Good, Better, Best Do you feel ready to toss that factory entertainment system into the junk heap and invest in an aftermarket upgrade? Well, prepare to spend. A new radio can cost as little as $150, and a kick-ass sound system with some video can cost $5,000 and up, up, up. Major custom jobs often entail cutting holes for custom speaker and video locations, replacing seats, reupholstering interiors, mounting new wheels, building new center consoles, painting custom graphics on the car body, you name it. Projects like this can cost $10,000, $20,000, even $30,000. Thankfully, you don't have to pay $10,000 to get a great system for your truck unless you want to join the show circuit. The owner of the Ford F-150 we are about to describe did just that, although it wasn't his initial intention when he brought his truck to Prestige Customs & Auto Sound in Metairie, Louisiana, for a simple deck-and-two. But, he got so excited as the project progressed that he upgraded the truck to show car status. Here is the roadmap to a vehicle that began with an entry-level system, moved up to a killer system in a daily driver, to one that ends up in magazines such as ours
GoodThe stock head unit was replaced with a JVC unit (dual RCA out, remote control, CD, detachable face, in addition to the usual features). Replaced the stock speakers with Kicker 5x7-inch component speakers. Two 8-inch subwoofers were added in a ported box behind the seats, as well as the following Memphis amplifiers: 16-MC300 150W x 2 for the speakers, 16-MC500D 250W x 1 for the subwoofers. Installed were flush-mounted tweeters in the bottom of the A-pillars. This is a very good sound system for about $1,200.
BetterThe stock seats were modified to make them bucket-like. The center console was remolded with fiberglass to accept a Pioneer head unit (which replaced the JVC unit), air conditioning controls, a PlayStation 2 console, and a Fahrenheit wide-screen LCD monitor. The color of the console was matched to the outside of the vehicle. These were nice additions for another $2,000.
BestThe custom enclosure installed on the first visit was replaced with three 12-inch subwoofers in solobaric enclosures. The subwoofers fire into the cab through a hole cut in the bed. The amplifiers were upgraded and mounted in a custom amplifier rack in the bed, and they were colored to match the paintjob of the truck. Awesome graphics were added throughout. Tack on another $6,000 for this phase. Total cost for the whole project? You do the math, but they could have stopped at any of the three phases and still would have had a sound or video system that would have done the job right.