I have a 2004 F150 Lariat, that had a CD/Cassette HU when I got the truck. I bought a 6 CD/MP3 HU off ebay and installed it last night. The sound from the new HU is terrible! You can turn the Bass adjustment all the way up with out effecting the sound. So does any one have any ideas? Bad HU? Did the 6 CD/MP3 HU have to have an amp? I love the new function I got with this HU but the sound is not what I had hoped for, I know I could change it out to an aftermarket one but I want to keep the truck as stock as possible. TIA.

Chris Mann

 

Is it an audiophile? How many plugs are on the back of the HU?

 

r u certain you have polarity right on the speakers? (+ to + and - to -)

 

There are 3 plugs on the back of this unit, would this be the audiophile one? Would that make a difference? As far as wiring goes I just pluged the connectors up from the one I took out into this one.

 

If it has three plugs, then its the Audiophile head unit but it will sound like crap till you install a sub woofer/ amp box under the rear seat. That third plug powers that amp. The other end of that plug can be found under the plastic threshold plate toward the back of the door frame on the drivers side. Its all taped up with the main wire harness that lives under the plate. There's even a little L shaped hole already in the carpet for it under the rear seat. I had the same problem till I hooked up the sub and now the sound is great. Ford sell the factory unit for about three hundred bucks with a 8" speaker but there's after market units with bigger speakers that can blow windows out. I found that the Ford unit was a little pricy but works great and can be installed in about 15 minutes. My local Ford dealers told me it wasn't available but I found a Ford dealer on the web down in Texas that could get anything geniune Ford.

 

As i mentioned in the other thread -- you can find guys selling the subs on ebay for a lot less than new.

 

I looked under that threshhold for the sub/amp wires. I found the wire bundle, but didn't see anything with a loose connector in there. Is it possible my truck isn't wired for it? I came with the 6-Disc/MP3 "Premium" HU not the Audiophile.

 

Nevermind. I've got it figured out. Here's the deal. The XLT (my truck) does not have the option of upgrading to the Audiophile system. So the wiring is not preinstalled. I have the "Premium" HU so it does not have a connection for the sub. So.. my options are to keep what I have, go to an aftermarket HU and Sub, or get the Audiophile / Factory sub combo off e-bay. All requiring money and installation hassles.

 

Are you 100% sure on this? I verifed that my new XLT does have the cable for the sub already there (I just had to dig a little for it). All I need to do is buy an audiophile HU and sub and plug them in.

 

Thanks for all the help. I have also learned that this HU changed suppliers which has caused some of the problems. Visteon supplied this HU 12/04 and before and then Ford switched to Delphi, to be able to have MP3. The other problem I noticed with this HU is that the steering wheel button now makes the radio seek stations instead of going through the presets, this agian was due to the supplier change. I am the audio engineer for Volvo Trucks and have contacts at Delphi, so I made a call last week to discuss this problem, will let you know what comes from the discussion.

 

Another questions about the sub/amp, are you sure that my truck has the wiring? There is another connector in the dash area that looks like it will plug into the HU, but I tried and it does not seem to fit, so even if the wiring is there for the sub/amp how do you connect the HU up to it? TIA

 

I am 99% sure. I did everything but rip up the carpet. I can see where the screw is that supposedly holds the cable from underneath the truck, but when I reach my finger back there I can feel the screw with no wire. I'm surprised your XLT had it, cause it made perfect sense not to have it if its not an upgradeable option.