A customer from Westminster, Maryland came to us about a year ago wanting an F150 stereo upgrade (we are famous for these!) to improve the sound system in his 2009 SuperCrew. He wanted to leave the original radio in the vehicle and he needed to maintain the utility of the truck. His thought at the time was adding some bass to the F150 as it was lacking immensely in that department. We offered him a second option of upgrading the speakers and adding a second amplifier to power the speakers but he declined that option. We installed a subwoofer enclosure under the rear seat, hid the amp and integration device under a front seat, and sent him on his merry way.
Fast forward one year. The customer returns to our store saying he wished he would have done the whole stereo upgrade when we offered it. Now he wants it to really jam! We sat down and laid out a roadmap for the upgrades. He still wanted the install to use the original Ford radio and he still needed the practicality of his truck. We were up to the challenge.
JL Audio Stealthbox Fits F150 Like a Glove
This time around we installed a JL Audio Stealthbox under the driver’s side rear seat. The Stealthbox is color matched to the interior and gets bolted into place, becoming a permanent part of the vehicle. It uses a JL Audio 13TW5v2 woofer that is nothing short of incredible. It is extremely musical and can pick up on all the nuances in the music it is playing. It also has very good output when the customer wants to feel the music and not just hear it.
German Maestro Fits Front Doors and Sounds Flawless
In the front doors we installed German Maestro EV6808 speakers and we mounted the tweeters in the A pillars to raise the soundstage. In the rear doors we installed JL Audio C2-570X speakers to improve the sound for any rear seat passengers.
Arc Audio Provides the Power For F150 Stereo Upgrade
For power we chose two Arc Audio amplifiers. A KS300.2 amp sends 700 watts of clean power to the Stealthbox and a KS300.4 amplifier adds 100 watts per channel of power to the door speakers. Arc Audio is a relatively small manufacturer in southern California that is passionate about amplifier design. They make a great products and these two amplifiers seemed almost limitless in delivering high quality concert level sound when called upon. The amplifiers were installed under the front and rear passenger seats.
Audio Control Bridges The Gap
We integrated the Ford 150 radio using an AudioControl LC2i processor and the optional ACR1 bass level control knob. This device allowed us to get the maximum sound quality out of the original radio and give the customer the option of quickly adjusting the amount of bass in the music.
To round out the f150 stereo upgrade we installed Hushmat damping material in the doors and near the Stealthbox. This product is very effective at eliminating noise and vibration that may be present when a high performance stereo system is installed into a vehicle. Any noise or vibration would color the sound of the music in a very negative way and we knew that was not an option we could live with.
When the customer came in to pick up his vehicle saying he was happy would be an understatement. He sat out in his truck for an extra twenty minutes after we demo’ed it to him just enjoying his music. Isn’t that what a great sound system should deliver?
For more information, give us a call at 410-857-5300, EMAIL US, or just stop in and allow us to show you around!