Yep, go figure. I wanted a XLT when I was looking. I ended up test driving a Lariat with Audiophile. When I found out the Audiophile was not available in XLT it swayed me to the Lariat. If the salesman had never brought the Lariat for me to test drive I would probably have a XLT right now and be just as happy, because I would not have ever heard the Audiophile. Good Luck!

 

Didn't check the site, but I wonder if you can get the AP setup in a Reg Cab? doesn't seem likely, but you never know.
Also, the STX doesn't have the steering wheel controls for sound, thus would they actually offer it, since it would be a major change in harness?
Anyone with a Reg cab and the AP? Or any AP with the wheel controls in anything but the Lariat and the FX4?
Just curious of course. I am quite happy with my Kenwood, Pioneer, amp and small sub.
Chris

 

Hi Chris, My step son bought a new 05 STX 4x4 SCab Saturday and it has the Audiophile. I cannot remember if it has steering wheel controls or not. I would not think Audiophile would be available in regular cabs due to amp and subwoofer location would not be available, underneath back seat. Good Luck!

 

Well, I did a search on Visteon's website and cannot find an article that directly says it uses Boston Acoustics in the Ford Audiophile. It does use them in many of their other Audiophile systems for other vehicles: http://www.visteon.com/about/features/2004/020604.shtml I found many cases for that. They have 4 different audio setups for the F150. Maybe one of those setups uses the Boston Acoustic and the others use other brand speakers? Maybe different setups are used for different models of the F150? I couldn't find a specific other brand speaker mentioned on their website but they may use other brands. I also found other members of other forums that state the Boston Acoustics are used in the 04 F150 Audiophile. In any case I am not affiliated with Visteon, BA, or Ford so I have no gain if BAs are used in the Ford Lariat Audiophile or not. In reality it is no big deal. Heck, tonight I'll crank up my BAs as I'm cruising out for some beer and pool on the town just in honor of this Fabulous Forum!!!

 

Anyone who has dealt in autoparts knows that many brand products are made by the same maker.
A good example, look at Wells Manufacturing,
‘The manufacturers manufacturer'.

They were making EVERY brand of American made points/ignition parts in the 70-80-90’s. Thirty different grades. Sometimes I would open a box marked Blue Streak, and find product marked Echlin, etc.

I have personally been involved in 'reboxing' shocks, gaskets, belts, from one major brand to another, because they would actually contract to warranty and support the old brand when they took over the old brands stock line.

Car batteries, this happens all the time.

This is all legal, and done openly (well, not to the customer) with the vendor's people allegedly helping, and observing.

The new vendor assumes the ownership/support of legacy parts.

Also, who really makes either of those exact model of that brand of speaker? Bet a dollar you can't find out. Many companies farm out various segments of their product line.

Alternately, if you have a contract with Joe's stereo maker for your car, and Joe's can not make the supply chain deadline, guess what, Joe's buys some from his competitor, and puts them in his box. Legal, as long as the parts are equally good, and the vendor will assume responsibility for the product.

Don't even want to get into Nipponese stuff. Brand name is an American idea that they don't completely understand.

Parts is Parts, to their mindset.

Open the box, and it will fit what it's supposed too, but it could be a different shape, color, design, etc. If it fits, it's the right part. Different way of doing things, and it does work.

So arguing about this is fairly pointless. I suspect all parties are correct.
Chris

 

You're saying exactly what I was thinking, Chris. Many a time I've ordered certain items and found them to be identical to the brand name item minus the brand name logo. Visteon and Ford may not even want people to know the BAs are involved (at least that's what I suspect) in order to give out a better price for the Ford Audiophile and still keep the "premium" concept of Boston Acoustic. In the end you are correct. This is a moot point. Suffice to say the Ford Audiophile is one kick "A" system and everyone needs to evaluate what price and effort they want to put into their own truck audio system.

 

We shouldn't overlook the fact that there is a guy working on the line that has to go over to a pile of speakers and grab the correct ones for the option listed on the build sheet??

 

One thing about the internet is you'll always get some people handing out all kinds of free disinformation. I don't know if it's because they just want to look like a know-it-all or what. Anyway, since I actually have the Audiophile system, I decided I'd end this whole speaker debate by going out and looking at my speakers. Here's what I found:

First, I pulled the plastic panel off the front drivers-side door. What did I see? A speaker. Or, more correctly, a tweeter speaker and a midrange speaker that was covered by a black cardboard grill. No writing or markings of any kind. Beats me how anyone could see "25 watts", "Boston Acoustic" or anything else of the kind without going further.

Then, just to be sure, I decided to go the extra step and take out the four 7/32 hex-head screws that were mounting the midrange speaker into the door panel. I'm pretty sure a dealer wouldn't let you do this to one of their trucks on the lot, but just in case that's how the alleged "25 watt" markings were found... On the back side of the speaker I found the following:

The Ford logo
4L3T-18808-AC
P036D 4 ohm (actually the ohm horse-shoe symbol)
USA 05504H
06804X

If you can decipher the brand and the wattage from that, more power to you.

 

No one, anywhere, said the Audiophiles came with 25 watt speakers standard. In one truck which had been ‘dealer optioned’ we found what appear to be the cheap 25 watt paper speakers.
There were was no midrange and no separate tweeter. This was not a three way speaker, just a standard Ford speaker, marginally two way.

For those who don’t read so well, the truck was DEALER-OPTIONED. That means the dealer stuck the head unit in there.

There were no steering wheel controls.

This was on an XLT that they had on special for 19k. The Audiophile was not in the sticker, so when the lady that was test driving the truck asked about it they said they had swapped it in.

I didn’t argue. I did pop the grill off on the test drive to check out the speakers. They looked exactly like the ones I pulled from my truck, and sold on e-bay. That is from the front. Thus my question to those with the Audiophiles as to what speakers came in the trucks with factory Audiophiles.

Notice that I did not say the Audiophile had ‘25’ watt speakers. I have asked three times for people with Audiophiles systems to post pictures of their speakers, and post the information from them.
I did say that if the Audiophile only put out 300 watts, they could be ‘upgraded’ by the dealer without swapping speakers. Which our local Ford shop appears to have done.

Again, this has nothing to do with the factory Audiophile system. Which costs 500 plus bucks to add.

The whole question was about whether it is worth the 500 bucks to add the system. I was suggesting that if you wanted the system, don’t have the dealer just toss in a head unit. Get the factory, or spend the money on aftermarket, where you know what you are getting.

Dealers in this state like to offer you upgrades at the sale, by tossing things in that you would like to have, like towing, alarm, etc. They usually do NOT use the factory parts. I am told in the forums that that happens everywhere, but I can only vouch for California.

The dealer had several ‘dealer optioned’ things on my truck. None of them were what Ford would ship from the factory.

The stock speakers are not the ones they sell with the Audiophile. That has been beat to death. The watts on the speaker are usually marked in ink. They were on the Ford speakers.
On the back of the stock Ford speakers it is marked 25 watt. In English, which is I suppose, ironic, as they are made in Mexico.

The discussion is why some people apparently have Boston Acoustics rather than Visteon packaged speakers, which you state are not marked by them, thus are anybody’s guess who they buy them from. Notice Visteon is a 'systems' company. They buy, test and assemble components. Read their website.

Oh, and just for luck, try going to the Visteon site, and follow the link to where they show that they HAVE teamed up (another way to say they use their products, under their own label) with Boston Acoustics.
http://www.visteon.com/products/automotive/boston_acoustics.shtml

Chris

 

Last night we went to son and daughter in laws "Fourth of July" party which included food, drink, huge camp fire, a lot of people and my step son's brand new F150 STX 4x4 with Audiophile provided the music. That audiophile had people asking questions and was getting nice comments on quality of sound. Just thought I would share that in case anyone still has questions about the wonderful sound the "Audiophile" produces. HAPPY FOURTH EVERYONE!!!!!

 

What do you think the possibility is that the extra head unit pig tail and the subwoofer pig tail is tucked out of sight on XLTs just waiting to be plugged in. I ask because on my older 80's XLT F150 shared the same wiring harness with the Lariat. But then again there wasn't a whole lot of difference between the two models.

 

I have the lariat and I found were the plug should be but it's not there. When I removed my head unit there was one unused plug there Im not sure what it's for but I do have the overhead rail system. I would love to install the factory sub.I ordered the audio wiring diagram last week as soon as I receive it I will post it.

 

It's just a misconception that BA's are used in the F150. As per the Visteon response (below) they do not use BA's in the F150. If some are so sure they have BA's then pop the grill and the speaker. Think the mindset will change! You know what rumors do! The only thing Visteon does as an upgrade under the audiophile system is add a tweeter for better sound dispersion, and a rear under seat self powered sub! Other then that the non audiophile speakers are single cone speakers! That's why just replacing the OEM speakers with an aftermarket set makes such a vast improvement. The Visteon announcement of teaming up with BA was in direct relationship with the Chrysler agreement. Of which Chrysler uses as part of their marketing especially in the "300 C", "Dodge Magnum", "Jeep Grand Cherokee" audio upgrade. If this were the same as with Ford F150's one would think that this would be well advertised also on the F150!

This is just one of those wish rumors that got out of hand!

"In response to your inquiry concerning Boston Acoustic Speakers installed in an audiophile sound system for "04" & "05" F150 trucks ; These speakers are not a part of an O.E. Audiophile sound package in these vehicles. "
Al Tubbs
S.E. Regional Manager
Visteon Aftermarket Sales

 

I wish someone would take a few pictures. I had the pictures of my four stock speakers, including nice shots of the rear, but after I sold them on e-bay, my wife deleted them. Lots of guys here have the speakers out, somebody must have a camera???

There are two-three-four reported speakers in the trucks. I have seen the 25 watt (plainly marked on the back) Stock speakers. Very basic Ford speakers, same fore and aft. I sold mine on e-bay in two pairs, same time as I sold the headunit.
Then there are the Audiophile 'from factory' speakers. Some say they are the same speakers, some say they are not. This is from owners of the systems...
I only saw one set, and that was in a Scab that was being sold as a leader at the local Ford place. These speakers (well, one front one) were exactly the same as the factory speaker like I had removed from my STX. There were no tweeters added. Others have said that the Audiophile comes with much better speakers.
Finally several (6 postings) have said they were BA speakers, and marked as such.

I notice the legal speak in the quoted e-mail from BA. This is legal speak, and it depends on what the 'meaning of is is'.

If the speakers are supplied by BA, but not labeled, the following would be completely true.
If the speakers were a dealer option, the following would be completely true.
If they substituted the speakers on a supply chain basis, the following would be completely true.

"These speakers are not a part of an O.E. Audiophile sound package in these vehicles."

Pictures, especially of the rear of the speakers, both from Audiophile, and regular would be nice.
I know I have requested pics of the Audiophile speakers before with no luck, but come on now there are a dozen folks wanting this information.
Pretty please, break out the cameras!
Thanks
Chris









Again, this was a head unit that had been put in by the dealership, perhaps to fix a problem in their demo, or because someone was going to buy the truck, and they put it in before the deal fell through. This truck had had the 'towing option' added by the dealership also. They were selling it for under 20 k, which at their place is a huge bargain. It had 600 miles on it, and was being sold as new.

 

How do you include pics on the site?