adding powered woofer to factory audio system
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Joined: Dec 2011
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adding powered woofer to factory audio system
This query on behalf of a workmate with 2008 F150 Crew Cab with entry level factory audio /Sirius radio.
He has managed to scrounge from a wrecker's yard one of the Ford small self powered woofer enclosures that nests under the rear seat. (only a marketing guy would call this a "sub"). It has what appears to be a small digital power amp fitted with a 10 pin plug for direct connection to vehicle wiring harness. It's my understanding that this tidy little enclosure is an optional add-on to the stock radio, and I'm hoping that a hardwired connector would be conveniently buried behind a nearby trim panel.
I'm assuming there's probably some EQ and or XO feature built in to the module to interface with the factory head unit. Having had a very bad experience with an installer blithely hacking into factory wiring on my wife's Caravan during installation of an Ungo alarm/power door lock system a few years ago which resulted in damage to main onboard processor to the tune of over $500 from his pocket, I'm much more careful about adding anything that doesn't have a simple adapter plug from someone like Metra, Scosche etc.
As will come as no surprise, the local Ford dealer is not particularly knowledgeable or willing to dig far into shop manuals, etc for information, and calls to two local installers didn't go much better - "call the Ford dealer"
So anyway the question comes down to - short of buying the full shop manual that will never be used again, can detailed electrical wiring schematics be found that would indicate whether (and where) such an existing connector exists / is located?
He has managed to scrounge from a wrecker's yard one of the Ford small self powered woofer enclosures that nests under the rear seat. (only a marketing guy would call this a "sub"). It has what appears to be a small digital power amp fitted with a 10 pin plug for direct connection to vehicle wiring harness. It's my understanding that this tidy little enclosure is an optional add-on to the stock radio, and I'm hoping that a hardwired connector would be conveniently buried behind a nearby trim panel.
I'm assuming there's probably some EQ and or XO feature built in to the module to interface with the factory head unit. Having had a very bad experience with an installer blithely hacking into factory wiring on my wife's Caravan during installation of an Ungo alarm/power door lock system a few years ago which resulted in damage to main onboard processor to the tune of over $500 from his pocket, I'm much more careful about adding anything that doesn't have a simple adapter plug from someone like Metra, Scosche etc.
As will come as no surprise, the local Ford dealer is not particularly knowledgeable or willing to dig far into shop manuals, etc for information, and calls to two local installers didn't go much better - "call the Ford dealer"
So anyway the question comes down to - short of buying the full shop manual that will never be used again, can detailed electrical wiring schematics be found that would indicate whether (and where) such an existing connector exists / is located?
Member
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 43
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From: San Mateo, CA
My 05 SCrew has the dedicated 25 amp fuse for the subwoofer amp (slot 38). It also has the harness connector at the radio head folded back and taped to a main harness. There is no port on the radio head for it. I did not look for the other end but expect it to be behind the panel at the left rear corner of the cab. It is very easy to pull the center console panel and look at the radio harnesses.