Has anyone upgraded the sound system? I'm not looking for anything crazy here, but my stock sound system has like zero bass. All our other factory suvs sound 10x better and have sufficient bass. Will upgraded speakers that fit in the factory locations make a difference?

 

A little but not much.

If you`re looking for something not too crazy, stop by your local car stereo shop because all you really need is a good five channel amp, front and rear speakers, and a behind the rear seat sub.

 

I replaced my door speakers front/back and the center dash. The system sounds really good now with just those changes, I don't listen to anything with heavy bass though.

 

What speakers did you use and how was the install? Did the bass improve even though you don't listen to heavy bass? I listen to hard rock mostly. I just want a quality, factory sounding system.

 

I took out the plastic tool organizer under the rear seat and added a Rockford Fosgate Punch 10 subwoofer, along with JL Audio speakers in the doors. I didn't change the center channel or pillar tweeters. To me it is a night and day difference, for hard rock you could still add a small amp for the door speakers to make it even better. There are slimmer subwoofers available but the Punch 10 was half the price of the others I looked at.

Forgot to mention that sound deadener was added to the doors when the speakers were replaced.

 

So what's the best way to get the signal to the amp?

 

Depends on what you mean by best and what system you have.

If you have the 4.2" screen, replace with a decent head unit.

If you have the 8" screen and are non-Sony, then the Parrot FOR-11ck harness. In this case you should consider using FORScan to remove the factory eq settings and possibly go low level output. Be aware that unless the amp has high impedance inputs, the ACM might think there is a fault in the speakers and send chimes to the instrument panel.

If you have the 8" screen and Sony, the Pac Audio AP4-FD11 Interface is probably the easiest way to go.

 

I have the 8" without the Sony system and I don't want to deal with FORScan changes...so running the high level signals will not cause any faults?

Thanks for the info on the harness.

 

Anyone ever added the dash center channel speaker to a truck that didn't come with it? I wonder if the wires/plug are there under the dash piece?

 

 

I've not upgraded mine yet, but it seems to be a crap shoot, sometimes chimes are a problem, sometimes they aren't. I suspect you are more likely to have the problem running high level signals - the ACM doesn't know you've hooked up an amp and is looking for resistance on its outputs. Many amps have the ability to trick the source into thinking speakers are still hooked up, for example Helix has their ADEP circuit.

 

Yea nowhere near that much. I have the XL screen as well. More or less wondering if quality door speakers etc, can improve the sound sufficiently.

 

 

You can spend a grand and have an amazing stereo with some elbow grease. Or just get a sub and see how you like it for a while. I started off by adding 2x 10's to a box I built behind the rear seats...it sounded so good I was able to put off adding my amp and Infinity Kappa Perfect 600's for 3-4 months.

 

Do the super duty's have the pre-wired plug in the back that can be activated with Forscan like the 150's?