Well I have got my 2015 HB with 6 speaker non MFT wired up now with a JL AUDIO M700/5 Amp and a type S 10" sub in a sealed box a bud from work let me throw in.
I wanted to start a new thread if anyone is looking to wire up an amp and keep their stock Head Unit in place
I want to thank a few others on here who have posted pics to help me out and I added a few pics so people see what I did too.
Huge thanks to jeshi5 for translating the post he got from a focus forum user in Argentina! Marcelo1970 was the original poster as well as Firebirddude for asking a few questions too...
SO here it goes hope it all makes sense...
1.
you need to remove this little panel in between the AC and radio bezels. Use a couple small flat blade screwdrivers to pry back the tabs on the cover and then press down on the centre tab and work it out. It will come out but is a bit of a pain.
2.Remove the 3 screws you see circled in the pic and then begin to pry from the front near the bezel and pop out the retaining clips on the trip panel that wraps around the shifter assy. the second picture shows you where the clips are located to help you use a trim removal tool to pry them out
3.remove the remaining screws in the bezels and then take a couple mini screwdrivers again and press on the tabs inside where the arrows are and then the lower heater control assy will pop out.
4. Once popped out, just slide back the assy and un hook the harness under the shifter if an auto and you will have enough room to work without needing to disassemble the shifter.
again take your screwdrivers and press up in the circled areas and the radio head will now unclip and you can carefully pull it back to remove the harness.
Now remove the Head unit (Silver box) just a couple screws and its out and you can unhook the harnesses on the back.
There you can now go have a cold one and pat yourself on the back..
Well time to run some wire now so you can add the amp.
I used METRA 9 wire cable and ran 2 strings of it as you need to cut the wires about 4" from the harness plug and run one 9 wire to the back to your Line out converter or into an amp that accepts speaker wires as an input and the other end you will wire to run from the amp output side back to the speaker wire you have cut to amplify the speakers in the car. I ran the wire along the passenger side of the car just popping off the covers along the floor. I ran the power wires on the drivers side.
(I just took one of the strings and wrapped it with red tape at both ends to know which one was which.)
I wanted to have a Bass level control knob (JL AUDIO accessory) so I didn't have to have the sub pounding all the time if I didn't want it. This is not a bass boost knob... This is just a separate control knob for the sub channel of the amp you still would set the channel up as normal but have full control of the volume of the subs.
I wanted mine to blend in with the rest of the console and so I took mine apart and had to do a lot of grinding and sanding to make it fit in there as it wasn't just an open hole on the under side. (Im sorry I didn't take pics while doing that part. it just takes a lot of filing and sanding to get it opened up so it would fit.
Here is the knob installed in the console. I love it, yes I pried up on the switch thinking it would come out and it dosent, it comes out from the bottom after removeing 3 screws... (Silly me that's my fault for rushing at 1 am to get it out)
As to running the power wire for the amp there is a grommet above the drivers left foot resting panel that I put a grommet in and ran the cable through. I also mounted my fuse on the cover of the battery cover.
I will add some pics in the am of the amp installed and the wiring of it all..
I hope this helps someone out.
A few may say why did I do the splicing behind the head unit? Easyist place to access all the wires without needing to look for them and I didn't use the 9th wire in the 9wire cable as my LOC has Auto-on so as soon as it sees any signal in the speaker wire it automatically turns on the LOC and inturn will turn on my AMP.
Its not the loudest or fancy but it sure made driving way more enjoyable for me
Cheers!!
I wanted to start a new thread if anyone is looking to wire up an amp and keep their stock Head Unit in place
I want to thank a few others on here who have posted pics to help me out and I added a few pics so people see what I did too.
Huge thanks to jeshi5 for translating the post he got from a focus forum user in Argentina! Marcelo1970 was the original poster as well as Firebirddude for asking a few questions too...
SO here it goes hope it all makes sense...
1.
you need to remove this little panel in between the AC and radio bezels. Use a couple small flat blade screwdrivers to pry back the tabs on the cover and then press down on the centre tab and work it out. It will come out but is a bit of a pain.
2.Remove the 3 screws you see circled in the pic and then begin to pry from the front near the bezel and pop out the retaining clips on the trip panel that wraps around the shifter assy. the second picture shows you where the clips are located to help you use a trim removal tool to pry them out
3.remove the remaining screws in the bezels and then take a couple mini screwdrivers again and press on the tabs inside where the arrows are and then the lower heater control assy will pop out.
4. Once popped out, just slide back the assy and un hook the harness under the shifter if an auto and you will have enough room to work without needing to disassemble the shifter.
again take your screwdrivers and press up in the circled areas and the radio head will now unclip and you can carefully pull it back to remove the harness.
Now remove the Head unit (Silver box) just a couple screws and its out and you can unhook the harnesses on the back.
There you can now go have a cold one and pat yourself on the back..
Well time to run some wire now so you can add the amp.
I used METRA 9 wire cable and ran 2 strings of it as you need to cut the wires about 4" from the harness plug and run one 9 wire to the back to your Line out converter or into an amp that accepts speaker wires as an input and the other end you will wire to run from the amp output side back to the speaker wire you have cut to amplify the speakers in the car. I ran the wire along the passenger side of the car just popping off the covers along the floor. I ran the power wires on the drivers side.
(I just took one of the strings and wrapped it with red tape at both ends to know which one was which.)
I wanted to have a Bass level control knob (JL AUDIO accessory) so I didn't have to have the sub pounding all the time if I didn't want it. This is not a bass boost knob... This is just a separate control knob for the sub channel of the amp you still would set the channel up as normal but have full control of the volume of the subs.
I wanted mine to blend in with the rest of the console and so I took mine apart and had to do a lot of grinding and sanding to make it fit in there as it wasn't just an open hole on the under side. (Im sorry I didn't take pics while doing that part. it just takes a lot of filing and sanding to get it opened up so it would fit.
Here is the knob installed in the console. I love it, yes I pried up on the switch thinking it would come out and it dosent, it comes out from the bottom after removeing 3 screws... (Silly me that's my fault for rushing at 1 am to get it out)
As to running the power wire for the amp there is a grommet above the drivers left foot resting panel that I put a grommet in and ran the cable through. I also mounted my fuse on the cover of the battery cover.
I will add some pics in the am of the amp installed and the wiring of it all..
I hope this helps someone out.
A few may say why did I do the splicing behind the head unit? Easyist place to access all the wires without needing to look for them and I didn't use the 9th wire in the 9wire cable as my LOC has Auto-on so as soon as it sees any signal in the speaker wire it automatically turns on the LOC and inturn will turn on my AMP.
Its not the loudest or fancy but it sure made driving way more enjoyable for me
Cheers!!