EMSbyDay

Hey guys, had my truck for about a year now and am thinking about making some audio changes. (2011 XLT SCREW, No Sony, No Nav, Yes SYNC) This is my first Truck, coming from driving custom VW's and AUDI's and the sound is driving me nuts. I know its not going to sound like my old AUDI with a 9 speaker Bose system and Custom Subs, but hopefuly I can get it better than now hahaha.

The wife has me on a bit of a budget, and I have to keep the rear seat/cargo area fully functional for a soon to be growing family. My plans right now are to swap out the door speakers, and add a removable sub box under the 60% side of the rear seat. I know I'm limiting how much better my sound will get by not replacing the head unit, but again, I'm on a budget and would like to keep the dash stock, and retain my SYNC, Sirius, and steering wheel controls.

I have some left over equipment from my last car (Subs and Amp) that I can re-use, I will just need some new wiring, and will have to build a new box.

Amp - Alpine MRP-M650


Subs - 2 x 10" RF P3S Shallow Mount Subs (Dual 2ohm Voice Coils - 2 ohm total load) Current box wont fit under seat, will build a new angled downfiring one.




As for speakers. Seems like ordering from www.crutchfield.ca may be the best bet.
No DUTY on shipping from the states, and they include any needed instalation hardware

The sets I've got my eye on are....

Alpine SPS 517

JL Audio TR570-CXi

JL Audio C2-570x (they list these as a front door fit, do not mention back door though. Should be the same Correct??? )

A build with those speakers and some new wiring should keep me to about $400 I'm hoping which is acceptable. If you have opinions on the above speakers, or would recomend something else please share.

Now For Some Questions.....

- Where is the best place for the Amp? I've seen that most people are mounting on a board behind the rear seat, but that you also have to chop up the material/insulation back there. I have room to mount under the passenger seat I believe, where it would also get more cooling airflow. Any reasons not to mount there?

- I plan on running RCA's to the Amp input from a Line Converter. Was planning on tapping one of the rear speaker lines when I swapped speakers. I know the Amp runs MONO, is there any real purpose to putting a left AND right signal in versus just off the left or right rear speaker? would there be a different bass signal sent to each?

I'm sure I had a couple other questions, but can't remember at the moment.

Wyo11Scab

iTrader: (1)

Speakers- JL Audio are excellent. 6x8s in all 4 doors
Amp mount under passenger seat if you want.
Don't tap the speakers. Instead get a plug in play adapter that goes between your HU wiring harness. Like this-
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...OEM-FRD24.html

EMSbyDay

Thanks, I think I'm probably leaning towards the higher end JL ones I posted above.

Also, does anyone know if you can get functioning replacement dash buttons to replace the dummy ones? I dont have heated seats so I have a few blank spaces, and I'd like to get a functional push on/push off button on the dash as basically a kill switch for the remote wire on the amp so I can turn it off when the wife or kids are in the car.

Wyo11Scab

iTrader: (1)

Dealer or EBay....

EMSbyDay

Thanks, I tried ebay. searching F150 "dash", "console", "button" etc and didnt find anything. I'll try the dealer.

Now thinking about instead of a kill switch, installing a PAC-LC1 to just turn in input way down/off, and give myself some on the fly adjustability as I notice that the various sources(FM vs. Sat Radio) have very different tonal ranges.

EMSbyDay

Ordered the speakers today. Was planning on getting the JL C2 series 5x7's but I was talking to the tech guys at Crutchfield and they said the JL Evolution series requires more power to sound good and I may not like them running off the stock HU and recommended the Alpine's instead which are much more efficient so am going with the SPS 517's and ordered some new charcoal carpet for a new box.

EMSbyDay

Amp is Installed, and PAC AOEM-FRD24 and LC-1 arrived today. Will hopefully get the dash apart and the rest of the wiring done this weekend when its a few degrees warmer (gonna be right at the freezing mark the next day or so). Gonna drop the old sub box in for now although wont be able to put seats down and decide if I want to build a new shallower box for those subs, or look at something smaller, like the Pioneer enclosed sub/box.

Cariboospeed

Just replaced my rear speakers in my 12 scab with Alpine 517s. Nice upgrade from stock, not sure what I'll do wit the fronts but the effort is coming!

trophynuts

just wondering did you end up mounting the amp underneath the passenger side seat? I like this idea as well. For extra cooling and ease of access should you need to make adjustments.

EMSbyDay

Sorry for the late reply, been away a couple months. Yes, I did mount it under the passenger seat carpeted a piece of 1/4"ply and mounted the amp to that and that boar fit in just the right places to attach down. Plenty of ventilation for the amp and I just slide the seat forward or back to access either side of amp for adjustments.