Ford F150 Build Log(Work In Progress)

[Trepkos 10+ year member]

Part 1: Background Information

First starts a tale of stupidity....

Years ago I decided the stock system in my 1999 F150 just was not enough to satisfy my daredevil needs; so I decided to invest in a decent sub-stage and a high tech CD player. So I purchased the "Lightning Audio Supercharged Bass Kit" which came with a 700w peak Lightning Audio 10" subwoofer and a 450w peak Lightning Audio amplifier + the enclosure, a grille, and the wiring needed to hook it all up.

So my immediate thoughts were "Woohoo"; I also purchased a Sony Xplode CDX-FW700 CD Player. I was all set and ready to have one awesome sound system. Unfortunately, I was not competent enough to hook up the system myself so I had it "professionally" installed by a "professional" car audio installation company.

Next day I was set with an awesome system that was looouuudd, right? Thus, I was happy. Ok, so it doesn't seem like much to most bassheads and car audio enthusiasts but the system worked nicely for my needs.

Two years later the voice coil of the Lightning audio subwoofer is roasted so I take it to a local car audio shop and they were happy to take the subwoofer off my hands and hand me a cheap used Visonik 10" subwoofer and hook it up aswell. I decided after a week of use that the Visonik subwoofer was not providing me with the killer bass that I needed so I decided to shop for subwoofers at probably the most ideal place: Wal-Mart....

In Wal-Mart I spotted, in all their glory, two 10" 4-Ohm Sony Xplode 1100w Peak subwoofers!! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/naughty.gif.94359f346c0f1259df8038d60b41863e.gif So I quickly purchased two of them...but I couldn't just neglected the speaker aspect of my truck which still held the same 6x8 stock door speakers that came off the assembly line with it, so I decided to purchase some Pioneer 6x8 3-Way 240w speakers!

2x Sony Xplode 10" Subwoofer = $60 x 2

Pioneer 6x8 3-Way 240w speakers = $55

Total: $175

So I left Wal-Mart gleefully with my smart purchases, but then I realized that one very important aspect was missing from my new system. The subwoofer enclosures had yet to be acquired so I decided to go to the store with some of the best prices on subwoofer enclosures, Circuit City.

"Wow, a 10" truck enclosure that fits right behind the seat for only...$60? What a deal! I'll take two!"

2x 10" Universal Truck Enclosures = $60 x 2

Total: $295

Now the only things left to do is to install the door speakers which was no problem and then to install the subwoofers into their enclosure and simply hook the subwoofers up to the excellent Lightning Audio 2-Channel 450w amplifier and lie back and listen to the excellent hard hitting bass and crisp highs and mids...

But...How come one subwoofer sounds better than two when hooked up to the amplifier, could it be I had overestimated the power of the 2-Channel 450w amplifier and it is not able to supply the two super-subwoofers with their recommended 350w RMS?

Oh no fear, a friend of mine loans me his 200w 50 year old MTX Roadthunder 2-Channel amplifier and thus we wired the amplifiers together with one amplifier controlling one subwoofer and so-forth. Agh, but it still sounds like crap!

So after a long hard thinking period over my problem I realized what ultimately was wrong with the system all along. I was a clueless muppet with absolutely no idea what I was doing and wasting alot of money on cheap and defective equipment and overpriced enclosures.

So to try and dig myself out of this hole and still install a decent system in my truck.

Click to read more...

 

[Imtjnotu 5,000+ posts]

thats all u have to tell us.....

 

[Trepkos 10+ year member]

Part 2: The Planning Period

The basis for this system was to use some newly acquired knowledge to help me make smarter decisions in my purchases and equipment selection for this new sound system. Immediately I throw out all the current equipment except the CD player and the door speakers, now my truck has absolutely no bass but thats not a problem for the time being.

Now to decide what I should choose for my new sound system for my truck. Ofcourse I needed an amplifier, a Class D Mono Amplifier with atleast 1000watts and with these 1000watts I would need two powerful subwoofers to take advantage of them with. But how do I get a decent bass stage in my truck with the very limited space behind my seat? Immediately my mind is set on getting two 12' subwoofers but how would I be able to fit them in a truck designed enclosure due to the mounting depth and the limited air volume.

Ah, shallow mount subwoofers should work fine for the situation and Kicker had designed a shallow mount subwoofers with similar specifications of their CVR line, called CompVT subwoofers. Each subwoofer was 12"'s with 400w RMS and 800w Peak and to power them I decided I would use a Hifonics Txi 1008D Class D Mono Amplifier which rated for 350w RMS @ 4-Ohm, 700w RMS @ 2-Ohm, and 1000w @ 1-Ohm. I also learned by a diagram that I could wire the subwoofers specifically to present a 1-Ohm load and sending each subwoofer 500w therefore I could lower the gain to avoid chopped signals. Also looking at enclosures I found a decent enclosure with 1.86cu ft that was built universally to fit behind the seat in a single cab truck and also house two 12" subwoofers, it was also made with 3/4 MDF.

So that covered the sub-stage pretty much but what could I do to improve upon the speaker system of my truck. It was at this time that I decided with much help from the community that I should invest in a component system and a decent 2-Channel amplifier to power them. So I decided upon the Phoenix Gold RSd65cs 6-1/2" 120W Component Speaker System and the Profile AP1000 1000W 2 CH Amplifier to power them. I would try and fit a adapter to mount the 6.5" midbass into the slot which held the 6x8 speakers and cut a small hole in the door panel to hold the tweeters in the door. I would place the crossovers under the seat and out of visibility.

But now two other aspects gained my attention, the headunit and the wiring to be used for the system. Regarding the headunit I wanted one that could take advantage of my Ipod and since my current Sony's display kept shorting out due to to heat. But the wiring was a different matter on its own, eventhough I never wired up a system firsthand, I knew the basics and several people recommended using a 4-Gauge wiring kit with this system. So with my first and original purchase I bought a single amplifier 4 gauge american accesories wiring kit which came with all the essentials needed to wire up my amplifier.

But eventually after learning that the kit I purchased had more insulation then actual wire I decided to purchase a JL Audio 4-Gauge dual amplifier wiring kit which came with a distribution block. In addition I decided to buy the KnuKonceptz Krystal 2-Channel RCA Cables and a fusable KnuKonceptz Konfused Distribution block. Thanks to acidicdreams for this help in these decisions.

So the plan was to wire a single 4-gauge wire from the battery to the fusable distribution block and sending two power cables from the distribution block to both amplifer and then wiring the two ground wires from the amplifiers to the non-fudable distribution block and then running the single ground wire from the block to the chassis of the truck.

The plan was set, now was the time to gain the money and make the purchases.

 

[Trepkos 10+ year member]

Part 3: The First Purchases

So the first purchase was the Hifonics amplifier and the American Accessories wiring kit(this was because I did not know that this kit was utter crap yet).

So I anxiously waited for my order to be shipped in with the excellent timing of SonicElectronix's 2 days of order verification, 2 days of processing and 6 days of shipping. -.-

But eventually my package had arrived but by this time I had realized that the American Accessories kit was mostly pointless because of the JL audio wiring kit that was being shipped in and the KnuKonceptz RCA cables and distribution block that was also being shipped as well.

Woohoo I gotz stuffz and you can see the ubah 10" sony xplodes dere too

More picz

Shortly after the amplifier + wiring kit purchase, I made my second set of purchases: Two Kicker 12" 2-Ohm CompVT subwoofers, KnuKonceptz Konfused Distribution Block, KnuKonceptz Krystal RCA Cable, JL Audio Dual Amplifier Wiring Kit, and the 1.86 Prefab Dual 12" 3/4 MDF Universal Truck Enclosure.

Each item shipped almost immediately except the two kicker 12" 2-Ohm CVT subs which would not ship due to some verification problems with UPS and the enclosure which was out of stock. So finally the two Kicker 12" 2-Ohm CVT subs ship and are due to arrive on 7/30/07 while the enclosure order was canceled and I currently search for another option which is hopefully in stock.

So the first day I decide to play around with the american accesories wiring kit due to the fact that the kit was pretty much useless due to the other kit on its way and I could try and set it up the best I could and hopefully get some wiring practice in before the real wiring kit comes in and needs to be installed.

Needless to say I get easily annoyed and overwelmed when things don't exactly work right for me, such as connecting the fuse and unable to get the 8awg spacers out of the cable chamblers, clamping the gold plated terminals as hard as I can on the extremely small copper threads just to have it slip off and render the cable useless. Eventually after many headaches and colorful language I give up and decide to bother with the matter another day.

The next day was the day that the packages from KnuKonceptz was to arrive but I would not install them till all of the sound system components were shipped and ready to be installed. But that day I decided to try my hand at wiring once again, this time with my friend Mr. Electrical tape at my assistance as well as a more stable mind. Needless to say, I had much more success this time as I attempted to wire the amplifier up and the two Sony Xplode 10" subwoofers to the amplifier.

After some odd occurrences of Murphy's law, I had success and the amplifier turned on and the subwoofers began to work but unfortunately the bass output the Sony Xplodes were delivering were mediocre so I adjusted the different knobs or sorts on the side of the amplifier and the subwoofer began to produce louder and deeper sounds but still mediocre by standards....so I guess the Sony Xplode Subwoofers were not that good after all.

The KnuKonceptz Items arrive and the JL Audio Wiring arrives tomorrow.

 

[wesl56 10+ year member]

good story... shoulda done ur research the first time and started out with the kickers //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[troy_audi0 10+ year member]

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif your wiring make me cry...

please try to make it look factory.. hint dont just drape it across everything..

run it nice & neat along the side of the bay untill it drops into the cab thru a GROMIT

under the carpet untill it pops out by the amp..//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

good luck with your install.. we all gotta start somewhere..

 

[jdc753 10+ year member]

^^X2 on the Wiring

Its looks like it is a work in progress though so there is still time. Just take your time installing the wires and Zip Ties + that black plastic sheething is your best friend in the engine compartment. Make it look as it if were meant to be there //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Rest of the stuff is lookin good, glad to see ya running the right gear after your first two purchases. Keep the pics comin //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[wesl56 10+ year member]

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif your wiring make me cry...please try to make it look factory.. hint dont just drape it across everything..

run it nice & neat along the side of the bay untill it drops into the cab thru a GROMIT

under the carpet untill it pops out by the amp..//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

good luck with your install.. we all gotta start somewhere..

i think he just had it like that temporarily to see how the xplod subs sounded hooked up to the hifonics amp

i would expect he isnt gonna run the wires permanantly until he gets the rest of the stuff

 

[troy_audi0 10+ year member]

i think he just had it like that temporarily to see how the xplod subs sounded hooked up to the hifonics amp
i would expect he isnt gonna run the wires permanantly until he gets the rest of the stuff

I was thinking the same but some of the cars that come into the bay look twice that bad so I just wanted the guy to be happy when he is finished..

I gotta go to work some one quik link the amp setup link for him so he is not just turning nobs.. on the amp..

Peace Troy

 

[Trepkos 10+ year member]

i think he just had it like that temporarily to see how the xplod subs sounded hooked up to the hifonics amp
i would expect he isnt gonna run the wires permanantly until he gets the rest of the stuff

x2 //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Plus, the new wiring is coming in this afternoon. I gave that wiring to a friend of mine and for some odd reason it would not work...

Checked the power, ground, remote, fuse and everything was fine but still no response.

But the actual wiring in my truck will be routed underneath the step-panel and the interior vinyl while the power wire will be inserted in a split-loom to protect it better and help it blend in with the rest of the engine.

 

[Atimm693 10+ year member]

Part 2: The Planning Period
The basis for this system was to use some newly acquired knowledge to help me make smarter decisions in my purchases and equipment selection for this new sound system. Immediately I throw out all the current equipment except the CD player and the door speakers, now my truck has absolutely no bass but thats not a problem for the time being.

Now to decide what I should choose for my new sound system for my truck. Ofcourse I needed an amplifier, a Class D Mono Amplifier with atleast 1000watts and with these 1000watts I would need two powerful subwoofers to take advantage of them with. But how do I get a decent bass stage in my truck with the very limited space behind my seat? Immediately my mind is set on getting two 12' subwoofers but how would I be able to fit them in a truck designed enclosure due to the mounting depth and the limited air volume.

Ah, shallow mount subwoofers should work fine for the situation and Kicker had designed a shallow mount subwoofers with similar specifications of their CVR line, called CompVT subwoofers. Each subwoofer was 12"'s with 400w RMS and 800w Peak and to power them I decided I would use a Hifonics Txi 1008D Class D Mono Amplifier which rated for 350w RMS @ 4-Ohm, 700w RMS @ 2-Ohm, and 1000w @ 1-Ohm. I also learned by a diagram that I could wire the subwoofers specifically to present a 1-Ohm load and sending each subwoofer 1000w therefore I could lower the gain to avoid chopped signals. Also looking at enclosures I found a decent enclosure with 1.86cu ft that was built universally to fit behind the seat in a single cab truck and also house two 12" subwoofers, it was also made with 3/4 MDF.

The plan was set, now was the time to gain the money and make the purchases.

Each woofer will get 500 watts, not 1000. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Trepkos 10+ year member]

Each woofer will get 500 watts, not 1000. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Typo! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

Also is there a certain way I can determine the wattage going to my subwoofers from the amplifier?

 

[Atimm693 10+ year member]

Typo! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif
Also is there a certain way I can determine the wattage going to my subwoofers from the amplifier?

With a DMM and some calculations..

 

[Fear Of Theive 10+ year member]

Hey man i got a 1997 f150 stepside ext cab. and i got my system in thier its pretty good friend the amp today getting new one next week i got 2 power akoustik or however u spell FUBAR's 12's thier pretty nice i like em but yea. good luck on it you can take the panels off the side and run it that way what i did.

 

[Trepkos 10+ year member]

I'm still wondering how loud the sub-stage of the system will sound and if the amplifier will be able to push the two 12" subwoofers enough.