etazeta

Received a nice package this morning...



After digging through the mess of protection my toys have arrived!

Two Sound Ordnance B-8PT powered subs and an Audiocontrol LC2I.



Gonna take me a couple of days to get everything situated. So far I have everything hooked up and playing, but I have lots of clean up to do. Running the power wires (two 8 gauge) was a pain! But done. Ground was simple. The sweet thing about this setup is the LC2I produces a 12v remote signal from the high level input. So I didn't have to fool with remote wires at all.

More pics to come when I'm all done. By the way so far it sounds great. I figure the subs need a good week to "break in".

Okay here are the pics:





Seats lock in the up position just fine. And I'm blown away at how much bass these little things put out. My favorite part of all this is I upgraded the sound AND gained the use of my entire back floor. No more Sony sub to get in the way!

mamonti

Great to see a post on a 2012 audio upgrade! I have been searching for information on installing a HU and have come up empty. I ordered the factory manuals so I can be assured the wiring hasn't changed from one year to the other. Did you have to remove the HU to do your sub upgrade? If so, could you tell me if the connection to the HU has any lead (extra) wire length? I know sometimes they provide just enough to get your hands behind the radio to disconnect the harness and on others you can pull out the HU past the dash to easily get to the connectors. I have a Kenwood Nav I am planning on adding and instead of spending the money for the Pac's and so on I was going to relocate the radio below the aux / usb panel and then take the RCA outs of the Kenwood into the Sync aux input. I already had a great sub setup with amp connected to the Kenwood so I can just use it. I have a USB hard drive connected to the Kenwood so that will be my source of all audio. In theory I think I will have all the SYNC features plus a Nav / DVD system that will work at all times while driving. I plan on tapping into the rear view camera and adding that to the Kenwood also. Using a diode to the reverse lights I will also be able to view the camera at any time even during driving. The only downside I see to this is not having the subs working unless the audio is coming from the Kenwood but the only thing I can think of is sync operations which is only voice anyway so there is no need to have a sub. I don't have a Satellite radio so that isn't an issue either. So other than the lack of the sub woofer what is your opinion of the sound of the factory unit?

etazeta

So far I'm pleased with the sound. I have the Sony Nav unit so it is decent at best. I will get to the door speakers some other time, but the sub is just terrible. Honestly I unplugged the sub altogether and didn't seem to lose much sound. I didn't have to remove the HU for this project, and honestly I'm not sure that I'll ever need to. Pics to come later. Headed to Home Depot for a few finishing supplies.

Newfiestang50

Just curious, why did you need the LC2I, I thought the factory sony sub amp (mounted on the sony enclosure in 2012) would already have low level inputs.

I thought I read on here somewhere that you could just install some RCA connectors on these low level wires once removed from the sony amp and use them for your new amp. Maybe i misunderstood.

etazeta

Couple of reasons. First off, by the way, the sub amp is no longer mounted to the sub enclosure. It's just four wires running into the sub. I got the LC2I mainly so I could ensure I had a flat signal running into the sub amps. It also gives me an additional level of control when it comes to tuning. The other reason was stated earlier. It produces a 12v remote signal so I didn't have to pull the HU or tap the fuse box.

Everything went really well. Posting pics now.

Newfiestang50

Oh, I thoughtb the 2011 trucks had the sub amp mounted in the center console, but the 2012 had it on the sub enclosure. I guess I read wrong.

So did you use the amplified signal coming from the factory sony sub amp and connect it directly to the LC2I? Sorry for all the questions but I have a 2012 FX4 order with the nav system and I plan on upgrading the sub as well.

etazeta

Yeah I ran the sub wires into the LC2I. It accepts high level up to 400 watts.

Newfiestang50

And from the LC2i did you have to use a RCA Y adaptor to get the left and right signals to each sub or will it work fine on one low level to each sub from the LC2i. I am asking because I see the sub low level inputs actually has a L & R inputs.

etazeta

I used two Y cables from the left and right of the LC2i. That gave me two sets of cables, a left and right for each sub. Does that make sense?

Newfiestang50

Yep, got it now. So overall do you see a big improvement over the sony sub? Just wondering because this is likely going to be a $500 to $600 investment here in Canada. Also, did you mount the remote gain control somewhere?