Seems to me to be ideal to get an amp that had 8 leads in and 8 leads out and simply find a place to disconnect or cut the speaker wires and go at it. I am hearing from Crutchfield that the after market amps only have four inputs. Hummmm. that means the left and right and front and rear are not going to works anymore. Right????? Why do the do this. I am assuming that everyone is hooking up to the speaker wires. Do these radios have preamp RCA jacks?

I seem to have a misconception about the difference between two way and three way speakers. I thought that 2 ways were mostly mid and treble, not much base and generally less freq resp. than 3 way. I have been told that 2 way now have generally better base and less treble. Is that right. Seems to me that if I were going to replace my 4 speakers in my truck and not add other speakers I would want 3 way????
noelvm
noelvm

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99.5 Red Ligntning, Syn Oil, Eldebrock 5512 muffler, BFG drag radials, Bugflector, G&H Lens covers,
70 Vette LS-6

 

noelvm - you can get a 4 channel amp and hook 4 speakers to it. (keeping fade & balance)
or, get a 2 channel amp, hook 4 speakers to it (2 on each channel, but you would lose fade {front to back}). go ahead & get 3 or 4 way speakers.. remember.. you get what you pay for!

heres what i would do.. (and have done to a f250 for a friend)

he wanted to keep the factory cd/tape deck, but change out the stock speakers & add a monsterous 4 channel keenwood amp.

parts list:
2 speaker level to rca adapters - $20 each @ at my local stereo shop.
ford factory stereo removal tools - $5 @ autozone
several feet (10 or 12) of red 8 guage power wire & 2 feet of black 8 guage ground wire - couple of dollars per foot @ stereo shop
inline fuse holder with glass fuse (with correct amperage for whatever amplifier you are running)- $15 @ stereo shop
two 14 foot rca cables - $12 each @ stereo shop
50 foot spool of 16 guage wire - $15 @ walmart
mini fuse taps (for tapping into fuse panel to get a remote on power source) - $1 @ raido shack
15 foot of 16 guage wire for remote on power wire - $5 @ stereo shop
various spade crimps (for speaker wire) ring terminal crimps (for battery & ground connection) & butt crimps for splicing into stock wiring harness.
pad of paper & pen - for writing down the color of speaker wires in each door
fluke multimeter - for testing speaker wires to see which is positive & negative.

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brooks
'00 silver "L"

 

add this to parts list - 4 new speakers & 4 channel amp... lol
oh, you can also buy a amp install kit from raido shack.. it comes with most everything.

okay.. step by step.

remove door panels and rear panels. (exposing speakers) and remove speakers.

write (on pad) location & color of speaker wires (ex. front left speaker lt. green w/ orange stripe & grey w/ lt. blue stripe) do this for all 4 speakers.

(if you order from crutchfield, you will get free speaker connectors that plug into stock wiring harness, and wont have to cut or test each set of wires)

with raido on (volume half way) test each pair of speaker wires to see which is positive & negative. (it does make a difference) put multimeter on "dc" and put one probe on each wire, checking to see if you get a + or - (if you get a + then the red probe is on the positive wire) make a note of this on your pad with speaker wire colors written on it..

turn ignition off now

cut factory speaker connectors off & put spade conectors on the wires (making sure to get positive & negative right)
connect speakers (make sure connectors are tight)
put speakers in.

find grommet in firewall to run power wire

pull out raido and connect rca adapters to correct speaker wires (which you should have written down) coming out of raido
run rca cables to adapters
cut 4 pieces of speaker wire off of spool (each enough to reach from amp to head unit)
hook these to the wiring harness that goes into the dash (and to the speakers)you may want to lable each end of the wires so you remember which is which.

(you can run the speaker wire directly to each speaker.. but it takes a bit longer)

find the raido fuse in fuse panel & tap it with a fuse tap. run remote wire around cab to amp

mount amp where you wish, find a good ground (scrape paint off body to get good connection)
hook up speaker wires, power/ground, rca & remote wire.

make sure all your connections are good before putting the fuse in under the hood!

test the raido/amp/speakers now.. i suggest turning the gain on the amp to halfway to start with and raido volume half to 3/4. adjust as needed till you like the sound.
once you like the sound, replace everything you took out..

i hope this helps someone.. if i have to i can take some digital pics & post them.
or better yet, buy your stuff & come to louisiana & i'll put it in.


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brooks
'00 silver "L"

 

Well, I think clonetek has has you covered. But I had to splice into the rear-left speaker wire to get a signal since the radio was welded in or something. I did need to a converter to get a low input signal to the amp. The decks don't have pre-outs. Thats premium audio system for ya.

 

Thanks a lot guys. What do think? About two six packs or more.
noelvm

 

First drive L to the stereo install place, then go to liquor store buy a 12 pack. Go home put on the Laker game and watch them beat Portland. Pick up truck. It just doesn't get any better than this!

 

caution.. drink AFTER you do the install..
wouldnt want to botch it, would ya?


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brooks
'00 silver "L"