hey everyone. i just bought a 04' f250 crew cab truck that has the factory head unit and 6 disk cd player in it. everything works fine on it but i thought about changin it out for a new aftermarket head unit since i want to hook my amps and subs to it. is there any preouts on the back of the factory player for running amps? im changing all the factory 6x8's for Infinity speakers, so will an aftermarket cd player have more power than the factory one? also, if i change cd players do you think i should add a 4 channel amp to give the new speakers even more power? im adding my lanzar 4000watt 2 channel amp for the pair of 12's i have so i want to hear the highs too. in the past i have always put bass blockers on the speakers so when i crank it up the door speakers dont get too much bass and blow. is that a good thing or would it sound better without the bass blockers to have some midrange? thanks for any input! ---snuffy

 

I happen to like the stock 6 disc and you can use it for powering amps. If your going to put amps in, you should power all of your speakers. There is a device called a LOC (Line Out Converter) that takes speaker levels and makes RCAs out with a gain control. I would use two of these, one for the front pair and one to handle rears and subs. Split the RCAs on the rear LOC for the second input on the mid/high amp and one pair of RCAs for the sub amp, so you can turn down the subs without effecting the sound stage.

Most aftermarket speakers are going to want 50+ watts, a majority of the head units should produce that. If your midrange needs more than say 45 watts, plan for an amp to make life a little easier.

 

so on the back of the factory 6 disk player, it doesnt have any rca preouts? i checked out those line out converters. that might be the route to go since it costs less than a new aftermarket cd player. i plan on running the 4 6x8's on a 4 channel amp, which it would give it around 4x75 watts. then my 4000 watt sub amp....im thinkin about adding a capacitor for that amp to help with light dimming and sound quality.

the best place i can think of putting the amps and the cap is behind the rear seats, and im gonna make a custom box that goes behind the center console and against the back middle seat. i have some ideas on how the box is gonna look, its not my first time building them but usually i put them behind the seats but in this case i want more clarity instead of the subs blowing in the backs of the seats. should i build the box with the sub facing down to the floor or have it positioned facing upwards? thanks ryan

 

No RCAs. That sounds like a plan. The 4000watt amp is going to need 340amps (roughly). I would run nothing less than 1/0 to it and then use a separate wire for the 300 watt amp. Because of the power of the big amp, you may want to look into those kinetic batteries, it will probably take one heck of a cap to handle 340 watts.

I would use the cone side as the producer and baffle the basket side. I don't think there is really a noticeable difference in frequencies or power either way though.

 

hey thanks for replying. your really helpin me out. i was looking at a 10 farad cap for 100 bucks. i think that should cover my 4000 watt lanzar 2 channel amp. i've been using 4 gauge wire to that amp and i'll be using 8 gauge to the smaller 300 watt amp.

i was lookin at those LOC's. and people were sayin that they were a pain in the butt to install. i love the 6 disk changer but if its easier to just buy an aftermarket cd player, i might consider that.

 

I made a a little harness to do mine. I ordered the radio and vehicle harnesses from metra, spliced all of the wires together and added the LOC to it. This gave me a plug and play LOC.

4 ga is too small for 330 amps at 20'. I am not familiar with lanzar, try adding up the values on the fuses. I'd expect 11 or so 30 amp fuses or fewer big fuses. What ever value you get, use the appropriate wire for that draw. The cap can help, but too small of a wire will result in a voltage drop.