What if you want to bypass the factory amp and send the signal straight to your aftermarket amp. Is there a way to do that?

 

I'm not sure what signal you're talking about. The bass signal that would go to your factory subwoofer? The full signal that goes to your full-range speakers? Something else? What are you trying to avoid by cutting out the factory amp? What are you trying to accomplish? This thread is about the bass signal and the sub. In that case, there isn't any reason why you'd want to bypass the factory amp. You still need that for the other speakers and you don't want to mess that stuff up.

The problem is that Ford uses Automotive Audio Bus (A2B). This is a digital signal that combines audio, various control signals, clock/timing info, and other bits of info all intertwined in a single signal. When you start interrupting this, there can be big problems. That's why various aftermarket devices are required to hack the system, unravel the various pieces of information, and parse out the audio signal for use with aftermarket amps/DSP/speakers/etc. without disrupting the other stuff. This isn't simple like it may have been in past decades.

For subs and bass, you're better off taking the bass signal post-processing ( after the factory amp)and feeding that into your AM amp. This is good enough. You then have your bass signal, weakly amplified by the factory amp. Take that signal directly into your amp (that can accept high level input) and then that amplified signal to your new AM subwoofer. And, the rest of the system is intact and free from shenanigans.

 

^^^^^^this.

 

I've got a 2018 F-150 Lariat SuperCrew Cab with a B&O sound system.

I've installed a Kicker 47KEY500.1 amp and a Kicker 48CWRT84 subwoofer. I've connected my factory subwoofer lines from the factory amp to my new aftermarket amp and then to the aftermarket sub. I have the gain turned all the way down and there is a massive amount of clipping. I had a car audio tech look at it briefly and he said he thought the now "double amplified" signal to the subwoofer was the cause of the clipping and that I should bypass the factory amp and go directly to the aftermarket sub. What are your thoughts?

 

Not accurate. I would do some checking on your install: Make sure your levels on the head unit are turned down for bass; ensure your pairs coming our of the B&O amp are correct (pos/neg) and lastly, ensure you have a good ground. The neg wire to OEM amp and even the OEM ground point are weak grounds. At least test with a good gauge ground. But...if I read your components correctly, you've overpowered your sub. Your amp is 150 at 4ohm X1 or 300@ at 2ohm X1. Your sub needs is a dual 4ohm and getting about 1/2 what you need but should still run. Make sure you have the voice coils wired in parallel correctly. 67L48 may have another view.

If the gains are down and the volume is up at the head, I'd expect clipping (you need your sub amp to come in sooner). Check your install with a good ground and set your head volume at 10 with the EQ flat and test again. If you still have clipping. I'd suspect the amp is defective. If you don't have clipping, follow the set up on the amp owners manual for gain and input. There are hundreds of us that have done this and your audio shop guy is off the mark on this. .

 

Stool,
A "double amplified" signal is a diagnosis that would have me running for the door. This guy doesn't sound like he understand high level signal inputs and definitely doesn't know the specifics of your vehicle. Don't go back to that shop.

Here is a thread that shows how I did my install: sub and amp upgrade, 2019 B&O system. You may find some help in how to run lines and how to set your levels on your amp to get no clipping. There are other threads here and elsewhere, too. Searching is always a good idea. System upgrades are super popular and are the same for F-150s. As I said earlier in this thread, searching through F-150 forums is helpful because the systems are the same and there are 10x more of those folks doing the upgrades. You can learn a lot if you search and read.

With that said, here's your components: a 4 ohm DVC sub and a 500W @ 1 ohm amp. That sub can either be wired for 8 ohms or 2 ohms. You want it for 2 ohms, so make sure you have that wired properly. At that point, the amp will put out 300 W. If you accidentally wire your sub for 8 ohms, then your amp will probably only put out 75 W. If you're doing that, then you're going to get wonky sound because the sub is massively underpowered at that point.

For your amp, you need to ensure that you're using the speaker level, high level signal inputs. I'm not sure how your amp is wired as I'm not familiar with the model. But, you want to make sure your amp can actually handle speaker level inputs (not all do, but most do) and that you've wired it properly.

You do not need to bypass your factory amp. That thing is probably putting out 20-30 W, max. That's right in the sweet spot of any amp's ability to handle speaker-level inputs. If you're still bothered by that, then use a line output converter to drop your amplified speaker level signal down to a low level input. AudioControl is a trusted brand for line output converters and you can read more about them elsewhere.

Finally, the amp needs proper wiring. Please tell me that you're not using factory power lines/wires to the new amp and that you ran your own 8 gauge OFC power and ground to the new amp. If not, you need to. Then you need to check and double-check those lines. What is your voltage up at the battery? What is your voltage back at the amp? If you're getting a voltage drop, then you have a wiring problem, you may be under-driving the amp, and that could be part of your issue. Same with the grounds. Ensure that you have a short, clean ground using at least 8 ga OFC wire and that it has less than 1 ohm resistance between that point and your engine-bay ground. Again, you can read more about this via my link or searching.

This should get you started.