Sponsored

LostBoy

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 10, 2022
Threads
12
Messages
97
Reaction score
51
Location
Louisiana
Vehicles
2021 Space White F150 XLT 5.0
Hey everyone. I searched this particular forum a good bit when considering upgrading audio but didn't find this exact setup so I figured I'd share to help anyone who was interested. I wanted to upgrade my door speakers and add a small 4 channel amp. I've got a 2021 F150 with a base 7 speaker system, so it wasn't great. I've also got the 12" screen. Audio has changed so much since i did all of this in simpler vehicles when I was a teenager. Now you need line output converters for subs, and you have to consider the factory EQ settings that account for bass roll off, etc.

I chose the Kicker key 200.4 after seeing a lot of success on other F150 forums. I wanted an amp with a built in DSP, due to the fact that i'm not experienced with audio tuning. I was impressed that the kicker key can tune the whole system for you. 5 star audio on youtube was a great resource for me during this project. Very thorough videos. I decided to speak with Bruce Watson with Hush Car Audio after seeing everyone else's success. I considered doing Kicker door speakers, Memphis, Pioneer and a few others. Bruce recommended Morel and told me these were superior in my price range. So i bought the 2-way component 6.5" speakers for the front doors, and the 6.5" coaxial set for the rears.


Several companies make the "plug and play" harnesses for our trucks now where you can taylor them to your needs. I've done wiring for years but I'm not one to cut up my factory harness. The Harness you would need is made by Pac and is around $60, I figured I may as well go ahead and pay Bruce for his plug and play harness that takes into account load generators, so your chimes and tones will work right, as well as provisioning for subs in the future. So he made me a harness that was really impressive, and mostly plug and play. I just had to run Power and ground to the battery for the Kicker key amp, and also run separate wires from the tweeter to the crossovers.

Back in the day I would take all this apart without a care in the world but I tried to be super careful as this is a new truck to me and I didn't want to break any plastic clips, or mess anything up. I see a lot of people like to use Dynomat, or similar to dampen the road/excess noise. Figured since i was in the door panel i may as well. I picked up 15 feet of this "Frost King" stuff for $27 at Home Depot and it's Awesome! It took care of the rear two doors, then I went back and bought another roll for the front two. I went with this stuff because it's easy to remove if you want, compared to some of the kilmat and other amazon alternatives, they can be hard to take off if you ever need to.

Instead of "fast rings" or foam rings I chose the silicone speaker baffles to mate with the door panel. I did have to do some minor trimming on these allow for fit with items inside the door skin. For some reason the rear door window switches were extremely hard for me to get out, while the fronts came right out no problems. Swapping out the door speakers on all four doors was extremely easy.

Putting the amp in was a little tougher. Bruce will make your harness based off where you want your amp to be. Most people run this amp behind the factory radio. I believe that was super common in 2015-2020 model trucks. I chose behind the radio, and I'm seeing now I should've chose behind the rear seats. On the 2021+ you don't have near as much room behind the radio as I imagined. Yes, you can fit the kicker key behind the radio, but the key amp, plus the bulky harness, plus two crossovers is pushing it. Also, there are some wiring and sensors behind the radio and nowhere really ideal to "mount" the amp, and I didn't want it rattling around back there over bumps and stuff. So I chose to connect my plug and play harness behind the radio and feed the harness down through towards the glove box. I didn't want to use my free space above the glovebox for all of this stuff. I removed the glovebox and tried to figure out a way to mount it all out of sight. I chose above the glovebox but below the cubby. There's just enough room for two crossovers, and the Key amp. I had to trim a small amount off the rear of the glovebox, and run wires through the dash (hardest part) for the tweeter wire, and power wire.

For wiring I used KnuKonceptz 12gauge for power/ground both ran from the battery to power/ground on the kicker harness. I used 16 gauge for the tweeters, and I bought a good length of remote wire for a sub amp I'll use one day. The amp comes with an inline fuse holder you can wire in. It was painful seeing my truck in shambles but i felt better about doing this myself. I could've paid a shop to do it but that doesn't mean they will take the same care i will of everything.

I verified each speaker worked and what not before putting each door panel back on, and verified the amp was working before assembling the rest. I ran the tuning process the first time on the key amp and honestly wasn't very impressed. It didn't seem like it had much volume or was much different over factory. I figured I was doing something wrong. I re-tuned it at volume 22 I think? I heard a significant difference that time, so i was sure the amp was working. I set the gains accordingly but noticed during some songs the radio/amp would clip and the LED limiter would light up on the amp at volume 20-22 depending on the bass levels. I finally retuned at volume 15 and this thing came alive!!! Sounded better than ever with a ton of volume, great mids/highs/bass so I called it good after that. Set the gains and I was ready to put everything back together and clean up the mess I'd made stripping wiring, taping, cutting etc..

Overall I'd rate the system a solid 8/10. It's not the nicest system you'll ever hear but it's leaps and bounds better than stock! I didn't bi-amp this like most do, Bruce advised it sounds best with a passive crossover setup and I'll say I'm not disappointed, it really sounds killer. Another tip I can give was I was stuck on what to do for the tweeters. I see people using plumber's strap and other way to secure them in. I pulled the factory mount out and just took a small amount of material off from the inside diameter and I was able to fit my Morel tweeters right in the factory mounts, so I was happy about that. I do believe the sound deadening and the silicone baffles make a difference. I opted to not go with the door block off plates as some forums say they were a bigger improvement from the 15-20 models, maybe ford made some improvements on the 2021+? Not sure, may look at getting them one day.

I apologize for the long post, hope I can answer some questions for anyone wondering about a decent speaker upgrade in their 2021+ trucks. Unfortunately I can't speak for any truck with B&O, or a factory amp setup.

Ford F-150 Kicker Amp / Morel Speakers Audio Upgrade 05A748CD-8133-4571-87D0-45931A019DF2


Ford F-150 Kicker Amp / Morel Speakers Audio Upgrade 894BDCE4-7F71-4176-8E67-1086C11A419C


Ford F-150 Kicker Amp / Morel Speakers Audio Upgrade 5856D335-BFCA-40FC-9CA6-09A88B42103E


Ford F-150 Kicker Amp / Morel Speakers Audio Upgrade FB3DE743-E181-4F8E-A352-C06681734A88


Ford F-150 Kicker Amp / Morel Speakers Audio Upgrade BDA826AE-1BAA-4BF0-BAB2-D980FD590D0B


Ford F-150 Kicker Amp / Morel Speakers Audio Upgrade 28152930-E40E-48E2-9304-7D4A4F744D8A


Ford F-150 Kicker Amp / Morel Speakers Audio Upgrade B16BE7B5-332C-4D4A-89DB-B86AC15BB750


Ford F-150 Kicker Amp / Morel Speakers Audio Upgrade 52C707DC-F83E-4E55-92EF-5EDF62AE01E6


Ford F-150 Kicker Amp / Morel Speakers Audio Upgrade A674FB49-8629-4E40-994B-3D537EFE9737


Ford F-150 Kicker Amp / Morel Speakers Audio Upgrade 48E1B21A-C47E-474F-82D2-6C1A3060BAE9


Ford F-150 Kicker Amp / Morel Speakers Audio Upgrade E15B8FF6-2017-4C3F-B060-72218F22A8B8


Ford F-150 Kicker Amp / Morel Speakers Audio Upgrade FE8A9C9B-1754-4E10-8D57-574646418925


Ford F-150 Kicker Amp / Morel Speakers Audio Upgrade 238449D3-0E56-425A-97C9-6247DF504FC7


Ford F-150 Kicker Amp / Morel Speakers Audio Upgrade 52964918-FA9E-4593-A7FA-EA0D388B8EEB


Ford F-150 Kicker Amp / Morel Speakers Audio Upgrade 1FBD5176-D8B0-4D1F-84DB-607441B53B3D


Ford F-150 Kicker Amp / Morel Speakers Audio Upgrade 17A245A5-E5EC-4403-A6A5-FD601F82ABE1


Ford F-150 Kicker Amp / Morel Speakers Audio Upgrade 429CF3DF-CA89-486C-B52F-B1F6A384E4F2


Ford F-150 Kicker Amp / Morel Speakers Audio Upgrade AFDAC56A-AB6B-4335-9C94-F5B1246027EE


Ford F-150 Kicker Amp / Morel Speakers Audio Upgrade B74739B5-F2CA-4133-B8FE-E21C137136D1


Ford F-150 Kicker Amp / Morel Speakers Audio Upgrade F0B74502-C71E-4A36-ABB6-197EA4DD4AF1


Ford F-150 Kicker Amp / Morel Speakers Audio Upgrade 680317CB-4C29-45A5-89D5-CFAEC4923756


Ford F-150 Kicker Amp / Morel Speakers Audio Upgrade BD0A0C37-0CBC-46E6-AC39-1372DD11C1E0
Sponsored

 
Last edited:

dantheman

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 16, 2021
Threads
2
Messages
70
Reaction score
61
Location
BCS TX
Vehicles
21 XLT powerboost
Very cool build. How heavy is that insulation? I would love to see how much it reduces the panel vibration after it is installed.
 

Graygoose2021

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 18, 2021
Threads
30
Messages
1,849
Reaction score
1,753
Location
Central US!
Vehicles
2021 F150
Occupation
Sales
Excellent write up!!!
 
OP
OP
LostBoy

LostBoy

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 10, 2022
Threads
12
Messages
97
Reaction score
51
Location
Louisiana
Vehicles
2021 Space White F150 XLT 5.0
Very cool build. How heavy is that insulation? I would love to see how much it reduces the panel vibration after it is installed.
Weight wise, it feels very lightweight. It was cheap and very easy to work with. I feel like it helped tremendously with the road/wind noise just driving down the interstate. I figured for $50 i'd give it a try, not disappointed lol.
 

mnstang

Well-known member
First Name
Nick
Joined
Nov 21, 2020
Threads
16
Messages
680
Reaction score
552
Location
MN
Vehicles
2021 F-150 Lariat PB Leadfoot
Occupation
US Gov
@LostBoy Nice writeup and results!! I need to do the same to mine, want to make some money?? :sneaky:
 

Sponsored

TexasTruck

Well-known member
First Name
Scott
Joined
Oct 16, 2022
Threads
37
Messages
668
Reaction score
499
Location
Texas
Vehicles
2022 Ford F-150
Occupation
Cooking burgers and hotdogs is not BBQing, it's grilling! Thx, All of Texas!
Don’t under estimate that Frost King stuff… I found out about it on a vette forum a while ago. Skeptical, I did my vette floor and tunnel and my ‘08 super duty. The stuff works. It doesn’t add mass to the sheet metal but instead reduces vibrations and noise.
 

20XLTFX421

Member
First Name
Massimo
Joined
Feb 28, 2022
Threads
2
Messages
21
Reaction score
22
Location
New York
Vehicles
2021 F-150 XLT Powerboost
Occupation
Welder/Fabricator
So for future reference, there’s a product called “speed wire” it makes running speaker and remote wires much easier. It’s a multi conductor wire about the same size as a 4ga power wire. Much easier for a cleaner and quicker install.

Conext Link MSC918-20 20 Feet 9 Conductors Blue Speed Wire Primary Wire Speaker Cable 18 AWG Gauge GA 100% OFC Copper Stranded Trailer (11993) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083ZGX1QQ?ref_=cm_sw_r_apin_dp_KS7N41EX5YC0WAX0ASPY
 
OP
OP
LostBoy

LostBoy

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 10, 2022
Threads
12
Messages
97
Reaction score
51
Location
Louisiana
Vehicles
2021 Space White F150 XLT 5.0
@LostBoy Nice writeup and results!! I need to do the same to mine, want to make some money?? :sneaky:
I love doing audio in general. Honestly when doing my truck i found myself mentally exhausted. A job that should've taken what 3-5 hours took me almost two weeks because i'm so OCD. It wasnt a great experience. The reward is great though.
 
OP
OP
LostBoy

LostBoy

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 10, 2022
Threads
12
Messages
97
Reaction score
51
Location
Louisiana
Vehicles
2021 Space White F150 XLT 5.0
Don’t under estimate that Frost King stuff… I found out about it on a vette forum a while ago. Skeptical, I did my vette floor and tunnel and my ‘08 super duty. The stuff works. It doesn’t add mass to the sheet metal but instead reduces vibrations and noise.
Funny you say that, I'm a vette owner myself. I've been building a gen 3 iron block that's almost ready to go back in my C6
 
OP
OP
LostBoy

LostBoy

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 10, 2022
Threads
12
Messages
97
Reaction score
51
Location
Louisiana
Vehicles
2021 Space White F150 XLT 5.0
So for future reference, there’s a product called “speed wire” it makes running speaker and remote wires much easier. It’s a multi conductor wire about the same size as a 4ga power wire. Much easier for a cleaner and quicker install.

Conext Link MSC918-20 20 Feet 9 Conductors Blue Speed Wire Primary Wire Speaker Cable 18 AWG Gauge GA 100% OFC Copper Stranded Trailer (11993) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083ZGX1QQ?ref_=cm_sw_r_apin_dp_KS7N41EX5YC0WAX0ASPY
I'm somewhat familiar with it. Speedwire is what he used on my harness to get the signal to the rear of the truck for the subs in the future.
 

Sponsored


22stx

Active member
First Name
Mark
Joined
Jan 21, 2023
Threads
2
Messages
42
Reaction score
25
Location
NC
Vehicles
22 F150 STX
Occupation
Truck driver
What about the heat on the amp behind the glove box? Does it run cool enough back there as to not overheat?
 
OP
OP
LostBoy

LostBoy

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 10, 2022
Threads
12
Messages
97
Reaction score
51
Location
Louisiana
Vehicles
2021 Space White F150 XLT 5.0
What about the heat on the amp behind the glove box? Does it run cool enough back there as to not overheat?
So i was wondering about this too. From what i can see during my testing, I ran it wide open, maxed out about 30 minutes. It got really warm, but not hot.

after tuning i backed it down a whole lot, took alot of the bass out, set the gains and backed off. I believe there's more air flow in this space than behind the radio. I haven't ran it at max since, but just casual listening/occasionally loud, i'm not worried about it. I left compression turned on which helps take care of the amp, and speakers too. So basically it's no where near maxed out, and has flow. I believe it's working out ok.
 

22stx

Active member
First Name
Mark
Joined
Jan 21, 2023
Threads
2
Messages
42
Reaction score
25
Location
NC
Vehicles
22 F150 STX
Occupation
Truck driver
That's good to know. That's a good out the way place to have it. Clean looking setup.
 
OP
OP
LostBoy

LostBoy

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 10, 2022
Threads
12
Messages
97
Reaction score
51
Location
Louisiana
Vehicles
2021 Space White F150 XLT 5.0
That's good to know. That's a good out the way place to have it. Clean looking setup.
I appreciate it! Would've loved for it to workout behind the radio, out of sight, just couldnt fight the space for it. If i had to do it all again i'd definitely send it behind the rear seat.
 

TexasTruck

Well-known member
First Name
Scott
Joined
Oct 16, 2022
Threads
37
Messages
668
Reaction score
499
Location
Texas
Vehicles
2022 Ford F-150
Occupation
Cooking burgers and hotdogs is not BBQing, it's grilling! Thx, All of Texas!
Can you do this type of setup with a 6 speaker setup? I don't have a cool glove box cover, just a big cubby hole, but there seems to be a bunch of room under the seats or behind the rear seat.
Sponsored

 
 




Top