assuming this is because they are receving a signall from the remote turn on. Any other suggestions? I am going to try another sub just in case that could be the problem.

 

I'm not sure exactly what you're asking.

Ok, you've got your 4ga wire directly from the battery. I first would advise you to also run 4ga directly to the negative terminal too. It'll up your supply greatly vs. just frame grounding due to the resistive properties. DC actually flows from neg to pos, so providing the amp it's own negative wire is desirable.

You need to borrow or buy a volt meter and test your signal wire. If it's only giving you 3vdc and you need 12 vdc, then pull the plug off your head unit, and find the signal lead there. It is 12vdc. (At least the one on my truck is.) I can't remember what color it was, but that's what I did, and no problems at all.

Remember that you need to keep your drivers door open while turning ignition on and off so that the 10 minute delay relay doesn't stay closed and give you false indications. Same is true on the wire harness to the factory sub you're replacing. I'm not sure where you got the wiring diagram from, but I know there are a couple floating around on the web that are not even close to reality. Some people are assuming that Ford used the same wire codes from 03 to 04/05, and they did not.

Good luck.

 

Great suggestion on the - terminal connection going to the battery instead of just grounding it to the frame.

I have a MTX amp hooked up using the speaker level inputs spliced to the + and - signal wires from the stock subwoofer wiring assembly(well at least that is according to the wiring diagram I have). Using the speaker level inputs, I have found I do not need the remote wire connected. The MTX amp is does this on its own when using speaker level inputs. There is a faint audible signal coming through the subwoofer but even with the gain turned up all the way(amp is only 200rms max) there is just a little bit of sound, basically need your ear 6" away to hear anything.

I will try some of the different wires. I am using wires 7 and 8 currently.

Since there is some sound, I am assuming I have the right wires. I need to test with a voltmeter to see how much voltage is coming through the signal wires. I would not be suprised if it is really low.

Any other suggestions?

 

Just to be sure....

 

The speaker wires from the stereo to the sub are low level outputs.You need to splice into 7 (BN/OG)and 8(RD/BK) with an rca adapter.
I tried using wire 1 (DG/VT) as a remote on on my amp.This caused the hu to go into protection mode(very little sound at high volume).
Ended up running a separate remote-on wire from a manual switch and a keyed on power source.

 

Any other advice on how to make a aftermarket sub/amp work with the audiophile system?

 

since the turn-on, and subwoofer audio signals are both different than aftermarket signals, I would connect the amp's remote turn on to switched power and just let it come on with the key. How often will you ride around with the radio turned off? and even then it shouldnt matter as long as there isnt a lot of turn on/off thump. For the signal input, I would use a line level converter and leave the factory sub amp hooked up. Feed the speaker output of the factory sub amp into a line lever converter and feed the aftermarket amp with that.

 

I'm not sure which color it is, but I know that on the back of the head unit, one of the wires is a 12v secondary switched signal wire. I want to say it's green with white stripe, but now I'm not sure.

Shoot, now I'm feeling like I should go out in the garage and rip open my dash, because I know that one of the wires will suit your needs, and it doesn't affect the stereo or put it in safe mode.

I'll be back in awhile.

 

Ok,

It's a green wire with yellow stripe. You just tap into it. I think that this is actually the signal wire for the head unit, and not the amp. It works though, and then you can never leave your amp on unintentionally.

Hope maybe this helps. It's what I did, and works great.

I threw a 12" Rockford Punch in up front. Built the enclosure to be a shelf/table up front, and put my amp under the center seat. It'll crack your ribs for being a single bridged unit. Something to think about.

Here's pics.

 

The green/yellow is the switched power to the HU... I tapped my sat radio into it. As mentioned above, this should work for your sub.

 

Well, this is getting frustrating. It would appear the low level outputs to the sub are putting out a VERY weak signal. The MTX sub I was using is pretty cool since it turns on appropriately when the speaker level inputs are used. I guess this is how Ford tries to discourage upgrading the audiophile system

My 10" sub plays but is very weak. I got some suggestions from an installer from Car Toys here in Seattle. First was to use a huge amp and second was to wait for the JL Clean Sweep unit to become avaliable. I guess the third option is to scrap the audiophile headunit and install a nice deck with 5v or 8v outputs.

Any other sugestions? Any products out there that can dramatically increase the signal going to the amp?

 

I believe the Audiophile sub amp is around 100 watts. Is your MTX smaller than that? If not, why would a bigger amp be the solution? Does your amp have high level inputs also? You might try tapping off the rear speakers and going into the high level inputs on your MTX.