Has anyone bypassed the factory amp?

Check http://maestro.idatalink.com/ and see what they have for your vehicle. As I remember, I had to cut and solder several wires between the Maestro unit and my aftermarket Kenwood head unit, but most of the factory wiring had plug-in adapters. They do have many extra adapters available. During setup, I had the option to either use or disable the factory subwoofer amp and speaker.

Moose, the 2008 high end stereo was the "audiophile" option. It had 50w door speakers instead of 25w as well as the subwoofer with its separate amp mounted on the housing in the rear quarter.

The Audiophile was not available on XLT's, but came standard on all the other models. All navigation systems (which were also not available on the XLT) were considered Audiophile Sound and had the subwoofer and 50w speakers.

The single CD 160W stereo was standard on the XLT. Optional was the six-CD stereo, also with 160 watts.

The Eddie Bauer and Limiteds had the six-CD radio but equipped with audiophile speakers and 340 watts. This may have been the same XLT optional radio equipped with the behind-dash amplifier.

The Pioneer navigation unit was also available only on the Bauer and Limiteds with 340 watts, which were produced by the head unit.

Satellite radio was optional on any Expedition, using a receiver mounted deep under the console on the captain's chair cars. It communicated with any head unit that was properly programmed using the CAN buss system. I don't know where they put it on the XLT's equipped with the cloth bench seat. 2008 was the last year the bench seat was available in Expeditions.

I believe all this applies also to the 2007's. In 2009 and 2010, things changed.

Great info trainmaster! Where did you get it from? From what your saying the Audiophile version like my Mach used a separate amplifier, and the deck is preamp only with no amp inside. Was the lower powered premium a receiver with a large 4 channel 40wpc x4 amp built in? How much wattage did the Subwoofer have powering it on the Audiophile top unit ? I'm guessing 60-100 watts.

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I added a Sound Ordnance 8" powered sub(Crutchfield), to my Mustang factory "Shaker 500" system. The Shaker system does use separate amps. Ford wanted $1900 more, to upgrade to the Shaker 1000. Its only difference, was a dual 10" sub and amp in the trunk. I tapped into the rear speakers, for inputs. I also added two extra, 1" high end tweeters, behind door panels and 4 Blaupunkt 6x8's. I left the 2 stock, 8" door subs. It sounds, clear, crisp and excellent.

Moose, some of what I wrote came from my researching the parts book when looking to install Navigation and "autophile" in my 08 XLT. The rest came from the 08 Ford sales brochure which lists the available options and standard equipment on the different models. And of course I learned from doing the job. The XLT's I learned, have a stripped harness with few wiring options.

I believe the sub-woofer amp in the rear quarter is rated at 80 watts. I know even less about the behind-dash amp that equipped some audiophile systems, as I never saw one, though read about it in the parts books.

The single-CD radio was only available on the XLT, with 160 w output. The six-CD radio was optional on XLT's with 140 watts out and standard on the others with 340 watts out and a woofer. I suspect it's the same radio with a separate in-dash amp (AR3Z-18B849-C). To make things more confusing, Ford lists this amp with their Pioneer Navigation system, which I know didn't need it. The same amp is also used in 2010 and up Mustangs, mounted in the trunk.

The premium radio has the amp built into it, and sends power directly to the speakers. Perhaps the audiophile uses the same radio, but with an external amp to boost the 160W output to 340 or whatever. Ford seems to advertise wattage by adding up all the speaker driver inputs. Again, just an assumption: Premium with four 25w speakers and two small tweeters. Audiophile with four 50W speakers, the same two tweeters and an 80W sub-woofer. Something like that I suppose. I'm guessing here.

You probably recall when parts books were very specific about which option packages contained which parts. Now it seems everything is coded by VIN numbers, so it's difficult to tell what came with what accessories in what models and how it was advertised.

Thanks for the info. Everytime I go online to research answers for our members, I hit road blocks. I don't think Ford would try to use a bumper amp on top of their built in amp. I'm old enough to remember booster car equalizers of the 1970's and 80's. They boosted the built in 5 watt per channel power that was built into the Blaupunkt, Pioneer, and Jensen cassette decks of the day. It pumped the power, along with the midrange, bass, and treble. Problem was, it was blaring and loud. They didn't have preamp only decks till about 1980 or so, I had one of the early Pioneers. The specs that Ford lists like 340 watts is what they refer to in the Stereo world as RMS. I believe it stands for root mean square, basically its the power the amp can briefly put out at a high distortion rate, usually 5 to 10 percent distortion. It's always been an advertising ploy to sell product. In reallity the 340 watts is only about 150 clean watt power, say under 2 percent distortion. Still sounds great, compared to the garbage oem Stereo that came with vehicles as far back as 1995 or so. Making it harder for aftermarket companies like Crutchfield to sell product.

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To make matters worse, Moose, the parts listing show the external amp used after 9/23/08 on Autiophile and after 12/02/08 on Premium radios. Were they still making 2008's then? Also the 6-CD radio changed mid-year which explains the amp dates.

Hey, do you recall the "reverb boxes" they sold for car stereos? Now that was hot stuff in the '70's! They had a set of springs in a metal box with a pickup. You'd listen to an echo in your rear speaker (singular) and it would go "boing" when you hit a bump. And those magnets on the old time OEM speakers? They were the size of a dime. Oh yea, eight-tracks that would switch tracks in the middle of songs...

Trainmaster said:

To make matters worse, Moose, the parts listing show the external amp used after 9/23/08 on Autiophile and after 12/02/08 on Premium radios. Were they still making 2008's then? Also the 6-CD radio changed mid-year which explains the amp dates.

Hey, do you recall the "reverb boxes" they sold for car stereos? Now that was hot stuff in the '70's! They had a set of springs in a metal box with a pickup. You'd listen to an echo in your rear speaker (singular) and it would go "boing" when you hit a bump. And those magnets on the old time OEM speakers? They were the size of a dime. Oh yea, eight-tracks that would switch tracks in the middle of songs...

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My first car was a 77 Monte Carlo. It had Mindblower 6x9's. Speakers with amps mounted on the back. The put out like 50 watts per channel(impressive back then) and were loud. One of the wires shorted out and blew a speaker. I replaced them with Jensen tri-ax, another gem from back in the day.

Ah a trip down memory lane! A friend of mine bought a new 1974 monte Carlo with a premium 8 track am/fm delco stereo. 2 6x9 in rear, and one in dash. Blasting tower of power sounded pretty damn good! I do remember reverbs, kinda of an exaggerated version of hall setting on modern surround home receivers.

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