I wanted to get some opinions or some advice on what I plan on doing to overhaul the factory audiophile system on my 2006 Screw KR. I am a 46 year old who hasn't kept up with the technology regarding car audio, but I do know that I want to make the factory system sound better. The first reason is because I have a hole in one ear drum and don't hear very well. When I increase the volume of the factory HU, the bass goes away. I don't want an aftermarket HU because I simply don't want to fool around with the complications making the steering wheel controls work, I already have Sirius and a subscription that is working very well. I don't need DVD, nav, etc.

I have already purchased an MTX re-Q to enhance the bass of the factory sub-woofer. Haven't installed it yet because I have no idea how, but this is my start.

My second step is to purchase a line out converter so that I can hook up a four channel amp that pushes approx. 50 watts RMS to each speaker. I also want to add a PIE interface so I can use my Ipod instead of the CD changer. I have considered replacing the factory sub as well, but want to add the converter and amps first to see if I like the sound. If not, a new sub will be next.

Next, new speakers to replace factory speakers. Any advice here would be greatly appreciated.

I am hoping that after these steps, the factory unit will sound ok and I can increase volume without losing bass, sound quality, etc.

So what do you think?

 

Here is the problem with the stock HU...at about 1/2 or so volume, the HU is designed to roll off the bass the more you crank the volume.
Hooking up a line out converter to an aftermarket amp and sub will just do the same thing, since its running off the same signal coming out of the HU to the speakers.

There are some fancier "LOCs" such as the JL Cleansweep and the Rockford 3.Sixty that add a lot of features considering you are still running a stock HU. A couple of the best things you could get for factory integration if you ask me. Offer much more than just a signal conversion though. Will help with the bass roll off, EQing, some will even allow you to hook your Ipod up too it, etc.
Its worth looking into them if your really wanting good sound from the stock HU.

 

The MTX re-Q that I mentioned in my post that I have already purchased does exactly that. It adds back the bass the factory HU takes out. It also allows you to control the amount of bass to the sub and speakers, has a subsonic filter and a low pass cross-over. It can also act a the line out converter.

 

Ahhhhh....gotcha

I didnt even know MTX made such a thing.
I wasnt sure what you were talking about when you mentioned that

 

Hey gsb0824. After reading your post I'm not sure if you are confused with what the re-Q actually is. You have it correct that it reproduces the bass that is lost as you turn the factory headunit up but it is a line out converter. It requires amplifiers to work. I only state this because you say that your second step is to add a line out convertor and amp.

I have used the re-Q several times. Actually on quite a few F150s. I have NEVER connected it to a Audiophile system though. I have never tested to see if the speaker outputs on the audiophile radio are crossed over at a highpass or if they are full range. Also I'm not sure if the subwoofer output signal for the factory subwoofer is strong enough to give a good signal for the inputs of the re-Q. I have always added a subwoofer to a standard stereo system because the dealer's customer wants thier system to be like or better than the audiophile.

The re-Q has both a Sub out and a full range output. Typically when I use it I simply run it with a four channel amplifier. My amplifier of choice that I use is a DB Drive Speed Series SPA125.4. (125watts x 4) or SPA85.4 (85wats x 4) These amps are four channel amplifiers that also have a bass **** that controls the rear two channels that I mount within the driver's reach to control the sub volume. I wire the system up to run all four speakers off the front two channels of the amp which gets it's signal from the full-range output of the re-Q. I then bridge the rear channels to power a single 10 or 12 inch sub getting it's signal off the sub output of the re-Q. In your case though you will be using a factory subwoofer. I'll explain the wiring for this down below. Another cool thing about the re-Q is that the full-range outputs are a 2.5 volt output and the sub-out is 8 volts. This signal really gets your amplifier screaming with a solid signal.

Provided that the audiophile radio puts out a full-range signal to the speakers this is how I would go about connecting it.

The problem I see you are going to run into is that the rear subwoofer does not have RCA inputs to run the subwoofer from the re-Q. There is a way around this though. Get yourself a Metra harness # 70-5521.



The reason I tell you to get this harness is that it has an eight pin harness for the subwoofer harness with RCAs to attach to the factory wiring. Connect the Blue remote out from the re-Q to the two blue-white wires on the eight pin harness. When you do so this will give a delay for the sub amp so that it won't make a "POP" when turning on and off.

Use the other harness that comes in the package to use as a reference to find your front and rear speaker leads. You will cut the eight speaker leads in half. Tape off the four rear speaker outputs coming from the radio. Connect the re-Qs left and right input wires to the four left and right speaker wires comming out of the radio. You then connect the eight speaker wires that go to the speakers from behind the radio to the amplifier. Plug the RCAs from the harness into the sub RCAs off re-Q and and the amplifier RCAs into the full-range RCAs and you should be good.

Again this is all assuming that the factory speaker outs are not crossovered at a high/mid frequency.

 

I used a JL Audio cleansweep and thought it was OK- that is until I switched to my Alpine IVA 300 screen. The sound quality across the board went WAY way up.