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fabiodriven
08-06-2014, 06:21 AM
I got some crud in the port on my iPod late last week that managed to short both my deck in my truck and my iPod itself. I have an iPod on the way, but now I need a new deck for my truck. It's a 99 Super Duty with a regular single deck right now and it has an aftermarket spacer under it. The truck can obviously take a bigger deck. Is that what they call double din? My old deck had very limited iPod control and I'd like something with a lot more control than that. Can anyone steer me in the right direction? Please and thank you!

Edit- After doing some research the truck actually takes a 1.5 DIN deck but can be modified to take the 2 DIN. Worth it to do the 2?

sledcrazyinCT
08-06-2014, 09:30 AM
Check out crutchfield they have lots of choices for every budget and every head unit comes with a factory plug adaptor so there is no need to modify your vehicle wiring harness

jb2wheels
08-06-2014, 10:05 AM
Fabio its been a while since I shopped for a deck but for me, the double DIN swap wasn't worth it. Many more options with the standard single DIN. AS I recall, 2DINs were expensive as well.

I currently have a Lincoln Town Car and an E250 van and I had a Crown Vic. All had some version of a Ford 1.5DIN. All have a single DIN deck with a kit like yours.

fabiodriven
08-06-2014, 11:31 AM
I think you're right JB. I'm looking at some in the store and the big ones seem excessive.

Next question- is it worth putting an amp to my speakers?

jb2wheels
08-06-2014, 01:51 PM
The short answer is yes.

However, I'm a bit of a hypocrite in this regard.

My old Chevelle has an amp but only because when my dad put the CD player in it back in the 90s the deck had no internal amp. Yes - it was one of the very first Sony in dash 1DIN CD decks with no internal amp. 3 decks later, I still use the old school HiFonics amp. Good clean sound even with the windows down at 80MPH. A fantastic amp. I think it's a Europa - 4x35W or something like that.

My craptastic Civic has a Power Acoustic BAMF 1600/4 driving the door speakers off 2 channels and the sub of the other 2 bridged. A FANTASTIC amp I bought new for like $80. It sounds great, crisp, clear, thumping at volumes that hurt.

My Son's Civic runs a decent set of 4 Polk speakers of a "high power" Alpine deck.

The Crown Vic never had an amp. Sounded fine using the "high power" Sony deck it had and some nice 4x6 speakers in the front doors I pulled out of a wrecked Explorer in the junkyard and some 6x9s in teh deck (I think) leftover from ???

The van has no amp and runs 4 speakers off the "high power" 10+ year old Alpine deck. Front speakers are Alpine Separates. They sound fantastic. Rear doors are another set of junkyard 4x6. They add little to the sound experience in the tin can that is the van.

The TownCar is a little more complicated. It came from the factory with the JBL system including 2 amps (1 for doors/deck, 1 for sub), sub under the rear deck and, technically, separates in each door/deck. When I bought it, somebody had previously installed a JVC deck and ran all new speaker wires to the doors/deck bypassing the factory amps and sub. Interestingly, even though bypassed, somebody installed a nice Kicker sub in the factory box under the rear deck. I wired up the factory sub and amp to run off this deck as well. The whole thing sounds pretty good. Not a competition car, but for the $10 I spent wiring the sub, I'm very happy.

In my experience with the 3 "Fords" I've had, the speakers in the doors and deck sound really good even off a high power deck with no amp. Even in the big van. Even the junkyard speakers in the Vic and the factory JBL speakers in the LTC. Something about the location of the speakers and structure of the doors I think.

So, unless you need something to do (like install an amp...) or you're going to run a sub (maybe a wall of 15s where the back seat used to be in your Powerstroke!), I'd just run the speakers off the deck. Maybe pop for some "better" speakers?

fabiodriven
08-06-2014, 07:13 PM
The speakers I replaced last year. They're Walmart Pioneers, probably nothing fantastic but better than the blown factory speakers that they replaced. I do have multiple amps and subs kicking around and will be installing a sub and amp as well. So no amp on the speakers then eh? I got a Pioneer DEH-X3600UI deck with 50 watts per channel. That's enough oomph? My other deck looks pretty old, no idea the wattage but I'd guess 35w per channel. No USB or aux input on the front. It's got an ancient iPod adapter box thingamajiggy (not part of the deck) that allows you to control the iPod through the deck. I should clarify, that's the part that shorted, not the actual deck.

Thorpe
08-07-2014, 12:14 AM
I just put a Kenwood dnx890hd double din (navigation, hd radio, Bluetooth ready, Sirius) in my 2012 Ram, and absolutely love it. Came with the iPod 30 pin cable too. I run an 80 gig iPod Classic with it, so I can do any of the video options with it as well. Had a single din flip out 7" clarion in my last truck, and it was a pos in comparison with having the screen hanging out. Love my Kenny

DohcBikes
08-26-2014, 11:48 AM
Personally I think powering the speakers with an amp is the way to go, especially in a vehicle that makes lots of engine or exhaust noise...

fabiodriven
08-26-2014, 07:02 PM
I am still debating that. I thought I had two subs and two amps, but what I ended up having was one sub and three amps. Two amps were junk and one was broken but I was able to repair it. I used my only working amp with the sub and therefore didn't have an amp to use on the speakers anymore and I didn't want to spend any more money after having to buy an iPod and a deck. The amp is big but not an especially desirable brand. The sub is a 12" Kicker that I bought new in '04. I have the box sitting directly on the back seat behind my driver's seat. I had to turn the amp way down as it does kick and I'm now old. If I were still a kid I'd have that thing going full bore.

The system sounds great now. My old deck was 50 watts per channel as the new one is, but it didn't sound nearly as good for some reason. I'd still like to throw an amp on the rest of the speakers and see what happens.