Hi everybody. I have a 2014 Explorer Limited with the 10 speaker Sony sound system and Sync 2. It sounds good, but I already have an aftermarket amp, speakers and subs from my previous vehicle that I would like to install, so I have a few questions that I haven't found a straight answer to:
- Does the factory stereo have RCA outs to hook up an amp, or would I need to get a line converter?
- What are the cutoff frequencies for the door speakers and the subwoofer? I would like to still be able to use the EQ in the head unit (if possible) depending on what those frequencies are.
- I have 2 10" shallow mount Pioneer Subwoofers. Anybody has experience mounting these under the seats? I'd like to keep the trunk free (if possible) because I use the 3rd row seats occasionally when I go on road trips with the family. Having to move the subs to get the 3rd row up would not be ideal, but not a dealbreaker.
Thanks in advance.
1. No RCA's.
2. Don't know that they are documented, but there are passive crossovers inside the door speaker woofers
3. There won't be room, but even if there was, you wouldn't want to do it because the cooling and heating functions will induce noise in the speakers.
You need to do some research on a couple threads:
2017 XLT Audio Speaker Upgrade This is a wiring diagram for the audio systems
Explorer Audio upgrade(s) This is my setup and also the msot comprehensive thread on this topic for you to research
The problem you're going to face is that the head unit does not do the EQ for the system. The audio is EQ'd in the amp. So where you'd normally intercept the audio signal between the head unit and the amp, this is not possible because that is not a plain audio signal. It's a data connection. So the only way to intercept the audio is on the output of the amp. So that audio is going to be EQ'd already, and tuned for the vehicle how Ford designed it. You have two options:
1. You can intercept the audio output from the amp, run it through a line level converter, and then through a DSP to de-tune it. This is going to give pretty bad results, because the amp's tuning is dynamic, not static. The output from the amp will not be full bandwidth either.
2. You can do what I did and use PAC Audio Amp Pro. Details are in the post I linked above. I still recommend a DSP for ultimate sound quality.
