[Wiked]

Getting some Infinity Speakers today, and more than likely a Deck. I have the Mach 460 system currently and will keep the stock amp. Any one in San Anto that has done this wanna help me with the install? I will also be getting a Kenwood amp and Kenwood sub soon, but will probably have Best Buy do that. Hell... I might just get everything today.

[tpcobra95]

I would help you but I have never messed with the 460 before. I have done just mustangs without the 460

[Graves]

I'd like to upgrade my stock speakers at some point.. Is that what you did? Replaced the doors, rear decks, and tweeters?

[Stumpy]

hell once you get it done with the stock amp, let me know how it turns out. i need to replace a couple of my stock speakers and that freaking amp gets in the way.

[Wiked]

Im just gonna replace the speakers, not the tweeters... all tweeters are the same, simply for highs. And thanks anyway TP. Ill let you know how it turns out stumpy.

[Stumpy]

the two sets of lows i put in mine kept cutting out when i turned to volume up past halfway. i was told by another forum that is was the amps posing the problem. good luck. i look forward to seeing how you do with your set up.

[Wiked]

so you put in two subs, and they turn off? You dont need to go through the stock amps for that, you get an extra amp for them. Unless you have the Mach 1000 system.

[aguilarf]

To replace the HU and use the MACH amps, you'll need to buy a FSA (factory system adapter) like this one. Factory System Integration Adapter 1988-up Ford/Lincoln/Mercury/Mazda/Nissan at Crutchfield.com Any local stereo shop in town should have some on hand.

Replacing the door and deck speakers is pretty straight forward. Speakers are crewed in with a T15 torx. Once you unplug the speakers, you will need to cut off the factory speaker plug harness, strip a little off the ends and crimp some new terminals on there. Pay careful attention to the polarity.

[Stumpy]

Originally Posted by Wiked

so you put in two subs, and they turn off? You dont need to go through the stock amps for that, you get an extra amp for them. Unless you have the Mach 1000 system.

not subs, just the lows on the side or my back seats (convertible). i unplugged the old speakers and plug the new ones in and they started cutting out. i was told it was the ohms not being the right level.

[Wiked]

Yea getting it from best buy also. I just dont know how to wire it.

[Wiked]

Originally Posted by Stumpy

not subs, just the lows on the side or my back seats (convertible). i unplugged the old speakers and plug the new ones in and they started cutting out. i was told it was the ohms not being the right level.

Dont know what that could be then... because if you simply replace speakers it should work perfectly.

[Stumpy]

well that just pisses me off. i've been told by circuit city that i would need to gut the entire system just to install a/m speakers. i've been using the damn stocks with the crackle everytime i increase volume. well anyway, don't mean to threadjack. hopefully you don't experience the same thing.

[Wiked]

hmmm... well, im gonna do some research then, If I dont feel comfortable doing it, or no one with experience is able to help, I will have Best Buy do the install.

[Stumpy]

keep me posted.

[aguilarf]

Originally Posted by Stumpy

not subs, just the lows on the side or my back seats (convertible). i unplugged the old speakers and plug the new ones in and they started cutting out. i was told it was the ohms not being the right level.

This is true. Ford's amps are propretary in nature, and are not designed to be upgraded easily. I yhink the amps run like at 6 ohms. Most aftermarket speakers are 4 or 8 ohms. The amps also have built in crossovers designed to operate well with the factory paper coned speakers. Once you chage out the speakers, the amps crossovers are no longer effectively able to tailor the sound as they were designed, so the sound quality will be a little off. So back to ohms, basically the resistance that the amp "sees" has increased. The amps starts clipping (cutting out) to protect itself from damage and overheating. Sometimes this is called self protection mode.

[Wiked]

So I gotta find 2 ohm speakers?

EDIT... Nevermind, the speakers I am getting are 2 ohms.
so im fucking GOLDEN...so far. I might install the speakers tonight...

[aguilarf]

Sorry, went and researched a little deeper and the factory speakers are 6ohms, changing to aftermarket drops the ohms down to 2. This is where I plugged in the wrong number. Read the below:

The door and rear "super sound" speakers (not the tweeters) are rated at 6 ohms. That's been stated before on this board so it should come as no surprise. What killed me was how these drivers were wired. There are two amps that drive these four speakers, each amp driving two speakers in parallel. The parallel wiring drops the impedance seen by the amp to 3 ohms which is why you can't just pop 4-ohm aftermarket drivers in their places since this would make the impedance 2 ohms which is a significant increase in power required of the amp.

Ok, "what's the big deal?" you ask. When I skimmed the circuit schematics I just assumed that each side was wired in parallel, i.e. the left door speaker and left rear speaker are connected to one amp and the right door speaker and right rear speaker connected to the other amp. Nope. While I was trying to figure out a way to use the factory wiring for my new system I saw that the front speakers are wired together and the rear speakers are wired together--you are not getting stereo from the bigger drivers! I don't know how it's wired in the head unit but I'm assuming the two amps are driving the same signal, i.e. mono signal. Unbelievable! Don't believe me? Just look at the schematics that you can download from FlemWorld

I recall seeing somewhere that the crossover frequency for the "tweeter" and "woofer" is around 300 Hz. It's low enough so that they can ALMOST get away with wiring the speakers like that (sound is ALMOST omni-directional at that frequency). However, for those of you who replaced only the drivers in the door sails beware. Aftermarket tweeters normally require high pass filtering above around 2.5 - 3.5 kHz (as my Infinity's do) so you would be putting incredible stress on your tweeters by driving them with the stock head unit which would be sending signals down to 300 Hz which is too low for a real tweeter to handle. Besides, the balance between the midrange/woofer and tweeter would not be right (you may be getting too little or too much highs.

From: Some vital info about your Mach 460/1000 [Archive] - Mustang Forums at StangNet

[Stumpy]

Originally Posted by Wiked

So I gotta find 2 ohm speakers?

EDIT... Nevermind, the speakers I am getting are 2 ohms.
so im fucking GOLDEN...so far. I might install the speakers tonight...

i say this as nice as i can... kiss my ass. okay, someone tell me some decent 2 ohm speakers. now i am threadjacking your ass. seriously, that's irritating.


Edit: nevermind... i just read the above post.

[Wiked]

Originally Posted by aguilarf

Sorry, went and researched a little deeper and the factory speakers are 6ohms, changing to aftermarket drops the ohms down to 2. This is where I plugged in the wrong number.

So will my 2 ohm speakers work? I looked it up, and it said the amps are 2 ohm.

Originally Posted by Stumpy

i say this as nice as i can... kiss my ass. okay, someone tell me some decent 2 ohm speakers. now i am threadjacking your ass. seriously, that's irritating.

LOL, the ones Im getting are Infinity, which is a pretty bad ass brand. If you wanna wait to hear mine you can... unless you want to beat me to it. Getting them at Best Buy... and my chick just called me, and she is Literally getting them right now...

[Stumpy]

the ones collecting dust in my garage are Kenwoods. and they are 4 ohms. i remember reading that. if your's work, i might just have to spend the extra money and get those instead. or break into your ride and steal your's...