Hey-

It is late at night, I am listening to the Carpenters' Greatest Hits, and I have a question.

I am going to buy a F-150 XLT. I am a big music fan, the stereo means a lot, but not enough to upgrade to a Lariat.

Do any of you audio gurus out there know just what the difference is between the 6 disk, MP3 capable stereo head offered to the XLT and the Audiophile stereo available in the Lariat? Of course, besides the subwoofer and other speaker options.

Could I go for the 6-disk XLT stereo and then add a sub and better speakers and end up with an "Audiophile" system?

Any of this make a difference as to iPod compatibility?

Thanks-

PC

 

For $250 the Audiophile system is totally worth it. Boston accoustic speakers, speaker amps and the subwoofer is excellent. My FX4 SuperCrew sounds excellent. I've owned many vehicles but this is the best stock radio system I've heard. Well worth the money.

 

I am looking at an XLT, so the Audiophile is not an option for me-

Thanks-

PC

 

Mr. Pc, I think that you would get the best sound by pulling the head unit and putting in a decent aftermarket unit. The six changer is basicly the same sound/speakers as the single. The AP setup involves speaker change, and amp, as well as a different head unit.

If you stay with your stock head unit, just putting 120 bucks worth of Pioneer speakers will greatly improve it. Easy job. An amp and woofer wouldn't hurt.

I have an aftermarket (Kenwood) unit, 4 Pioneer speakers, two tweeters, a 100 watt amp and an 8 inch sub. Total cost (after deducting the resale amounts for stock cd and speakers) 170. It sounds much nicer than the the stock 6 changer will ever sound.

Stock systems do look nice, but the actual component costs are very low. These are mass produced vehicles, after all.
Chris

 

Thanks for the reply. I am leaning towards keeping the stock look, though, and I guess I fear theft more if I have an after-market stereo.

Hmmmm.

PC

 

I fully agree... Audiophile in my FX4 is awsome

 

I'm very impressed with the audiophile system. Besides the sub and 6 disc option though, is the sound quality any different than the lesser option?

FWIW, I've been told that the mp3 6-disc units don't sound as good as the non mp3 units. Different manufacturer. I was going to bitch at the dealership at first since it was supposed to come with it, but now I'll keep my non-mp3 unit.

 

Hate to tell you the Audiophile does not include Boston Acoustic speakers as per Visteon. It only includes a component system for the front doors and a sub under the seat.
Here it is straight from the horses mouth!
"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

All cd players are manufactured by Visteon, whether 6 cd or single cd!

 

If I'm not mistaken, correct me if I'm wrong KevinM, the audiophile and non-audiophile boxes are identical from the looks of my '05 HU. They share the same PCB fab, but they differ by a few HW stuff options that includes some kind of subwoofer signal processing board, the 3rd connector in back of the unit, and some firmware. The native amp in the stock HU isn't a terribly high power device. I'm guessing something close to 20Wrms @1%THD/channel based on something that has similar pinouts and partnumber on it. The Philips DSP that runs the show is probably very close if not one of the same that the aftermarket guys use.

Other than that, how good the unit sounds is primarily a function of the speakers. You'll get the biggest bang for the buck by swapping out the factory speakers.

Technically speaking, since the 4 audio channel outputs are fairly easily accessible, one should be able to tap into the onboard DSP preamp outs and drive an external amp to make oneself a killer system that'll sound just as good if not better than any aftermarket unit. Plus, you won't have this huge ugly gapping hole in the dash if you replaced it with a single-DIN HU, no matter how much bling it adds...

Unfortunately, the audiophile version didn't come with my truck. Warranty issues aside, I'm gonna be fooling with the HU when I get some time to stick in an amp and sub and see if it really works. If nothing else, I'll have to settle for a line-out-converter :-|

 

from another point of view i have a non audiophile 6 disc in my lariat and it sucks, it has no bass whatsoever . the high end treble is excellent however. i am in the process of trying to locate the audiophile head unit and amp. i had purchased two head units on ebay but returned them as the cd changer was dead on arrival on both as they to not withstand shipping well and new units are on backorder. in my opinion it is well worth the extra money to buy a truck that is equipped with audiophile from the factory and have absolutely no interest in an aftermarket unit due to the looks.
jim

 

To make it into an audiophile unit you just need to add the component speakers in the front doors, and run the sub under the back seat which contains it's own amp. The way I understrand it, the audiophile and non audiphile 6 CD head units are the same.

 

Nope :-( This was the first thing I looked at. No way to modify a non-audiophile into an audiophile unless you have that subwoofer board and an extra 3rd connector to solder onto the fab and presumably update the firmware to do all the sub stuff. Plus, you'll need to cut an opening in the back of the HU for the sub connector.

Beyond that, adding the powered sub-amp is trivial.

 

Don't know what you have, but here is the wire outs. My Lariat package is not audiophile but the head unit looks just like the audiophile unit and 6 CD unit.

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">Radio 12v lt. green/purple + radio harness
Radio Ground black and black/lt. green - radio harness
Radio Ignition pink/black or lt. green/yellow + radio harness
Radio Illumination lt. blue/red (dimmer) + radio harness
Factory Amp Turn-on dk. green/purple + radio harness
Notes: This is the subwoofer amplifier turn on lead. The subwoofer and amp are in the driver side rear corner of the cabin. The subwoofer speaker wires are brown/orange (+), and red/black (-) at the radio harness.
Power Antenna N/A
LF Speaker +/- orange/lt. grn - lt. blue/wht +,- radio harness
RF Speaker +/- white/lt. grn - dk. green/org +,- radio harness
LR Speaker +/- gray/lt. blue - tan/yellow +,- radio harness
RR Speaker +/- orange/red - brown/pink +,- radio harness
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

Thanks for the replies, guys. I don't know if it's getting more clear, but I'm having fun learning


PC

 

If I recall correctly my dealer said the speakers (in my FX4) were SONY