EcoBeastCA
Well-known member
- Thread starter
- #1
So I just got a KEY200.4 along with the APH-FD02 harness from the guys at Sounds Good Stereo and went to try the install today. Despite all my searching, I CANNOT find any instructions or videos for this for a 2021+ F-150 with the B&O 8-speaker. Everything out there is either exclusively for older model years or for non-amped trucks, so I'm running blind here.
First problem came up real quick. When I went to plug in the harness, I found the "keying" (the physical shape of the tabs and such that make up the exterior of the connector) is different and the harness does not fit this model year. SGS's website states that this harness requires "slight" modification, which is REALLY stretching the definition of "slight". PAC Audio and SGS don't include any instructions on how to make these modifications yourself, so with some examination of the connectors and a bit of help from an Amazon review with photos, I put the connectors into my milling machine and milled off the entire bottom tab of one connector, and made a plunge cut on the other. Of course, now the female connector won't lock into the factory amp so obviously I did something wrong, so there goes $40 down the drain cause I doubt SGS will return a modified harness.
Frankly, I think this harness should NOT be advertised as fitting 2021+ trucks with these connectors. The modifications are not trivial and require a Dremel at the very least. I don't know why PAC Audio doesn't have a proper harness with the right connectors yet, it's been years already.
Second problem is I'm not entirely clear on how the KEY is supposed to interface with the vehicle. What I was hoping it would do is entirely replace the factory amp on the back wall (I plan to add an aftermarket sub and could probably live without the center channel), and that the PAC harness would literally be plug-and-play. I quickly realized that is not the case.
By the looks of it the factory amp is not at all like a regular amp where it takes actual audio inputs and boosts them, this thing appears to get audio signals via CAN. Is that right? From what I can gather, I need to take the speaker outputs from the factory amp, feed those into the KEY, and splice the KEY outputs into the speaker wires. If that's the case, I don't know why you'd bother with the PAC harness in the first place when cutting the factory wiring would, ironically, be easier.
Furthermore, the speaker outputs on the PAC harness coming out of the amp were capped off, suggesting they aren't needed. Their instructions say if you want to retain any factory amped speakers to splice the amp outs to the speaker wires, but that implies that your aftermarket amp is receiving its signals from somewhere other than the B&O amp.
I'm confused. Sorry for the long winded post. Any help here would be much appreciated cause SGS is closed on the weekends, and I'm too ingrained into the instant-gratification generation LMAO.
First problem came up real quick. When I went to plug in the harness, I found the "keying" (the physical shape of the tabs and such that make up the exterior of the connector) is different and the harness does not fit this model year. SGS's website states that this harness requires "slight" modification, which is REALLY stretching the definition of "slight". PAC Audio and SGS don't include any instructions on how to make these modifications yourself, so with some examination of the connectors and a bit of help from an Amazon review with photos, I put the connectors into my milling machine and milled off the entire bottom tab of one connector, and made a plunge cut on the other. Of course, now the female connector won't lock into the factory amp so obviously I did something wrong, so there goes $40 down the drain cause I doubt SGS will return a modified harness.
Frankly, I think this harness should NOT be advertised as fitting 2021+ trucks with these connectors. The modifications are not trivial and require a Dremel at the very least. I don't know why PAC Audio doesn't have a proper harness with the right connectors yet, it's been years already.
Second problem is I'm not entirely clear on how the KEY is supposed to interface with the vehicle. What I was hoping it would do is entirely replace the factory amp on the back wall (I plan to add an aftermarket sub and could probably live without the center channel), and that the PAC harness would literally be plug-and-play. I quickly realized that is not the case.
By the looks of it the factory amp is not at all like a regular amp where it takes actual audio inputs and boosts them, this thing appears to get audio signals via CAN. Is that right? From what I can gather, I need to take the speaker outputs from the factory amp, feed those into the KEY, and splice the KEY outputs into the speaker wires. If that's the case, I don't know why you'd bother with the PAC harness in the first place when cutting the factory wiring would, ironically, be easier.
Furthermore, the speaker outputs on the PAC harness coming out of the amp were capped off, suggesting they aren't needed. Their instructions say if you want to retain any factory amped speakers to splice the amp outs to the speaker wires, but that implies that your aftermarket amp is receiving its signals from somewhere other than the B&O amp.
I'm confused. Sorry for the long winded post. Any help here would be much appreciated cause SGS is closed on the weekends, and I'm too ingrained into the instant-gratification generation LMAO.
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