# 2016 F150 SuperCrew Build



## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

So... slowly I've been building the parts and willingness to start the build on my new F150. I picked the truck up in March 2016 and so far I have 12,000 miles on it. 12,000 miles of listening to the absolute ****e that ford decided to put in this truck for a stereo.

The vehicle: 2016 F150 4x4, 2.7L EcoBoost, CrewCab, Short Bed, XLT, 302a package.

So far, and although not all completely related to the audio I have made the following changes:
A.R.E. Z Series shell with the electronic lock & rack rails 
WeatherTech floor liners, front & back
Builtright quick release latch for rear seat
LMI welding 2.5-inch rear seat lift brackets
Syppo telescoping tow mirrors

In terms of the audio, the only thing I have done is ordered a custom made box which arrived a couple of days ago, I put the sub's in the box and placed the box in the truck, no power to them yet though.

The plan....
I have the following on hand already which is the plan for this build:
Morel 424 pointsource midrange/tweets (a-pillars hopefully, or dash pods)
Stereo Integrity TM65's, or if I can fit bigger I'll use the SLS8's
2x Stereo Integrity BM MK IV's
2x Alpine PDX V9's (one per side)
Alpine H800 & RUX controller

I still need to gather wiring & deadener which I don't quite have a plan on yet.

I'll post some pictures in the next few posts as it's easier through tapatalk.


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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

Here's some pictures from when I first got the truck.



























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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

Here's the truck now with the new mirrors, shell, and custom plates
















And here's the reason I bought the weather tech matts










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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

Here is the sub box. It's a dual 12 down-firing setup. I ordered the box from Rodney's boxes on Ebay but due to the seat lift I installed I was able to have him make it deeper and stand further off the floor.




















































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## Garcbomber (May 26, 2017)

Nice that ford just leaves that area under the seats open, FCA molded storage compartments into the sheet metal for my Ram so it's limited in cubic feet. It does give a more luxurious look IMO and it is a 400hp truck, but the stock alpine system has its weak areas.


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## ib_604 (Jun 17, 2009)

This awesome. You'll definitely have a night and day improvement over stock. 

I have a 2016 F150 also. But has the Sony system. Can't wait to get my system done also. Miss having a properly tuned system with good highs mids and bass without sacrificing one for the other. 

Good luck and look forward to following your build. 

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## Timelessr1 (Feb 12, 2010)

I'm sure you are loving those SI BM MK's! I have a very similar set up in my 2010


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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

Timelessr1 said:


> I'm sure you are loving those SI BM MK's! I have a very similar set up in my 2010




Right now I'm only able to love the way they look. Need to get the amp rack built and some wiring run.


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## rob3980 (Jun 11, 2010)

What's the cubic ft of the box you have? Or is it actually 2 boxes ? I'd love to swap out my stealth box for 2 12" AudioFrog GB subs . 


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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

rob3980 said:


> What's the cubic ft of the box you have? Or is it actually 2 boxes ? I'd love to swap out my stealth box for 2 12" AudioFrog GB subs .
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


It's about .7 a side. I had him make it smaller as it would have been over a cube per side, and yes they are separate chambers.


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## rob3980 (Jun 11, 2010)

Very nice. How is the actual quality of the box build ? If it's good I may be switching subs very soon. .7ft3 is perfect for the AF subs. 

Do you happen to have the dimensions ? I'm just wondering depth wise If the af subs will fit 


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## Lycancatt (Apr 11, 2010)

glad to see this getting off the workbench and into the vehicle.


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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

rob3980 said:


> Very nice. How is the actual quality of the box build ? If it's good I may be switching subs very soon. .7ft3 is perfect for the AF subs.
> 
> Do you happen to have the dimensions ? I'm just wondering depth wise If the af subs will fit
> 
> ...


It's pretty good, only part I wasn't really happy with was the carpeting as all the seams are on the corners, he either should have painted the wood black first to help lessen what shows through or carpeted it properly. Structurally it seems good though, it's all 3/4, glued joints etc.


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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

Lycancatt said:


> glad to see this getting off the workbench and into the vehicle.


Yeah, I ran out of space on the workbench, so mid-bathroom remodel I had to clear some stuff off. Lol.


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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

Making a little headway on the amp rack. Just basic 3/4MDF bolted and riv-nutted to the rear wall.































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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

And here it is all wrapped up.































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## s7horton (May 16, 2015)

So I have a very basic question. I'm getting ready to start my second f150 build (also, my second build ever). The first one I epoxied the amp board to the back wall because I was afraid the fasteners punching through the backwall could cause leaks. The epoxy worked, but it takes 8 or more hours to dry. Did you seal the fasteners at all?


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## rob3980 (Jun 11, 2010)

Did you have the Sony System in your truck? My installer said they couldn't take the Sony Amp out for some reason?


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## Timelessr1 (Feb 12, 2010)

s7horton said:


> So I have a very basic question. I'm getting ready to start my second f150 build (also, my second build ever). The first one I epoxied the amp board to the back wall because I was afraid the fasteners punching through the backwall could cause leaks. The epoxy worked, but it takes 8 or more hours to dry. Did you seal the fasteners at all?


When you mount a board like that to the back wall of an F150, there are raised channels.. you either screw or use nutserts into these raised channels so the screws NEVER puncture the outer skin of the truck... that would be a real no-no


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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

Timelessr1 said:


> When you mount a board like that to the back wall of an F150, there are raised channels.. you either screw or use nutserts into these raised channels so the screws NEVER puncture the outer skin of the truck... that would be a real no-no




Uhhh, I'm not sure on that one. When you take the bed off a truck I'm pretty sure you see those corrugations. I'm pretty sure there's only one layer of sheet metal to the outside. I did it on the raised section anyway, but I'm pretty sure they punched to the outside. I'll get under neath and see if I can figure it out.


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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

rob3980 said:


> Did you have the Sony System in your truck? My installer said they couldn't take the Sony Amp out for some reason?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk




I dont have the Sony system.


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## dowheelies (Jan 7, 2012)

2 BM MK's should be awesome! That's the way I'm leaning. I see you used the LMI kit for the seat? Did it work well and all the seat functions remained? How much height did you gain. Considering for my 17 F350.

Thanks,
Eric


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## NaamanF (Jan 18, 2006)

rob3980 said:


> Did you have the Sony System in your truck? My installer said they couldn't take the Sony Amp out for some reason?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I think if you reprogram the ACM for a pre-out signal and attach RCAs to it you can. I used a AP4-FD21 with a TOSLINK module so it had to stay installed.


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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

dowheelies said:


> 2 BM MK's should be awesome! That's the way I'm leaning. Did you use the LMI kit for the seat? Did it work well and all the seat functions remained?
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Yes I used the LMI kit. Overall pretty good product, but.... little bit of a tedious install. Even gear wrenches can't help you get those bolts into the floor, it's old school open end wrenches for most of it.

The main issues with the kit:
1. Center seatbelt does not retract properly as the back of the raised seat now pinches it against the back wall.-
2. Came with the wrong relocation bracket for the drivers side. Ended up using the one from the passenger side and he sent me another, but it's pretty flimsy and allows the seat to move a fair amount.
3. Say goodbye to the jack mount.
4. Every time you lift the 60 side of the seat the seatbelt buckle falls through and you have to thread it back in.
5. The lift brackets for either end of the seat are made differently to have a little vanity piece, but they get in the way of the seat leg and so you have to put them in backwards, it may as well be another c-bracket like the rest.

The rest of the kit is sturdy and good quality. I'd buy it again as there's nothing else out there but it could be a better kit with some more R&D on the issues it causes.


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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

Mail arrived













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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

So I have the interior stripped out as much as I wanted to, pretty damn easy truck to take apart.

There's some existing sound deadened of sorts on the sheet metal already. Should I leave it in place and just put the cod on top, or remove it first? Looks like removing it wouldn't be an easy feat. I have a good amount of CLD, MLV & CCF to put in next. I'll run some wires in the meantime.


























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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

Got the RCAs connected to the back of the head unit using the infotainment harness. Ran the RCAs back and then ran the 0gauge power run from the rear of the van to the passenger kick area along with the remote turn on wire. Had trouble getting it through the firewall but it's late now so I will attack again tomorrow.






































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## optimaprime (Aug 16, 2007)

Looking really good! Makes wanna start my 13 fx4 super crew. I am using pdxv9 thinking about getting mono to match.


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## duxslayer (Jun 16, 2017)

Nice clean work! Yeah, getting large gauge power cable around all the hardware on that firewall is a bear. But, where there's a will....


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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

Worked on the sound deadening a little and got the speaker wire roughed in. Carpet is back in as well as the front seats so it's drivable again. I wish I was able to do some more deadener and had some thinner ccf/mlv to do the front area, that luxury liner pro is a pig! Should work well though. Oh, and f**k the 4x4 module in the passenger kick area.







































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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

Got the amp rack wired up and back in. Starting to look like a truck again.













































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## optimaprime (Aug 16, 2007)

That looks very slick !


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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

One door down































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## mrmill (Feb 11, 2013)

nice work...makes me want to get out and start on my truck.


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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

mrmill said:


> nice work...makes me want to get out and start on my truck.




I was going to say do it before summer is here, even today was f'ing brutal... but then I saw you were in VA.


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## dcfis (Sep 9, 2016)

Work looks great! Love the mlv floor treatment. Need to do mine. Alpine is brain dead for putting their logos where they would be upside down in 90% of the installs.


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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

dcfis said:


> Work looks great! Love the mlv floor treatment. Need to do mine. Alpine is brain dead for putting their logos where they would be upside down in 90% of the installs.




I guess they were counting on them being flat in a trunk with the wiring facing away from you.


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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

Everything is back together. Tweeters are in and I did a very basic tune, crossovers etc. So far so good. Nothing blew up, set on fire and I even had all the RCAs and speaker wires run to the right place. I'll work on this set up a little more over the next few days. I made a second set of rings for my peerless sls8's once I have the pillars done properly and the morels in there, for now I just have the TM65s. In case anyone is wondering what size speakers you can fit in the F150 doors, pretty much anything, the SLS8's fit with a single 3/4mdf ring, no problem.











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## OCD66 (Apr 2, 2017)

Damn, that's some fast work. Nice job.


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## dcfis (Sep 9, 2016)

jnchantler said:


> I guess they were counting on them being flat in a trunk with the wiring facing away from you.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Which makes no sense with such a slim design and a top control panel you could never get to or see.


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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

dcfis said:


> Which makes no sense with such a slim design and a top control panel you could never get to or see.




True.


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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

OCD66 said:


> Damn, that's some fast work. Nice job.




Would have been faster if it wasn't so damn hot. Jesus it was brutal.


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## Darkrider (May 11, 2012)

Sub'd for Gray Trucks!

Like the amp rack.


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## ecbmxer (Dec 1, 2010)

Good looking build! Interested to hear impressions of the morel point sources and SLS8s. Setup I may consider for my 4runner.


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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

So I've had a chance to listen to everything today, made a few adjustments here and there on the tune. Overall very impressed with th TM65s and the addition of the second BM MKIV. I'm have a couple of issues, or potential issues:

1. The temperature readout on the RUX is hitting almost 130 (54 Celsius)... does anyone else's run this hot?

2. Twice today, while talking on the phone one of the V9s (left side) has gone in to protect mode with a red light. Hasn't done it listening to music yet, even pretty loud so I'm baffled on this one.


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## Lycancatt (Apr 11, 2010)

great start so far! cant wait to hear those point sources..


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## dowheelies (Jan 7, 2012)

Thanks for the info on the seat riser, sounds like they could refine it a bit. Install looks great thus far! I too am looking forward to hearing your impressions with the 8's in and the pillars with point source.

The depth on the SLS8 are 4.39" depth? That sure does let us put just about anything in there! My short list is currently ID X69, AF GS690 or German Maestro SW 8009.

Keep up the good work.

Eric


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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

dowheelies said:


> Thanks for the info on the seat riser, sounds like they could refine it a bit. Install looks great thus far! I too am looking forward to hearing your impressions with the 8's in and the pillars with point source.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




I figured one thing out on the seat lift kit... there was an eighth bracket but only 7 legs (or whatever you want to call them) on the seat so I only put 7 in and left the last one out. The 8th bracket raises the mounting point of the seatbelt so it doesn't fall out every time you lift the seat. The only problem is it would be in the way of my amp rack so I left it out in the end.

Again, it is a decent kit and worth the money... just a few bugs that are a little annoying.


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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

So this morning I did some looking into the grounding on the system to see if this was the culprit for the PDX V9 cutting out. I measured from the negative terminal on the battery to the ground lug used for the entire system and it measured 6.0 ohms. I'm not an electrical engineer, but this seemed very high. Testing just the multimeter straight back to the terminal (with the extension wire is used) measured .2 ohms, so I assume the actual resistance back to the grounding point was 5.8. I pulled the lugs off and ground the area down, reinstalled and remeasured and it was 3.3 ohms. I still think this is high but considerably better. So far the amp has not gone into protect again and seems to be staying below 50c.... we will see what happens. Valuable lesson in grinding off the surface at least. I know this seems remedial, but in my defense, this was an existing grounding point and the bolt ran into a fixed but that I assumed was a good ground... obviously not the case.


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## Lycancatt (Apr 11, 2010)

people freak out when I tell them how important grounding is 'if I just scratch off some with keys itll work..." nope! glad you figured it out.


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## dowheelies (Jan 7, 2012)

Is that factory ground point for the rear heated seats? i know on the Superduty they are using a new cab/mount isolator. Wonder is the ground to body strap is somewhat minimized now? Could Ford done the grounding for the aluminum bodied trucks a bit different now? Just spitballing.... I got very little resistance to ground on my 2011 steel body from the same area.

Eric

Eric


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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

dowheelies said:


> Is that factory ground point for the rear heated seats? i know on the Superduty they are using a new cab/mount isolator. Wonder is the ground to body strap is somewhat minimized now? Could Ford done the grounding for the aluminum bodied trucks a bit different now? Just spitballing.... I got very little resistance to ground on my 2011 steel body from the same area.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Mine doesn't have rear heated seats, not sure what it's for, there's about 4 different wires that tap into the same lug. The new super duty has the exact same cab as the new f150 so that could be a common issue between the two. They changed the superduty to aluminum for 2017 and used the f150 cab. Might be part of the reason the new 150 cab is so much bigger than the last generation.

What's everyone else getting resistance wise from their amp ground to the battery?


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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

Made a few changes with Forscan this evening. Bambi mode (high beams and fog lights simultaneously), most cars turn the fog lights off with high beams. Changed output of head unit to a (supposedly) flat-ish, pre-out with less volume dependent EQ. Global window open/close with remote, turned off door chimes and seat belt chime.

Oh, I I turned off that f'ing auto start stop crap a couple of weeks ago too.


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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

New front grille (no chrome, just black with a PTM surround).










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## Lycancatt (Apr 11, 2010)

my computer thinks forscan is pronounced the same as foreskin lmao! I'm genuinely lolling hard at this..


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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

Lycancatt said:


> my computer thinks forscan is pronounced the same as foreskin lmao! I'm genuinely lolling hard at this..


Yeah, I'm not sure that was a wise choice for that company's name. I'm sure autocorrect has caused problems on it a couple of times.


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## passtim (Sep 30, 2009)

Any updates on your install? I have the same truck, just a 17 and am looking for ideas. Also, what harness did you use to connect to the deck, I know you said infotainment, but is that the Parrot harness?


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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

passtim said:


> Any updates on your install? I have the same truck, just a 17 and am looking for ideas. Also, what harness did you use to connect to the deck, I know you said infotainment, but is that the Parrot harness?




No real updates. Just moved into new house so been very busy. It’s not the parrot harness, I think the parrot is for the Sony system. It’s just a basic harnes with RCAs spliced in but makes the install a little easier. You want to get Forscan and a compatible OBDII interface to turn the EQ off (mostly) and give you preamp outputs.


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## passtim (Sep 30, 2009)

Thanks for the update. I am in the process of doing the Forscan changes, along with several others to the truck. F150Forum.com has already got me to spend more than I thought I would on a new truck, but the Mod monster takes over. I've already upgraded the front to the new JL c1's 6x9 comps and the rear to an older set of Focal Polys. Tapped the rear harness in the B pillars and sent the signal via a PAC Loc to a clarion 3 way Crossover then to 2 PPI Phantom 900-4s I've had for a few years. I went with a modded Kicker prefab 10 with 10in passive radiator behind the rear seat. This fits with padding removal and I used a hole saw and cut a 2 in hole in the bottom of the enclosure where the seat bolt is then installed a 2inch piece of sch 0 pipe to seal the hole. Sub fits perfect, and back seat folds up and down fully with no issues..


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## EvAnA (Aug 20, 2012)

jnchantler said:


> No real updates. Just moved into new house so been very busy. It’s not the parrot harness, I think the parrot is for the Sony system. It’s just a basic harnes with RCAs spliced in but makes the install a little easier. You want to get Forscan and a compatible OBDII interface to turn the EQ off (mostly) and give you preamp outputs.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


About to do the same eq off/activate low levels outputs in my 2015 f150 after reading about the success with undistorted flat output in a handful of forums. Did you do some testing or find something about it that makes you say "mostly"?


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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

EvAnA said:


> About to do the same eq off/activate low levels outputs in my 2015 f150 after reading about the success with undistorted flat output in a handful of forums. Did you do some testing or find something about it that makes you say "mostly"?




There’s some pretty detailed write ups on the f150 and fusion forums. There is still roll off and some boost that lessens as you increase the volume.


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## jnchantler (Apr 11, 2012)

EvAnA said:


> About to do the same eq off/activate low levels outputs in my 2015 f150 after reading about the success with undistorted flat output in a handful of forums. Did you do some testing or find something about it that makes you say "mostly"?




There’s some pretty detailed write ups on the f150 and fusion forums. There is still roll off and some boost that lessens as you increase the volume.


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