I'm going to be upgrading the entire sound system in my truck this weekend and have a question or two. I'm going to be replacing the head unit with a Sony Mobile ES unit and Infinity Kappa speakers and will be adding a Rockford Fosgate amp, a Sony DSP unit, Sony Minidisc changer, and a couple of Rockford Fosgate subs. I know I have to run an RCA cable and a UniLink (controller) cable from the head unit to the DSP unit. My main question is what am I going to have to do with the rest of the wires from the Sony head unit and the existing wiring in the truck? I know I won't be using the speaker-level output wires, but I will have to deal with the other wires (power, illumination, etc). Do I have to splice these wires together or can I use a wiring harness? When I get rid of my truck (hopefully won't be for a long time), I'll probably take everything out and replace it with the stock equipment, so I'd rather not be cutting too many stock wires, so if I could get by using a wiring harness, that would be great. This is probably a stupid question, but the most I've ever done in the past is replace a head unit using a wiring harness, so this is new to me and I don't want to screw it up. Thanks for any info!!!

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99 F150 X-Cab 4x4 SB, 5.4L V8, Deep Wedgewood Blue/Dark Graphite, Off-Road Pkg, 3.73 Limited Slip, Tow Pkg, Captain's Chairs, CD, Airaid, Luvernve Stainless Nerf Bars, Lund Frontrunner bug deflector, Lund Eclipse taillight covers, Lund Eclipse side window covers.
Soon to be added : Sony Mobile ES CDX-C7850 head unit, Sony Mobile ES XDP-U50D DSP, Rockford Fosgate Punch 600a5 amp, Infinity 62.1i's in the rear and 63.1i's in the front, 2 Rockford Fosgate 8" Punch XLC subs under the rear seat.

 

Thats cool! I always seperate because I would hate to throw everthing back in to have noise.

 

Matt it is better to separate power from RCAs but I was too lazy to do it.

 

Matt,
Definitely use an adapter to connect your head unit to the wiring harness. With the power your are going to run to your front door speakers, I would recommend direct wiring from the amp to your speakers.

You've got a fun and challenging project in front of you. Good luck.

ALA G8R

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97 Lariet SC Flare 4x4, Red/Silver, 5.4L, 3.55LS, ORP
**Superchip, K&N w/ ABM, Flowmaster
** Westin Nerf Bars, Soft Tonneau, Bel Radar Detecter
** Pioneer CD Player, Infinity 57.1CS components up front, Polk 572a's in back, MTX 5000 Thunderform subs, 300 Watt Soundstream Amp for sub, Rockford Fosgate 400a4 for front/rear, Audio Control EQX, Streetwires Power Distribution

 

Thanks for all of the replies to my post...looks like I'll stop at Best Buy after work tonight and pick up the wiring harness that I'll need. I was planning on running the power wire from the battery, through the grommet in the firewall (on the driver's side) and down the driver's side of the transmission hump to a distribution block under the rear seat. I was then going to run an RCA down the passenger side of the transmission hump to the DSP unit that I'll be putting in the center console. I'll then run the three RCAs from the DSP unit back to the amp. I'll then run the speaker wires from the amp up the sides of the interior. That should put the power and RCAs at least a foot and a half apart. I thought this would keep the power cable a fair distance from the RCAs as well as a fair distance from the speaker wires. I'm also using pretty high quality RCAs, so that should help too. Again, thanks for the replies to my question...I appreciate it.

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99 F150 X-Cab 4x4 SB, 5.4L V8, Deep Wedgewood Blue/Dark Graphite, Off-Road Pkg, 3.73 Limited Slip, Tow Pkg, Captain's Chairs, CD, Airaid, Luvernve Stainless Nerf Bars, Lund Frontrunner bug deflector, Lund Eclipse taillight covers, Lund Eclipse side window covers.
Soon to be added : Sony Mobile ES CDX-C7850 head unit, Sony Mobile ES XDP-U50D DSP, Rockford Fosgate Punch 600a5 amp, Infinity 62.1i's in the rear and 63.1i's in the front, 2 Rockford Fosgate 8" Punch XLC subs under the rear seat.

 

Do what I did.
Buy the $7.00 wiring harness.
Hook up power/memory/ground/illum as normal.
As for wiring to th front door use the speaker wires on the aftermarket harness to hook up to your amp.
Leave the head units speaker wires disconnected.
This also will make it easy to remove and put stoc back in.

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99 XLT 5.4L reg cab
4x2 120" Wheelbase
4 wheel disc brakes/ABS
5 star larait style wheels
Toreador Red/Silver
3.55 gears 255/70/16 OWL
Delta toolbox
Eclipse 5340 cd player
Memphis ARCS50 component speakers w/tweeters mounted flush in the door panels (excellent sound)
Sherwood 35x2 RMS amp for components.
Jensen 50x2 RMS for subs.
2 6.5" Bazooka tubes
Lowering shackles?
Columbia SC

 

Matt are where are you putting the tweeters ?
When I sell my truck I'm going to just pull the subs and amps then wire the speakers off the head unit.

 

Matt
I have a clarion processor and understand your situation. Lets start with the head unit. One, use a wire harness it will save you time and money. It also makes reinstalling old components. I run my rca on the left side of the truck and power on the right. Its important to keep the rca's away from interference. As far as the factory wires, leave them. It does not affect your suystem and once again makes putting everything back just that much easier. Hope this helps sounds like your system is set.

 

I ran my power and RCAs together and was lucky enough not to have any noise problems.

 

Not much left to say.....

Very good advice from all!!

Have fun with the install. I enjoy the whole process. While at best buy, if you are very critical, you may want to pick up some Dynamat, or some other sound deadening materials. I hear you can pick the same stuff up at the hardware store under roofing materials!?

I personally would stay away from the speaker wire adapter. Only as strong as your weakest link!! While they do work I have had bad ones. Which caused my head unit to randomly shut off. Solder and heat shrink all connections/ wire splices.

Nice setup. It will sound very nice.

Be well,

Todd

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97 White F-150 XLT 4X4 ORP, 4.6, SuperChip, Stillen Air Intake, Gibson Exhaust, Hellwig Sway Bar, Weld Wheels, 33" Bridgestone A/T Duelers, 3" Body Lift, Rancho 9000's, Billet Grill, SmittyBilt Nerf Bars (Stainless), SnugTop Shell (Expo), Sony ES CDX780 Head Unit, W/CD, Sony ES 10 Disk Changer, Sony ES XDP 210 EQ/DSP, MTX 4X75W AMP, Kenwood 300W AMP for Sub., 1 Fared Lightning Monitor Cap, Optima Yellow Top Battery, MTX ThunderForm W/2-8"-4ohm Fosgate Punch XLC, Infinity Kappa components in front, Infinity Kappa 5X7 rear. On Order: White face gauge? Still looking.......




[This message has been edited by LuvTheC (edited 09-16-1999).]

 

Todd...

In regards to the Dynamat, are there any areas in the truck that REALLY benefit from Dynamat? I know a lot of people use it in their doors, but are there other places that would really benefit as well? I've had the center console out of my truck for the past couple of days and you can really hear the tranny without the console on top of it, so I was thinking about maybe putting down some Dynamat before I reinstall the console. I'm not really THAT critical of a listener, so it's probably not that big of a deal to me and I've probably already spent more on this project than I should have ;-), so I may just forget about the Dynamat...if there's any unwanted noise coming from the doors when I'm done, I can always take the door panels off and put in some Dynamat. Thanks again for the info...I'm really looking forward to getting started on it (and hopefully finishing it) tomorrow.

One other question. I've done a little bit of soldering in my day, but not too much, and was wondering if there are there any tips you might have in regards to soldering the speaker wire to the speaker terminals? I still have to go pick up a soldering iron and some solder and was wondering what I should get. Thanks again.

Matt

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99 F150 X-Cab 4x4 SB, 5.4L V8, Deep Wedgewood Blue/Dark Graphite, Off-Road Pkg, 3.73 Limited Slip, Tow Pkg, Captain's Chairs, CD, Airaid, Luvernve Stainless Nerf Bars, Lund Frontrunner bug deflector, Lund Eclipse taillight covers, Lund Eclipse side window covers.
Soon to be added : Sony Mobile ES CDX-C7850 head unit, Sony Mobile ES XDP-U50D DSP, Rockford Fosgate Punch 600a5 amp, Infinity 62.1i's in the rear and 63.1i's in the front, 2 Rockford Fosgate 8" Punch XLC subs under the rear seat.

 

When hard soldering into the factory harness how do you know what wires go to where?
Do you need a schematic (wiring diagram)of the truck?
If you are going to all the trouble of cutting off the factory connector and figuring out the wiring why not just run new wires and leave the factory wiring alone?
Thats would I would do if I was going to go through all the trouble of hard splicing into the factory wiring.
Personally I'm too lazy to go through all of that and just used a wiring harness.
I never have any problems with the harness.

 

54regcab,

If you wanted to solder direct and chop the factory wiring you could us the scematic supplied by crutchfield. The same one used to solder the harness. I was only talking about the speaker adapters. The speaker adapter/connectors ARE a weak link. If MattT is pulling speaker wire leave the factory wire alone.

I highly recommend using the factory harness for the head unit. Excluding the ground. Ground the head unit directly. I could pull everything and throw the factory system back in tomorrow. But, I'd rather sell the factory "Premium"???? system.

When I do sell my truck down the road. I will want something else by then. No not a Chevy!! ( A different stereo system.) I love my truck. Just getting it the way I want it. Also, just getting it paid off. No plans to sell.


MattT,

I mounted the DSP directly under the center console. It is a very clean application. Four bolts and I can access it and see everything. After I cut out the carpet. Just enought to mount the DSP. I cut and sanded down a few tabs on the bottom of the console. A perfect fit!! I did take some pictures. I will develop them this weekend. Wish I had one of those digital cameras!! Been looking into the Sony FD88. Nice camera!
As far as the connectors for the speakers. Try an electronics store. I found them at Marvac. Or you could use the ones that came with the adapter. Just cut the adapter and solder! Solid connection.....

Got to go and pick up my truck from the dealer. They installed new rotors and an electric sunroof!!

Take care,

Todd

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97 White F-150 XLT 4X4 ORP, 4.6, SuperChip, Stillen Air Intake, Gibson Exhaust, Hellwig Sway Bar, Weld Wheels, 33" Bridgestone A/T Duelers, 3" Body Lift, Rancho 9000's, Billet Grill, SmittyBilt Nerf Bars (Stainless), SnugTop Shell (Expo), Sunroof, Sony ES CDX780 Head Unit, Sony ES 10 Disk Changer, Sony ES XDP 210 EQ/DSP, MTX Pro 4X75W AMP, Kenwood 300W AMP for Sub., 1 Fared Lightning Monitor Cap, Optima Yellow Top Battery, MTX ThunderForm W/2-8"-4ohm Fosgate Punch XLC, Infinity Kappa components in front, Infinity Kappa 5X7 rear. On Order: White face gauge? Still looking.......

 

Actually, I would NOT recommend soldering the speaker wires to the terminals. This is the ONLY area I use crimp on terminals.

I did re-work my sealed sub enclosure. And soldered EVERYTHING including the terminals.

To do this I crimped on terminals to the wire which I then lightly soldered. I then connectedd them to the subs, cleaned the tip and applied new solder VERY Fast to the crimped on connection. If you use an iron thats too cold you will find yourself having to leave the iron on the terminal far too long trying to melt the solder, this heats up the the speaker cable and speaker terminal rather than just the joint...so use a 60W+ iron (not too hot though or the same will happen).

I ONLY did inside the sub because it hits hard and was having problems. No problem now!

Be very careful if you decide to solder to these terminals!! Practice on some old speakers.......

For all other soldering try this link.
http://www.teamrocs.com/technical/pages/connections.htm

I ended up soundproofing my entire truck!? It all started with the doors. Which are very noisy. Then an are under the sub. Then While upgrading my system I just did the whole damn thing. I think I got all the noises!!!!

If you do nothing else. Do the doors.........

You can find the same asphalt based material. Very simalar to Dynamat, I am told, at just about any hardware store. You don't need to cover every area. Just use many strips.

I mounted my 210 eq/dsp "under" the center console. I then put my 10 disk changer inside. Yes, I also soundproofed this area as well.


I hope this helps.

Todd

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97 White F-150 XLT 4X4 ORP, 4.6, SuperChip, Stillen Air Intake, Gibson Exhaust, Hellwig Sway Bar, Weld Wheels, 33" Bridgestone A/T Duelers, 3" Body Lift, Rancho 9000's, Billet Grill, SmittyBilt Nerf Bars (Stainless), SnugTop Shell (Expo), Sunroof, Sony ES CDX780 Head Unit, Sony ES 10 Disk Changer, Sony ES XDP 210 EQ/DSP, MTX Pro 4X75W AMP, Kenwood 300W AMP for Sub., 1 Fared Lightning Monitor Cap, Optima Yellow Top Battery, MTX ThunderForm W/2-8"-4ohm Fosgate Punch XLC, Infinity Kappa components in front, Infinity Kappa 5X7 rear. On Order: White face gauge? Still looking.......

 

Todd,

Thanks again for the info on this. This is probably a stupid question, but what type of crimp-on terminals did you use to connect the speaker wire to the speakers??? I guess I don't really know what they look like. Crutchfield has some "12 gauge female crimp-on quick slides"...is this what I need? I am running 12 guage wire.

With the exception of our amps, it sounds like you and I are going to have pretty similar setups. I'm mounting my DSP in the front half of the center console and the minidisc changer in the rear half though. Where exatly did you mount your EQ/DSP???

Thanks again!!!

Matt

[This message has been edited by MattT (edited 09-17-1999).]