Rear Speaker Deck Removal and Amp Install

[ReeceTrey]

yea, if you are going to put your amp under the seat, grabbing the signals from behind the kick panels is super easy. that should work fine. If you put the amp in the trunk, you can grab from the rear speakers. (keeping in mind if you grab from the rears, you will get no sub for the bluetooth phone. But unless you are talking to people with very low voices i dont think this will be a problem)

i just posted a rant about subs and these base model high level signals, but i think its a problem that can be worked around with a little effort.

The remote signal i am using is not going to make anyone happy. When i went to hook up the amps power line, i popped the lid on the big fuse and power routing block under the hood, and unbolted one of the posts and bolted it back down with the amp line attached via a ring terminal end. Seemed easy, i thought i was bolting it to the 12 volt always on terminal. But i wasnt, it was the power terminal that has power only when the car is on. So this is going through a big relay under there somewhere (its a monster terminal though, not like you could jump the car battery with it, but way bigger than i expected for a powered accessory terminal) , and any real car audio enthusiast would shake his head in disappointment. But the amp i am using isnt actually that high powered, and it is so easy not having to worry about screwing up the remote signal and draining the battery by accident.

what i will probably do to fix it is just run the remote signal to this powered accesory terminal, since i am already running the main power line through here. Attaching a tiny remote signal line seems like a no brainer. And then attach the amps power line to the correct terminal in the fuse block.

So do that problem happen even when your playing Bluetooth music? Or is it just when someone calls? I am going to have my amp on the trunk so I would have to wire it to the rears. so would I still be able to hear the subs over Bluetooth if I did it this way while listening to music?

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[Heinoceros]

So do that problem happen even when your playing Bluetooth music? Or is it just when someone calls? I am going to have my amp on the trunk so I would have to wire it to the rears. so would I still be able to hear the subs over Bluetooth if I did it this way while listening to music?

its just calls, all music works fine. the only way i got into trouble was using the rear outputs to drive the door speakers. you can definitely use the rears to drive a sub and be fine.

 

[Heinoceros]

How much space do you think is behind the front speakers? I want to replace mines with 6.5" components, but the drivers require 3.5" of space.

i didnt measure when i was in there, it looked like there was 3.5 inches of room without issues, but i didnt roll down the window. i dont think it comes that far down, but the mechanism might interfere with the speaker.

the alpines i put in were not component speakers, but they werent compact either, so i think they required something similiar. maybe a little less.

 

[draco24433]

Ok, i have made more progress. I have removed the rear deck, and it was actually very simple. you need to remove those far rear narrow panels that go all the way to the back of the window, and then you pull away the panels just forward of the far back panels that are the side of the rear seating area. You dont need to remove these, just pull them out a bit so you can get to the two little plastic fasteners (one on each side) that hold the deck in. Thats it, just those two and you can maneuver it out of there carefully. The whole job took maybe 15 minutes.

I found some odd stuff back there. There is some sort of radio/satellite module in the middle of the rear deck. I have the base model, so i have no idea what that is back there. Maybe GPS? It has an FCC ID on it so i think its some sort of emitter or receiver of some sort.

There are these little rubber bands on the rear panels that i also couldnt make head or tails of. Are they afraid you are going to lose these panels? they cover air bags, but its still not clear to me what they are for.

I bought a Sound Ordanance Amp, 4x75, to power new alpine 6.5 inch rear deck speakers, and a 10 inch sub. I havent built the sub enclosure yet, so thats going to take some time. I am using a AudioControl LC2i to convert the speaker outputs going to the rear speakers into inputs for the amp. I am hoping this will be enough to make me happy, i am not an audiophile or anything, but the base stereo is just too weak.

I have a question, where does the harness for the speakers come from? Is it coming from the side of the vehicle or is it coming from the center of the rear shelf?

 

[draco24433]

Here is how I ran my 12V wire from the battery. I used Heinoceros idea and took it a step further.

 

[draco24433]

For the speaker input, I used the wiring harness going to the rear of the vehicle. The wiring harness is located underneath the right rear speaker. On this same harness there is a blue/white wire that is 12V switched.

 

[draco24433]

the wiring diagrams dont distinguish between the 9 speaker and 12 speaker options. it may be that the 12 just includes the subwoofer and two extra speakers that still run off of the 8.1 amp, but i dont know that for sure.

the base system i have is the absolute cheapest one, the 6 speaker no amp version of the car. It looks like even the base model has 3 mics for noise cancellation, which is a little surprising. The bluetooth phone even in the base model is pretty decent.

i am getting the wiring diagrams through the ford motorcraft service subscription. It gives you access to all kinds of nice stuff, although the service documents for things like panel removal are not great. The wiring diagrams are fantastic though, its worth it just for those.

it was 20 bucks for one month of access.
http://www.motorcraftservice.com/vdirs/retail/default.asp?pageid=&gutsid=

Heinoceros,

I tried getting the subscription and was not able to. I can see the subscription description but was unable to subscribe to it. I see nowhere a button for purchasing. Also, where are you getting your "switched or antenna" power from?

Thanks

 

[Heinoceros]

Heinoceros,

I tried getting the subscription and was not able to. I can see the subscription description but was unable to subscribe to it. I see nowhere a button for purchasing. Also, where are you getting your "switched or antenna" power from?

Thanks

it is the worst website i have ever seen. subscribing didnt work at all from chrome, you have to use IE (ew!) or Firefox (better)

you have to sign up first, then you can purchase the subscription. The whole time it feels like some sort of third world scamming website system, but it is legit.

and once you get through it all its still horrible to work with, but the actual wiring diagrams are pure gold.

right now i am getting my 12volt accessory power from the fuse box under the hood. I switched my amp power line over to the first ring terminal, which is straight from the battery, and the 12volt accessory power from the 3rd terminal, which is only powered when the radio currently works in the car. (so not identical to switched power, but close enough)

i have read there is a source available in the wires on the rear deck, but i didnt want to go into that harness, since i already had it at the front of the car.

 

[draco24433]

it is the worst website i have ever seen. subscribing didnt work at all from chrome, you have to use IE (ew!) or Firefox (better)

you have to sign up first, then you can purchase the subscription. The whole time it feels like some sort of third world scamming website system, but it is legit.

and once you get through it all its still horrible to work with, but the actual wiring diagrams are pure gold.

right now i am getting my 12volt accessory power from the fuse box under the hood. I switched my amp power line over to the first ring terminal, which is straight from the battery, and the 12volt accessory power from the 3rd terminal, which is only powered when the radio currently works in the car. (so not identical to switched power, but close enough)

i have read there is a source available in the wires on the rear deck, but i didnt want to go into that harness, since i already had it at the front of the car.

Thank you so much. You have been a great help.

 

[TheColorRed]

because getting the wires through the door to car connection is a holy bitch. Its not like my older cars that just have rubber gromets on the door and a loom, this thing is a lot more serious. have a look at it where it enters the car from the door. i am sure there is a way to get that thing off, but it wasnt clear how to keep it looking good.

I could just drill a couple new holes, but the existing wires are stout, and so i am just using them through the door, otherwise its all new wiring.

Damn...just took a look at the door today. You are right...I dont know how you going to run the wire thru. There is like no spot of empty space on the plastic adaptor to drill a hole thru.

I'm going to put my system building on hold til I find a way.

Ok well, after spending more time looking at that molex connector...I think there is a way to get the speaker wire thru. There are 3 push-down clips on the molex to hold it to the car frame. Two on top and one on the bottom. You can drill out one of the clip on top and run the wire there. Sure you lose one of the clips but hey...that molex isnt going to be going anywhere.

 

[EricRN]

I just had my sub and amp installed and I am having extra bass during different times during decal and accel. I think its something with the noise cancel mics. any help?

 

[SSLByron]

But the main problem is that the head unit appears to be stomping pretty hard on the very low frequencies that need a good sub. (this is in the base model remember, if you have the 9 or 12, then you dont have this problem)

my audiologic unit has features to try and fix this, and they work reasonably well, but since there are differences between the exact frequencies the head unit is reducing, and the frequencies the audiologic unit is trying to restore, you get some very odd bass action happening in certain songs. The audiologic has settings on it that you can use to try and dial this in better, but it seems to be pretty song dependent in my usage so far. Hard rock sounds awesome, but if put on deadmaus the bass just goes nuts.

i am going to try sending a clean signal from a different source to the amp of the same songs to make sure this is what is happening, and i will report back.

Any luck with sourcing a cleaner signal? I'm going to be starting on my sub install this week. Curious as to what you've figured out.

 

[Heinoceros]

Any luck with sourcing a cleaner signal? I'm going to be starting on my sub install this week. Curious as to what you've figured out.

i have been seriously slacking, but i am about to get back on it.

for testing purposes what i have just hooked together is an Android phone pushing a usb DAC with the right impedance for the amp source which should allow me to get the definitively clean signal for my amp. This is wild overkill for car audio, but i think having a fully customizable digital source should at least settle the question i have of what exactly the head unit is doing to the signal.

i am really hoping someone comes out with an aftermarket conversion to use a new double din radio. I suspect the stock radio is just not going to cut it. I realize that is a huge issue, since bluetooth, rear camera etc is all routed through there, but i am just not confident that the system is going to make me happy without changing it over at some point.

 

[TheColorRed]

Or u can take the same route as me and just bypass the whole factory radio altogether. I run a samsung tablet that sends the bluetooth signal straight to the bluetooth amp.

 

[SSLByron]

i have been seriously slacking, but i am about to get back on it.

for testing purposes what i have just hooked together is an Android phone pushing a usb DAC with the right impedance for the amp source which should allow me to get the definitively clean signal for my amp. This is wild overkill for car audio, but i think having a fully customizable digital source should at least settle the question i have of what exactly the head unit is doing to the signal.

i am really hoping someone comes out with an aftermarket conversion to use a new double din radio. I suspect the stock radio is just not going to cut it. I realize that is a huge issue, since bluetooth, rear camera etc is all routed through there, but i am just not confident that the system is going to make me happy without changing it over at some point.

You're not still using the rear channel signal for the sub, are you? I imagine that would amplify (poor choice of words) the problem. I feel like every factory system I've ever worked with has suffered from dramatic bass roll-off in the rear channel, especially at higher volumes.

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