F150 Audio Upgrade

Crutchfield has good resources. Those name brand upgrades are typically a bitch to deal with.

I've been wanting to upgrade for years, but scared to do it on my own. No one mentions this, but auto companies should never force us to remove the entire door panel just to replace a fricking speaker.

Especially when they know that they put garbage inside.

Door panels are usually just a few clips, right? Shouldn't be much to it. I was going to do it in one truck, but they installed free at the shop. Seems like I researched it though, and it's not bad.

I put in a nav on my last truck, that was kind of a bitch. GPS antenna, Bluetooth mic, a remote GPS module, had crap running everywhere. But Crutchfield really is a great resource if you buy from them.

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Door panels are usually just a few clips, right? Shouldn't be much to it. I was going to do it in one truck, but they installed free at the shop. Seems like I researched it though, and it's not bad.

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It's always more than I want to do. Besides, I have Seinfeld episodes to catch up on.

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Can you hook a small amp up to a factory receiver? I'm half ignorant on car audio.

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Yes you can. Just upgrade those door speakers and get a line level converter for the amp. They make harnesses that hook up straight to the factory unit.

Also, it's bass

I know you dont want to but if

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I know I can replace the factory speakers with quality aftermarket speakers but am looking for a little more power too.

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then getting an aftermarket deck will have enough juice to power higher quality upgraded speakers. If you must keep the factory deck, a small amp hooked up to a pair of quality 6x9's (6x8's in Ford's?) would give you a vast improvement and 6x9's are great overall balanced speakers as far as high/mid/low. All of the major brands are solid (Pioneer, Alpine, JL, Polk, Kenwood) but I have a preference to Infinity because I feel they have the purest sounds and their high note frequencies are stellar. Bang for the buck and great quality I'd look at Pioneer's mid-tier stuff.

Here are all the options for an '09 Lariat on Crutchfields website filtered by the gear that would be compatible with your truck.
If it were my truck and money was not an option then a pair of Infinity Kappa 682.11cf 5x7/6x8 would be going in the front doors and I would uprgade the deck to an aftermarket deck. This will be a massive upgrade. Cost effective, I would go with a pair of Pioneer TS-A6885R front door speakers and power them with the existing stereo.

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Is there anywhere in La. that can do this kind of thing and not rape you? And, is there anywhere that doesn't mind you buying what you want, then installing that stuff for a fee?

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I really dont know. Im just a guitar player lol. I have always been around tech savy friends that are big into audio so I let them outfit my truck. Im not that great with the wiring side of things but more with the ear to recognize quality audio. If you have a tech savy friend then Crutchfield is great about supplying video and wiring diagrams when you purchase a product. If not, then I would bring it to an electronics store like AVI in Lafayette. I've heard good things about the service guys over there. I have no clue about what type of deal they run as for as fee's for installation. I would assume they would have some type of "spend x amount of dollars, installation is free" deal.

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You probably didn't see the post, but we do that here because of the searches for bass(the fish).

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I didn't see it but honestly, I thought of that when typing it.

They make interfaces to be able to hook up aftermarket amps to factory receivers. Last I checked they were a couple hundred bucks or more, aftermarket head unit can be had for that. Or a ballin aftermarket unit for a little more.
Aftermarket unit will make a small difference alone because it will put out more power to factory speakers, but what you probably want is a component system.

But, I'd probably look at the interface thing/aftermarket headunit and alpine makes type s components that wouldn't need an additional amp to power, and then add some decent speakers to the back doors. Maybe a small amp and small low powered sub or bazooka tube under the back seat.



Another option that may not help much but is still badass is the iPad mini to replace the head unit. I think CP3 did this.