I have just a few questions. First, I have a probox coming for my 04 FX4 supercab, but I already have the amp, and want to go ahead and mount it, where is a good place to mount it, its not too large. 2nd, I have the factory 6disc changer not audiophile, and cant decide if I should keep it or go with a better HU, the biggest reason I am leaning towards the new HU is that I have a set of alpine coaxial speakers in the ft. doors and they dont sound too good, with the new HU I could have more adjustment of them and the sub. and I have the wiring harness I got from wally world and it only has one plug, my stero has two, does it have the factory amp for the door spekers? and if I keep the stock HU, which wires do I need to tap for the line level converters?

Any help would be apperciated, thanks!

 

anyone? I joined this forum because i found myself reading all the time for help, now I can ask. Ya'll seem to really know you stuff!

 

In my experience, aftermarket speakers aren't that much of an upgrade with the stock HU. My Polks are considerably less efficient (quieter) than the stockers, but once I put in an amp...look out! What i'm saying is, an aftermarket head unit will be more powerfull, but still nothing great to power the doors. The stock head units on these trucks are not the weak link!

my suggestions:
1. take the money you would use for an aftermarket HU and spend it on an amp to power the fronts. don't worry about the rears, let them be powered by the stock HU

2. get the right adapters for the factory harness to the HU, i've heard Wal mart has them but can't confirm. I spent $37 at Best Buy but it was worth it. You'll need both male and female. Note: on mine, there are two plugs in the back of the HU, one of them you leave as is and don't patch into it.

3. Make up a rig using the two adaptors. Get a soldering iron, strippers, heat shrink tubing, etc. The rears will pass straight through. For the fronts, connect the output of the HU to a line level adaptor, then run RCAs to your amp (or crossover). I tied into the factory harness wires for the fronts, and ran speaker wire back to my amp. This solves the hassle of feeding separate wires to the doors. Most of the other wires just solder together (pass-thru). You may need to tie into a remote + wire to turn on your amp (s).

4. A slick way to run a rig like this is with a 5 channel amp. If you get one with a built in crossover, it really simplifies the install and saves wiring as well. Sounds like you already have a different amp, though.

 

thanks for the input! I have a new mono amp for the sub, and I have an older 2 channel amp that I can use for the ft door speakers. The only thing that I am having a little trouble with is where to mount the amps. they are not that large, but I dont know where a good place to mount them is. thanks again for the input.

 

Try mounting them under the seats, or on the back wall of the cab, behind the back seats cushion.

One of the plugs is for the cd changer, the other is the power/speaker wires. Youll only use one harness with the aftermarket HU, and you wont be able to use your cd changer.

If your even questioning replacing the stock HU, I would do it. If you get a nice quality one its so much nicer than a stock one. Output is nicer, flexability, features, etc, so much nicer-as long as you get a nice quality one, becuase the stock ones are actually half way decent. Dont skimp on the HU.

 

I think many of the popular aftermarket head units look like some kinda kids toy, not very classy. Just my opinion.

 

Ok, removed the jack under pass back seat, mounted the mono sub amp, replaced factory HU with a pioneer that I had sitting around, so That I could run the RCAs and remoe wire. Doesnt look as good as the factory, but I do like the adjustiability of the sound over the factorys bass and treble settings. also, the componet spekers in the door sound much better,but I will proably still put an amp on them later. also I am going to replace the old HU with a better alpine unit in the near future.

Anyone have a suggustionfor what to do with the factory jack??

 

I think Dupius moved his jack to under the hood. Might want to do a search on "relocated jack" for an idea.