tenx82

Does your truck have the tow package? If not, you can mount it directly behind the 8" screen like I did. Mounted at an angle, you just need to pop the center speaker and plastic tray to access the amp's controls. There's a pic in my build thread of how I did it.

And 4 tweeters per speaker, plus factory tweeters, is 10.

heytonyman

tenx82

Yes, the PTBA module mounts right behind the screen on a cross brace. I don't have it so I was able to use the 3 mounting bolts for my amp.
I've seen a few people now mention using setting 8 on the EQ. I may have to try that while I'm still back to stock.

heytonyman

heytonyman

Update: My CarAV 12-240 harness finally showed up from overseas. They must have strapped the thing to a rubber duckey and sent it across the pond because it took almost a full month to get!

I got this amp installed last week. I mounted the amp in the top shelf of the glove compartment and there is still plenty of room on that shelf for other crap. I'm sure I could have snuck it up under the dash somewhere but I wanted to be able to access the amp easily for adjustment and tweaking. I stayed high-level, using a 3' piece of Speed Wire to get LF and RF channels to the amp and back to the CarAV harness. Ran a 10 gauge wire from the battery to the Key, and grounded it at the A-Pillar on the dash support bolts. I pulled dedicated wires to each tweeter and configured the amp as "active", just amplifying the front mids and highs each on their own channel, letting the Key do the crossovers, and the Key is really making them dance! The Auto Turn-On works flawlessly... No pop, no weirdness with the Auto Start/Stop at a red light, and it shuts down about a minute after I turn off the truck. It also turns the remote input into a 12v Output to turn on my JL Sub Amp. Nice feature!

I was concerned at first that everything sounded like it was crossed over at >1000hz and the manual said nothing about it, until I did the Key's Auto EQ then it all came to life. Very clear, very precise sound and plenty of volume, even with the gains all the way down. I'm hearing instruments and detail in songs that I previously did not know were there. I Forscan'd the EQ to #8 previously and still prefer that setting to the others. I ran the volume all the way to 30 with no clipping lights showing on the Key. I originally left the high-pass crossover turned off and the Pioneer TS-A6996's kept their composure just fine, but I felt like they were competing with the sub down in the low notes so I crossed them over at 60hz, running my 10W7 up to 90hz, and it blends very well. I left the rear door speakers on head unit power, flipping the wires in the CarAV harness to get the polarity correct (everything was reversed in my stock stereo) and have it slightly faded to the front to keep them from giving up the ghost at high volume. Honestly I can fade it all the way to the front and hardly tell a difference without them. When your front stage gets to a certain performance level, you don't miss the rears at all. I left them hooked up so rear seat passengers get at least some sound from them.

The Auto EQ certainly improves sound. Being a "One size fits All" setup is probably great for the majority of people who will use this amp but being a tweaker kind of guy I am experimenting with ways to alter the sound it outputs. It woke up the highs considerably in the dash, but going active I lost the highs coming from the doors. Doing the Auto-EQ with the bass-mid-high levels set to center on the radio produced a bright sound, but I personally like a bit brighter sound stage, so I am still looking for just a touch more. I may try the Auto EQ again with the radio setting a bit lower on highs and see if I can get that last little bit from it.

The Time Correction worked pretty well, but again I am still experimenting with it. It definitely brought the sound stage inward, but its about half way to where I would like it to be. Turning off the time correction in the amp and trying the Ford time correction I felt was a bit better. Again, this is something I feel like changed when I Forscan'd the EQ to #8. It brings the sound higher than the Key did, but I feel like its favoring the right side a touch too much. Again I may try the Auto-Setup with the Ford time correction turned on and see where that moves it.

I also tried getting rid of the LOC and feeding a high level signal to my JL 500/1 and things got weird. I pulled the high level signal from the LF and RF channels out of the ACM and before the Key. Set the input switch on the 500/1 to high level, gains all the way down, and the input signal was just too much. Couldn't get the volume low enough, and the sub sounded horrible and clippy. I tried replacing my cheap RCA's with Stinger 8000 Series cables with no change. I ended up reinstalling the LOC behind the ACM on the same signal wires and it's back to sounding great. Likely just an issue with my particular model amplifier not liking the high level input. I hear of good results with modern amps that aren't 14 years old.

Overall I will say I'm very impressed with the Key. It does what they advertise it to do and for the majority of people looking for a bit more from their Ford stereo without going all-in in regards to money, time, and tuning, I think its a great option and will recommend it. Even for the tweaker guys among us, with a bit more experimentation on my part I may be able to trick it to produce exactly the sound stage I'm looking for.

dhmcfadin

Glad it's sounding good. A piece advice for improving midbass and improving "highs from the doors", don't overlap the sub and midbass crossovers. You will cause a canceling out effect that basically eliminates any midbass frequencies from the midbass even though they are crossed lower than the sub. The sub will always win. Set the subwoofer low pass filter 1/2 an octave below the midbass high pass. For example, if your midbass high pass is 80 Hz, set the subwoofer at 60 Hz.

I know it's sounds counter intuitive but I promise it will improve your midbass response, your subs won't be exposed to higher frequency clipping, your midbass won't have to work so hard and will play clearer, and your stage will sound fuller because you don't have two different drivers competing for the same frequencies.

heytonyman

dhmcfadin

24 dB slopes all the way around. And you are hearing it, that's the issue you are describing. This same situation is specifically described in Andy's tuning guide. The 1/2 octave is not opinion, it's a tuning rule. If you measured with an rta, it wouldnt look very pretty. It might sound ok but the point is, you don't know what you are missing. As far as missing sound at 70hz, as the frequency gets lower, the wavelength gets longer, it has more reach and it's less susceptible to reflections and placement limitations. You won't be missing anything.

Read this: https://testgear.audiofrog.com/wp-co...y-it-Works.pdf

2018Raptor

I am adding a Kicker Key 200.4 with a HushCarAudio FOR11-CK Harness using the below speakers. Can anyone recommend how this should be wired. My speakers have crossovers built into them. I would like to mount the kicker behind the radio as others have done.


https://www.crutchfield.com/product/...x?i=151OE69CFD

https://www.crutchfield.com/product/...x?i=151OE652FD

Thanks in advance.

Mark

HushCarAudio

Hi Mark,
The Kicker Key amp can be wired for normal operation or in bi-amp mode meaning only the front door speakers and tweeters have power. If you understand wiring then using my harness will be somewhat simple but time consuming. If going bi-amp use all four channels off of the amp and then route the harness rear channels to each other so the head unit will power the rears. If going passive and using the crossovers that came with the speakers wire the front channels of the amp to the crossovers and the rear channels to the rear door speakers. If any of this is confusing to you and you want me to build out a harness for you send me a PM.
Regards,
Bruce