I agree with the majority of what you said, but the above comment would only be ideal if the quality wasn't degraded and/or lost by the time the listener gets hold of it (ie, Sirius streaming quality, mp3's, etc)...

 

Well, I finally got my amps and a PAC audio interface unit. I bought the PAC unit even though the tech at PAC said it was not compatible as it seems to be the same device they sell with pig tails thet you need to splice in. It has the right plugs for my nav system so worst case is spending another 25 bux and cutting this units wiring harness up but at least I won't screw with the factory stuff. I got a Rockford Fosgate R250-1D sub amp and a R400-4D main amp. I went with the R400 for the main as it has pass thru connections so I only have to run the 2 pairs of RCA's to the amps and use a short jumper pair from amp to amp. It also allows me to use the PAC interface as it only has l/r for fron and rear, no sub out. I am going to mount all the amps together on the rear panel on the passenger side as I do not want to lose any storage space as we carry emergency blankets etc and there is just no room in this truck (We came from a Megacab Dodge which had tons of storage behind the rear seat and under them) I think between the PAC unit and the amps there is alot of adjustability to taylor the sound in the truck and I am hoping the JBL speakers will wake up when they get a decent amp or they will have to go and I will try them in the 09 Escape.

Here is a pic of the amps and hardware so far I have put together for the install.
http://i1320.photobucket.com/albums/...ps09955191.jpg

Also a couple pics of the factory sub vs the new Pioneer and the enclosure. FWIW the Pioneer sub alone weighs more than the factory sub enclosure with the factory driver and all 4 door speakers together.
http://i1320.photobucket.com/albums/...psb0ef04f1.jpg
http://i1320.photobucket.com/albums/...psc7e2f662.jpg
http://i1320.photobucket.com/albums/...psb0f8ccd9.jpg

 

This may be old news, but......

If the 2011 setup is like the earlier years, remember that the factory head unit does the frequency splitting "in house" and won't send much bass to the door speakers. Thus it will sound weak and uninspiring without the sub in the system.

This is where Ford got cheap, as you discovered. And it shows in the frequency distribution of the factory head unit, as you turn up the volume. Since they didn't want to spend the cash to run proper wires, the amount of signal sent to the sub drops off as volume increases.

I've noticed with mine, that you can bring the bass up with the built-in tone controls to make it sound "relatively good" at higher volumes, but when you back the volume down again, it gets a bit tiresome. So you have to fiddle with it constantly.

About the only way to get rid of that silliness is to buy an aftermarket head unit, which will give you a myriad of better options; but will also be a reason for someone to break in and steal it (yeah, you guessed it...).

The factory amp(s?) is relatively inefficient, as well as poorly ventilated. After an hour or so of good pounding, the amp is VERY hot.

I'll be interested to see how yours performs with an aftermarket driver in the factory housing. I've been contemplating doing this myself.

All of my door speakers are Infinity components, but the amp in the factory head unit just doesn't really make them "wake up" right.

(What's always blown my mind is that Ford won't offer the 500/1000 watt Monsoon sound system on a $70K truck.... WTF???)

-blaine

 

Well I got some nice weather on saturday and decided it was the day to install the amps and PAC unit. So out came the back seat and I pulled the sub enclosure as well. Then I decided to just fire up the system with just the JBL speakers in the doors and C pillars to see what they sounded like by themselves. And they sounded like crap on their own, they seemed to sound muffled to try and put any kind of description on the sound. I got soo PI$$ed I pulled all the new speakers and put all the factory junk back in it without the new amps or anything as I decided I would not waste a cent on trying to hide the fact the factory Nav / premimum audio system is nothing more than an over priced made in China POS. The really sad thing is I took those same JBL speakers that sounded awfull in the SD and put them in my 09 Escape that has just the basic 4 speaker 1 CD / Sirius system and they sound fantastic, very clean highs and mids with lots of woopum in the bottom end. SO to say I am displeased with the SD would be an understatement. Have not decided what to do with the new Rockford amps yet but I am probably gonna sell all that stuff as I will not replace the head unit and everything that entails as I just don't drive the truck enough. All I gotta say is if it wasn't for the way this thing tows compared to my 08 Dodge megacab I would be back in a newer one of them in a heartbeat given all the other goofy stuff with this SD truck.

 

All my aftermarket stuff sounds great with the factory head unit, it's unfortunate you didn't experience the same, if not similar, results. I have mine set so I don't have much lows/highs coming through the doors, it's all midrange. So yeah, it sounds muddled if just the doors are playing music, but that's what the tweeters and sub are for....

 

I really wasn't expecting any bottom end given the subwoofer but I really expected the mids and highs to be clear given the JBL's are 2 way speakers. There is nothing obstructing the speakers other than the normal grill front and the front speakers are not in a terrible position to hear highs if they were there to start with. Now the only thing I do not know and would question is, is there a crossover in the front door like the excuse that is attached to the rear speakers or are the front tweeters just paralleled off the main speakers. If there was some type of crossover I could see there being no high end in the JBL's otherwise I am at a loss as to why they sound like they do in the SD and how good they are in another vehicle.

 

From what I remember from my install, the factory front door speakers have a crossover (capacitor?) that the tweeters were running off of. It's an extremely poor design and Ford really cheaped out on the premium setup, but a few good upgrades really made the difference for me.

I cut out/bypassed everything with my setup on the output side of the head unit. The 20awg speaker wire it looks like Ford used was no where near adequate for what I was putting through it.

 

Thanks for all the info again. Perhaps I will give this one more go later on and buy some JL Audio C5 components for the front doors and look at installing the amps again. The problem for me to spend so much $$$ though is I have only put 3000 miles on the truck since Sept as I really on use it once or twice a month to haul water and 2 or 3 times in the summer to haul the RV. So I guess I will just wait and try to find some smokin deals on what I want. The other issue is we have no good car audio places closer than 6 hours of here but then that would have been a bust too as I probably would have still bought the JBL's if they sounded in store like they do in the Escape. On the plus side I did discover there is much more room under the rear seats to store stuff when you pitch the storage compartments and leave it open under the seats.

 

After reviewing all your posts I could find it seems going with one of the Audio Controls units be it the LC6i or LCQ-1 will make all the difference over trying to make the thing work directly from the low level outs on the H/U. Too bad there is no device that does what those 2 units do except with low level signals.

 

I've heard great things about the PAC units too so I don't necessarily know if that was your culprit. I bet getting your entire system together and adjusting gains/crossovers probably would've yielded better results. I'm not one for patience so once I got the amp/sub dialed in with the factory door speakers, I knew those had to go. I wanted it done quickly, making sure everything was solid in the process..

I got a great deal on my C5's, bought from Amazon. My other components (amp/sub/loc) I got a good deal on but purchased and had installed by a crappy car audio place that I "thought" knew what they were doing. I ripped out everything they did and did it my way (which, contrary to what my wife thinks, is the RIGHT way ).

The limitations I hear in the system now are the poor audio quality that FM/Sirius transmit, at which point I have to adjust the levels on my LOC/Amp (which I can do from the drivers seat) to compensate for. MP3's/cd's/dvd's sound great though.

 

I decided to get the LCQ1 and will probably mount it in the bottom of the center console with a custom subfloor over it so I don't lose the console functionality. Matt, I have gone over your pics of how you wired your stuff using the Lockpick wiring harness and for the life of I cannot see how you got the speaker outputs off the 4 channel amp that is up under the passenger footwell as my understanding was you didn't cut into the factory wiring. All the interface cables I have seen and have go between the H/U and the amp so I assume they are LL signals. So I am currently trying to track down an 11 or newer SD in a recycling yard to get the speaker out plug off the amp so I can leave the factory one in tact should I ever remove the amps. I guess this is going to take another 5 or 6 months now that summer is getting here with a trip to Tennessee in June horse corrals etc that need to be done.

 

I never cut into the factory harness, I cut into the Lockpick harness. I outlined which Lockpick wires match up with the factory wires somewhere, maybe in this thread. If you can't find it, let me know. So off my head unit, one end of the Lockpick harness gets plugged in, then I cut the speaker wires of the Lockpick harness and tapped into that for the wires to run back to the LOC (LC6 in my case), then into the amp, etc.

I never touched the wires off the factory amp (I ran all new speaker wire).

Too bad you're not closer, we'd button that thing up quick.

UPDATE:
Here's the thread that has some pics of my setup/install (with a pic of the factory speaker to confirm my previous answer about the capacitor) and the wiring of the lockpick wires vs. factory:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...superduty.html

 

I really do appreciate all your help with this and I am trying not to sound like a dumb a$$ but I have one more Q. In the picture from your library that I have included the link, are you feeding the LC6i from one of those 2 blue cables you have spliced in there and if so where does the other go?

IMG_20120617_151523.jpg Photo by 2ksilverbullet | Photobucket

 

Well I contacted Audiocontrol today and asked the big question. Will the LCQ-1 work with line level inputs? The response back was It will work OK (again, not designed for line level inputs). There are pad jumpers inside the
LCQ-1 - depending on the board revision, you will
move them to an appropriate position to change the amount of signal reduction

So it looks like I have a decent solution to clean up Ford's mess now. Just need to make some final decisions on speakers. Although that won't happen till we get back from Tennessee next month.

 

That was before my rewire. I had one of the bundles going back to the amp, then another going from the amp back up to the harness, which split it out to the speakers. Now I just have one going out to the amp, then all new wiring from the amp to the doors.