Not a Car Audio Guy and need Opinions

I'd honestly just do a new head unit and a subwoofer, thats all you need.

the head unit should have 24 bit dac, 13 bands of eq or higher, 4 volt preout, time alignment. Thats the complete bare minimal, If the head unit doesn't have that, consider it trash for audio.

If you want your door speakers a bit louder, you can get a 5 channel amp and amp up both your sub and door speakers. Stock door speakers actually turn into a completely different beast when you put an amp onto it with a head unit that can do an actual tune.

pioneer 391bs and 491bs, 2800bs, 3800bs, 4800bs, 5800bs are all good double dins with good overall SQ and sq tuning options.

Excellent info, thanks J-D-C! Am I in the ball park with my $600-$700 budget?

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if it's a double din and u looking for lots of goodys like dvd backup camera and all u probably gonna go over budget some..if u can just doa single din my kenwood with xovers 13 band, eq, time alignment, 20 other audio settings, 22x4rms and 3 sets 4v (or 5v) preouts power was $119 u can get that or one similar (maybe better) under $200.. see what they suggest don't just go buy a pos let jeff tell u what is good (he knows more about stereos than the companies do) .. we can help with amp and sub after u pick hu so we see how much $ u have left..

I have the pioneer 2800bs, great unit..

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The Head unit in the F250 is pretty large, I just assumed I would need a dub din to fit the space? If I go single how do we fill the other 2 inches?

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there's a dash kit but just get the double din. the 2800bs is only 220 bucks. wire kit and harness is another 30. 5 channel amp is around 200, subwoofer and enclosure is about 150 and amplifier wiring is about 50. I'd recommend doing the install yourself if at all possible. If not, just get the head unit in first. See whats missing from your setup and we'll plan the next upgrade from there so use the 250 for now and see how you like it when you actually can properly tune your door speakers.

Head unit install is something you can definitely do yourself without fking it up as long as you buy a wiring harness and a few cheap hand tools and crimp connectors.

The Head unit in the F250 is pretty large, I just assumed I would need a dub din to fit the space? If I go single how do we fill the other 2 inches?

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Just did my brother's F250 a couple months ago. He bought a higher end Kenwood with the Android auto and all the other goodies. I recently bought the Sony xav-ax100 and I'm very happy with it. The catch being it DOES NOT have any CD or DVD. If you do music off your phone or USB stick it's great and super cheap price point for Android Auto. There's also a JVC with android auto I've seen recently in the 300$ range that looks promising. JVC is owned by Kenwood and quality should be comparable.

You can fit single DIN head unit in there (you'll need the trim kit either way) but you lose Android Auto options and flexibility to add backup camera (may be handy for hooking up trailers if you do any towing).

The one thing you'll have trouble with in there is finding switched 12V for the red wire on your head unit. The one to the factory head unit won't work without the factory head unit so you'll need to tap in elsewhere for that (my brother's had some wires under the steering column that come from the factory that you can tap into for +12 ACC) Google up the youtube video of the guy showing you how to do get to them

Door speakers were 6X8 which doesn't leave you a lot of options and there's no really great place for a tweeter. We found some JBL components that fit and sound nice so if you're feeling bold, upgrading the front speakers might be a nice touch... you can also get a kit to fill that 6X8 hole and hold round components and have more options.

Dash and doors were super easy to get apart in that truck but the running boards going back are a nightmare.... you would need to pull them up to get under the carpet to run any wire to the back. Adding even a modest subwoofer helps worlds for your audio experience but if you're trying to pay someone else to do it it may blow your budget and if you're going to DIY..... good luck with those running panels.

Really sky is the limit but I'd suggest doing the head unit and front doors then see how you feel, add a powered sub or small amp+ sub down the road if you like and amp the fronts if they're not loud enough.

If you want steering wheel controls to work you need an adapter that's usually around $50

Also I recommend buying the micro e break bypass for like $10

And I just got the pioneer 390bs for iirc under $250 as it's the older mode but still a great unit.

A shop will probably charge you $200 to install the h/u with steering wheel controls

Thanks, you guys are making me think I can actually do this myself which is what I definitely prefer to do!

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u may even be able to find video of your hu install., if u order from crutchfield they send u mounting instructions with pics of your truck, shop here charged $75 to install my hu but in ny no telling how much.. if u lucky u may like the way speakers sound with hu and u can just get mono amp for sub but wait til u get hu installed then come back and well suggest amps and subs..

Thanks, you guys are making me think I can actually do this myself which is what I definitely prefer to do!

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If you go through crutchfield.com, you can research what will fit, and usually you will get the wire harness and other install needs either at half price or sometimes free. Also if you do buy from them you can call a tech and they will talk you through your install at real time.

if you buy that one, you'll literally have nothing left for the rest of the setup lol.