have a 2004 supercrew just replaced the speakers with infinity reference staying with the factory headunit.

they sound good but theres still some to be desired. Ive been told an Amp would fix this.

Im also wanting to put a 8" or 10" sub in the back.

what size/type amp am i lookin at.

Thanks

 

most likely gonna need two amps. one for the infinity speakers you replaced the stocks with(not needed tho, factory unit will still be good for those), and if you get a sub or two, usually the same company amp and subs together sound better. but either way it depends on how many watts the subs are. look at peak and RMS. RMS is the rating for pretty much how high it can go for longer periods of time(i am not sure of definition but i know it is the rating you will want to use.) peak is the most the speaker can handle from a quick burst, almost like a power surge. usually the number advertised on the sub's box is the peak. and also usually RMS is about half of peak. but a 8" is usually about 2-300 watts peak and 10s are usually about 3-500 watts peak and 12s range from 400-over 1000 unless your planning on paying like 1 grand then you can get way more. but you should be fine with about a 760 watt(peak) amp and 1 or 2 500 watt(peak) subs. you will not be turning the amp all the way up and you will want a 2 channel amp. basically means 2 outputs. now for choosing your subs, it all depends on what types of music you listen to. yes they will all work but we will say hard rock/metal music you will want smaller, the quick beats and sounds are harder for a bigger sub to keep up with. 10s are pretty much best for all around if you like all types. and 12s are good for all around and rap or hip hop. they will all sound good but certain ones will stand out with certain types of music. also is resale factor. if you buy an 8" sub, good luck selling it, you wont even get half of what you paid usually. also if you are planning on spending a lot like over $1k, look into car audio specialty stores. they will probably have something called a stealth box which is a box with subs and amp made for your truck specifically. and they can put it in and they usually sound awesome. they average around $800 here in PA but elsewhere i dont know. any questions send me a message or post a reply on here. also your stock cd player will need whats called a speaker level converter. to use an amp you need RCA cables and a remote wire. RCA cables are like the audio cables on a tv but are different internally to deliver the signal to the amp from the cd player. aftermarket cd players have at least 1 RCA preout which is an output. a speaker level converter is a little box you have to wire to your stock cd player and it uses signals from the speaker wires and collects the signal and puts it thru RCA cables. RCA cables are NEEDED to run an amp. and a remote wire is basically a seperate power wire. you have your power from your battery, your ground, and remote wire. remote wire is just a wire running from your cd player to your amp and it powers on with your cd player. your cd player tells your amp when to turn on and off. if you have your cd player off, your amp is also off. it is just a signal to tell the amp to turn on and off. like i said any questions just ask.

 

a five channel would probably be a good option for you.....if ur looking for a little extra bass then go with a lower rms sub and then wire the rest of the channels to the door speakers......as timmy said ur gonna need line out converters for the rca connections......u might be better off going with a new head unit but thats up to you....good luck

 

altho a 5 channel amp would work, it might not work well. unless your sub is around the same wattage as your infinity speakers. if you try to turn it up to push your sub, your infinitys might not handle it. or if you make it to make your infinitys sound better, it might not be enough for the sub to push out much bass. i think you are better off just getting 1 sub and get a 1 channel amp or two subs with a 2 channel amp. that way everything is even, your replacement speakers are getting even power from your cd player, and the subs are even power from the amp. also an aftermarket cd player usually has more wattage than a stock unit so just by getting a new head unit, your infinitys will sound better and have more bass because the wattage is matched closer to what they handle. plus a 5 channel amp can be expensive. i have a pioneer 760W peak amp that is 2 channel and i have an 800W peak pioneer sub. i got a 2 channel amp because i was gonna get 2 subs but my sub boxes wouldnt both fit in it so i only got 1 sub. plus with a 2 channel its pretty cheap. my 760 amp was about $130 and it is my 2nd one, never had any problems with either, had a sony explode 222w and it burned up. plus a 2 channel amp you can bridge to make it one channel but i would only suggest at the most turning it half way up or it will get hot and the heat protection will kick in which turns your amp off temporarily. i would say if you are going to turn it up above halfway, get a small fan and point it at your amp to push the hot air away from it. also you can usually connect the fan to the same input as the remote wire so it also turns on and off with the amp. and it wont draw much current from the remote wire.

 

Just a couple things about what you posted.

1) Amps and speakers by the same company paired together are not going to sound any better than stuff from different companies. Hell, just about every piece of equipment in my truck is a different brand.

2) RMS is continuous power handling, and it usually a recommendation of the maximum continuous a speaker can handle. So a 300w RMS subwoofer will be fine with 200-300 RMS in the proper enclosure.

3) Subwoofer size has nothing to do with the type of music you listen too. I've heard 10s that are sloppy as hell and 15s that are incredibly crisp and quick. Get a quality subwoofer and put it in the proper enclosure, it will reproduce any genre of music fine regardless of size.

4) Externally amplified speakers pwn HU run speakers. On the head unit, the speakers are seeing maybe 4-8 watts of undistorted power each. I have well over 600 RMS on tap in my front doors.

Also, most 5 channel amplifiers have separate gain levels for each channel, so you can level match the volume of the speakers and subwoofers separately.

 

well i was saying generally speaking for my info, yes there are things you can do to make things sound better and also i left out that i am talking about the cheaper companies, if you get high end companies it will sound good regardless usually. out of the cheaper ones usually the size matters to how good it will sound and depending on what company. if you get unknown company parts, it will probably sound like crap no matter what. around where i live NOBODY has anything bigger than a 4 channel so i have honestly never seen a 5 channel before so thanks for the info on that. but to the poster of this thread, my info was pretty much for systems that are a total of like $750 or less. if you got the money to put all high end stuff in it, then go for it. i myself cant afford high end ones. the best i would probably get would be JBLs but i have had pioneer amps and subs, 3 systems, and never had a problem and they sound good to me. i like my system to be nice inside but from outside you dont feel the ground shanking. i hate those, they are just obnoxious like a honda civic with the biggest fart can the guy could find put on it. plus the more vibration you have, the worse it is for your vehicle. your weatherstripping and seals will wear out faster and lights are vibrating more so they might blow quicker than usual. i prefer going on the cheap side. i paid like $130 for my cd player, $130 for amp and about $60 for 1 sub and it sounded fine. wouldnt win any sound system shows but it works and sounds good to me.

 

plus you did say you were a noob at systems so you probably dont want to get something to extravegant. for your first system, you want to keep it simple. and get a buddy to put it in who has done it a lot and watch him. maybe get 2 or 3 buddies so you can get better input on what to do. if the one guy is doing something wrong, the others will see it so you will know its wrong. but that way if something goes wrong, you have a better idea of what to do to fix it. if you just buy it and and have a company put it in, you just see the finished product and sound. its like if you make something, you know everything that goes into it. if you buy it and something breaks, you have to search for what was the weak part. by building it you might be able to tell what broke. or take it somewhere and see if they will let you watch. then later on you can save money by putting it in yourself and even get money by doing it fro friends. i have put in my 3 systems after watching my buddy put one in my car. usually after 1 or 2 times of watching, you can do it yourself.

 

a 5 channel amp has separate settings for the door speakers and subwoofers......that way you can adjust the levels between the door speakers and the subs separately....that would be a perfect option for this situation.....if ur gonna end up getting two amps your gonna be around the same price as the 5 channel and not have to run a distro block or run 2 separate power wires......as far as bridging is concerned if u have a good enough power wire then u should be all set.....ive done this for years and the main problem people have wen amps go into protect mode is that their using too small of a gauge of wire.....if u can fit 4 gauge then use it.....8 guage or 10 is usually on the small side.....the factory head unit only gives out 50 watts max....thats not even the rms which is probably only around 15-20....the sub will eat the speakers alive......def go with an amplified speaker set up if ur getting a sub....it will sound soooo much better and its not too expensive to get everything done right the first time......that is all

 

I was on the same quest, so I'll share my experience. I upgraded both front and rear speakers with Boston Acoustics, and it sounded better, but something was lacking. I felt I need a subwoofer. I added a 5 channel amp and a 10" subwoofer. The bass was a big improvement, but I still thought it should sound better.

Next, I purchased a RF 3sixty.2 which was another big improvement. The 3sixty.2 helps to flatten the OEM head unit's EQ settings and allows you complete control over volume settings by speaker and sub and a really good range of EQ settings to tailor the system. Another feature is active crossover settings. At this point the system has come a long way, but I felt like there was not enough mid bass coming through the front door speakers. I have 6.5" components up front.

After doing some research on other forums, it appears that most stock speaker mounting platforms leave a lot to be desired on most systems. Looking at Ford's mounting pedestals makes one wonder what sort of better idea that might be. After deadening the front doors with sound deadening material and cutting some 3/4" MDF baffles to mount the front door speaker, the mid bass that was lacking finally came through. My system has finally met my expectations.

I believe for the money, deadening the doors and mounting the speakers on a solid platform will give you the most bang for the buck. Adding a sub definitely rounds out the system, too. For a sub, you need an amp and a 5 channel affords you the ability to up the wattage to the speakers, for a slight increase in entry fee.

I'm only pushing 55 watts RMS to the speakers and 200 watts RMS to the sub. It's not a competition system by any means, but sounds fine at normal listening levels. My wife thinks my "normal" listening levels are anything but, so my normal might be a little too loud, but it has more room for higher listening levels.

My next step is to deaden the rear doors. I may do some more deadening to the rear wall and floors. Reducing the interior noise makes a big difference on the highway and I only have done the front doors as yet. I just put about 1,500 miles on my truck in the last week mostly at highway speeds.

That's my journey to date into improving the stock sound system. I wanted to keep the factory head unit with the steering wheel controls and OEM Sirius interface. You can't tell it has all this equipment in it by sitting in it, which was my primary objective. Most of this advice came from this forum.

 

very nice.....the rockford equalizer is sick........i was gonna get one back in the day but never got around to it...wish i had at the time

 

You think it sounds good now, wait until you delete your rear speakers and run your front tweeters/mids active off the front 4 channels of your amplifier, bringing some time alignment into the game.

 

well really bottom line is, if the system you put in is the best sounding system youve ever heard, then you wont know the difference of getting higher end components. i had pioneer and it sounded great to me. i have never heard any boston acoustics speakers so i would not expect them to be better until i actually heard it. it will satisfy you until you hear more expensive systems. so just stay out of rich people's cars and youll be fine lol

 

Thats completely false. I did not spend much money at all on my stereo, bought most of my equipment used. It sounds as good as some $4k systems.

Plus its not just about the quality of the equipment, but the quality of the installation makes a huge difference in how it will sound. Lower quality speakers in a proper install will sound better than high dollar speakers just thrown in the doors. With proper speaker placement, direction, deadening/noise reduction, and tuning you can make cheap speakers sound fantastic.

 

well obviously if someone spends 4k on a sub and amp, they probably arent going to walmart for the wiring kit. and a lot of people who pay more for stuff have no clue how to install them or use them correctly. ever see a guy with a ferrari that actually knows how to drive it well? not very often.... also youve never heard of s company called VISONIK have you. they claim they are computer designed for the best performance. when in reality they were computer designed and they are truly crap. my 500W peak pioneer 8" flat cone woofer sounded way better than the 500W peak 12" visonik in its box with a 500W peak amp attached to the back of the box. it was crap.