I have a 2004 F250 crew cab. I want to upgrade my speakers, but I am keeping the factory 6-disc in dash cd player. I'd like to add a sub, but I need what little storage there is, so no sub. Does anyone know how many watts the factory stereo puts out? Any ideas on speakers I could use to still get decent bass w/o a sub? Should I amplify the speakers?

 

If you are a do-it-yourselfer, you might want to contact crutchfield.com. The are very helpful for projects like yours. I know they do make subwoofers that can mount under the seat. Wether they would fit your truck, I don't know. You might also want to check out your local sound shop and see what they have to offer. If you buy the products from them, installation is usually very reasonable.

 

Take a look at the JL Audio stealthboxes if you want to add a sub without losing the storage behind the rear seat. I had one in my 99 F250 and plan on putting it in my 07 f350 soon. It sounds great.

Otherwise yes adding an amp and swapping out the door speakers will make the stereo sound better. If you want to save some money many people just swap out the front speakers, as that is where the majority of the sound you hear comes from.

Crutchfield is a great place to do research, and they have great customer service but they tend to be fairly expensive. You may want to check other retailers for pricing once you figure out what you want.

 

Thanks, beerstalker!

Nice to know about the Stealthbox- great bass without sacrificing much storage. Where did you put the amp? Does the factory stereo have the necessary outputs?
The JL website even has recommended speakers for the front and rear. I imagine they would all work well together.

 

Some stealthbox (type) subs come with an internal amp. I had an MTX Audio (non amp'd) thunderform sub for my toyota tacoma. It was reallt the only thing that would fit in a reg cab. JL is a better sub IMO.

http://www.supercrewsound.com/shop/cat/61.htm

 

I also have the JL Audio stealthbox in my 03 CC. Mounted a 5 channel amp (Alpine MRV-F450) to the back of the cab behind the rear seat and repalced the stock speakers with Alpine SPS-570's. Even my teenage daughter loves driving her old mans rig now.
gw

 

In my 99 I mounted the amp under the front passenger seat. However, I did not have power seats so I am not sure if it would have fit with them. I plan on mounting my eclipse 5 channel amp behind the rear seats of my crew cab. I have not decided how I am going to mount it there though. I have thought about trying to bolt a pice of wood or sheet steel in using the child seat latches, or just mounting them to the seat back itself. I don't want to drill through the back of the cab to mount it.

 

So did any of you leave in the factory stereo? If so, how did you hook the amp to it? I just bought my truck and the cd player isn't working. It's under warranty so I'm getting a new unit. Since it's a 6 disc in-dash and it's "free", I'm keeping it, but I haven't had a chance to check out the back end of it to see what inputs it might have.

 

You need to get an aftermarket wire harness to add the red and white RCA imputs. It's called a PIE adapter, I'll attach a link.

 

Check out this company, they should have what you need. This is the link to add an Ipod or MP3 to factory 6 disc radio with the AUX button on the lower right of the face.

http://www.logjamelectronics.com/piefrd04aux.html

 

I just reread my posts, look around on that web site for the exact addapter you're looking for, good luck.

 

I am going to replace the factory CD player with a pioneer DEH-P980BT, that I removed from the car I just sold. I also have a Kicker KX550.3 amp all the wiring fuses, speakers etc, but I am not going to go through all that yet.

BTW, here is the Ford In-dash Receiver Kit that crutchfield is sending me
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-7q5olld...&display=L#Tab

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-7q5olld...20&i=120705520

 

I installed a powered subwoofer, a Kenwood KSC-SW1, with the factory 1 cd unit. It fits under the crew cab non powered driver seat and spliced into the existing speaker wires. I also replaced the front door speakers ($90) and it makes a significant difference.

After a month, I replaced the factory unit with an Alpine CDA9856 ($180) which controls the iPod and it let me direct input the Sirius Sportster.

In retrospect, I would buy the new head unit first and replace all four speakers. There is so much bass, and treble control on the new Alpine that I do not think the subwoofer would make that much difference. That would have saved the $190 for the subwoofer.

 

I have the super cab and i built a custom box to house a 12 sub.I flipped up the single seat in the back and attached the amp to it and the box sits on the floor behind my seat.I wired the amps rem switch to one of my upfitter switches so when i need the space for people i turn off the switch ,disconnect the speaker wire and flip the seat down.Im not a fan of the stock single cdplayer .Mine is already actin up .I had the factory 6 cd previously and i liked it.I just replaced the door speakers,huge difference.

 

That seems like a good idea, do you have any pics? I think we have the same truck. If I ever get around to it, I would like to do something like that, I like kicking bass, except it makes my dog sick. For now I am just going to install my pioneer player and maybe replace the speakers.

How hard is to remove the door panels to get to the speakers?

Jeff