I liked the 6CD radio in my 03L, but not the sound. I swapped the 4 speakers with Infinity Kappas 572.5 and a good 4 channel amp under the passenger seat. I put in dynamat and insulation foam for sound deadening. There is no distortion in the speakers and my Magnaflow muffler sounds quiet inside the cab. The new additions make the radio sound like it’s suppose to sound. It should have come this way from the factory!! It's hard to believe that such an expensive truck has such a lousy sound system!!
capt. duane,

 

Are you able to get low level signals out of the Ford radio for the amp, or did you use the speaker level outputs? What amp did you use?

 

L's have radio's i wouldnt even know, i always leave it off when i drive my L. I like to listen to the truck!

 

Topsy, I used a Rockford Fosgate 501x I got on sale for $159. at 6thave dot com. It fits nicely under the passenger seat. It picks up the highs and lows very well. I had one guy ask me where I hid the Sub.

 

Milk Truck,
details...details..

 

What TOPSY was asking is what type of signal your putting to the amp. Ideally, you want a non powered signal (low level) coming from the radio into an amp. If you are using your speaker wire output, that is a powered signal (high level) which usually won't sound good or won't work at all. This is the info we need bro. I'd like to upgrade the system in my L too, and this info would be very helpful.

 

Yes, new wiring was run from the radio to the amp for low level output. The biggest difference was the infinity Kappa speakers. Every CD I listened to sounded better. I got the 4 speakers for $150. from Ebay. The speakers I took out were stamped 25 Watts. I heard that Ford uses this speaker on most models. They were very cheaply made.

 

This is totally true!!! I love the exhaust to much...
Dont need jam for sports talk radio anyway...lol

 

I'm my many ford trucks, I have done a number of combinations and here are my results:

1. Replace factory HU with Alpine HU - not much better
2. Replace factory speakers with quality replacements in factory locations, leave factory HU - nice improvement.
3. Dump all this crap and add 10 speakers in a smoken system - this one wins hands down =)

Anyway, the factory speakers are the weakest link by far.

-Mark

 

Can you give any insight on your wiring? Something for those of us who want to add an amp also. I have a set of Kenwood componets just waiting to go in but I want to wait until I have the wiring schematics for the amp. Thanks, Scott

 

I hope your using a line level converter for the output from the factory HU. If you put the speaker output signal into the low level of the amp it will not last too long.

 

Where is that BS flag when you need it. This is complete FALSE information.

-Mark

 

When I added Kappa's and an amp I just spliced into the speaker outputs and ran to the high Level inputs of the amp....
Worked fine for me...I never used a line level converter. You can get the factory color code from Crutchfield or do a search here in the stereo section...
Now that I have an Alpine Dead Head and dedicated amps for the Kapa components and the MTX 10"s..I am much happier...

 

What meat bag is true because i worked with my buddy who owned a stereo shop and I installed a few subs with a factory head unit and you need a line level converter.

 

I don't care if you knew a guy who knew a guy who knew Mr Fujutsu, if you amp is made to accept speaker level inputs you DO NOT need a line level converter. This is stereo 101 people.