Aftermarket head unit with factory amp

[saucy]

I've got a 94 with premium sound. The system sounds great but no cd player. I want to install an aftermarket CD player but since the factory speakers sound so good on the factory amp I want to keep it that way. Can I plug the new cd player into the factory harness under the dash "with jumper harness's" and have it play through the factory amp? Also want to splice in some ford factory surface mount tweeters to the front speakers, will this negatively affect overall sound quality. I don't know how sensitive the factory amp is.

 

[sdpatt]

Absolutely. That is what I have done. The trick to make it a clean installation is to get the correct harness to adapt the output of the new head unit to the existing Ford JBL amplifier system. The guys that sell you the head unit should have no problem getting you the right harness. The audio output just plugs right into the existing Ford plug.

<small>[ November 27, 2002, 10:54 AM: Message edited by: sdpatt ]</small>

 

[jelloslug]

I would personally recomend ordering from Crutchfield. They will supply you the proper harness and mounting adapters to hook up you new head unit and speakers to the factory wiring for free. I have order several items from them and have always been pleased with there products and customer support. They even have an 800 number to call if you run into trouble while you are installing your system.

 

[saucy]

Thats cool. I thought it should work but I didn't know if that factory amp would accept the high level input from my head unit. I like crutchfeild too but in this case I can pick up those aftermarket harness's anywhere locally. But what about the tweets? They are just small surface mounts with cross overs built in, they shouldn't pull too much juice. Think it's OK?

 

[30footSHO]

Dammit, my last post didn't go through.

I was saying that I didn't recommend it (factory amp) for any high-volume applications. My Alpine head unit sounds like crap through the factory premium sound amp... if you have the JBL you may be OK, but don't expect to use the RCA preouts for anything aside from aftermarket amps. The highest I can get this Alpine (CDA-7892) to go is around 16-18 on the volume, which goes as high as 40-45 or so. Any higher is distortion city, and the built-in crossover system is set to 160 Hz right now.

Of course, the sound of the SHO at WOT is much more pleasurable than any song I know of.

Dave

 

[30footSHO]

Dammit, my last post didn't go through.

I was saying that I didn't recommend it (factory amp) for any high-volume applications. My Alpine head unit sounds like crap through the factory premium sound amp... if you have the JBL you may be OK, but don't expect to use the RCA preouts for anything aside from aftermarket amps. The highest I can get this Alpine (CDA-7892) to go is around 16-18 on the volume, which goes as high as 40-45 or so. Any higher is distortion city, and the built-in crossover system is set to 160 Hz right now.

Of course, the sound of the SHO at WOT is much more pleasurable than any song I know of.

Dave

 

[30footSHO]

One more thing: those tweets will need all the juice they can get. Run 'em from an aftermarket amp or be prepared for disappointment.

 

[SHO Boom]

just so you know the harness to use the factory amp is $50 from crutchfield. i opted to bypass the factory amp, and it still sounds great, very clean and still good volume.

 

[saucy]

I hooked up the head unit over the weekend, in case I didn't mention it is a Sony Xplod 50X4. I bought the harness to hook up the head unit and by pass the factory amp at Best Buy for $17. First I bypassed the amp and it sounded OK. Just for ***** and giggles I decided to throw the amp back into the fray. All I can say is WOW. I've been into stereo's my whole life and this has to be one of the best sounding factory setups I've heard with out a sub. To anyone wondering, I'd definately reccomend running your aftermarket head unit through the factory amp. The guy a BB install dept. said that it might not sound good as the amp was not meant to recieve a signal that strong, " from my Sony" but it sounds great, the 6X8's are hitting like small subs. I couldn't be happier.

 

[saucy]

Forgot to mention that the front speakers tend to distort just a little so I just adjusted the fade to the back one notch. I'm going to pick up some inline cross overs and cross them over at about 500hz. That should cure the distortion problem.

 

[DougLee25]

If you were to purchase a high end headunit, you will find that no sound will be heard if you play it through the factory amp. It's too much power for the amp, and the amp bypass HAS to be used.

Doug

 

[30footSHO]

ha, ha

See, that's why you can get away with it! It's a Sony flip_off

Yay for Alpine!

 

[stevetatro]

On both my '90 and '93 SHOs I've done both, bypassing the factory amps with cheap and expensive head units, and also integrating the factory amps using the ~$50 interface adapters using cheap and expensive head units.

I'm happiest with a cheap, yet decent quality, head unit with the factory amps incorporated. I wasn't too pleased with the bypass, even when I used an Alpine deck.

By the way, the harness that's included "free" from Crutchfield is the bypass harness, not the expensive one that incorporates the JBL amps. FYI.

 

[saucy]

Ha Ha Sony? Whatever dude. My sony should be around 18wX4 RMS, thats pretty good for a head unit. And thanks for your great advice that was completely inaccurate. I didn't know this was a competition to see who could spend the most on a stupid head unit. I've heard hundreds of head units before and I can't tell any difference in any of them once you hook up your amp and subs. I agree with Steve. Get a decent head unit with the features you want and invest your money in the amp and speakers. BTW Doug, why exactly would more wattage into the factory amp cause it to produce no sound?

 

[PaulRuffo]

saucy,

I'm going to be hooking up a sony xplod also. Would you be willing to explain how you set it up? I dont know all that much about hooking up car stereos. I've installed a few, but not with amps.

thanks,
Paul

 

[saucy]

Pual, The SHO came with two different systems. One system was the JBL system with subwoofer. The sub is located in the rear deck right in the middle. My car just had the Ford premium sound, two 6X8" in the rear deck and small speakers in the doors. I went to best buy and bought the harness I needed. Go to their stereo installation dept. as the harness's they have their are better than the crappy ones in the store. All you need to do is wire the harness to your head unit per instructions, "the wires on the harness should have their function written on them". Make certain that you connect the amp turn on wire in the harness to your head units "remote" lead, or your amp will not turn on. My sony had two remote turn on's, one was .01 amps the other was .03. The first time I hooked it up I used the small lead and for some reason I could only play the radio, the CD player would not play through the amp. Just to be safe I hooked the two together for more power and it works fine. It's an extremely simple installation. Let me know how it turns out. BTW, Props to you for saving some hard earned cash and buying an affardable head unit. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with the sound.

 

[PaulRuffo]

thanks for the info. Is one lead used to put the antenna up?

 

[autobahnsho]

The reason the amps sound like crap w/ a High Power amp is the same reason a microphone gets all distorted if you turn the gain up too much- the amps were meant for a low input.

Even some of the cheaper Pioneer decks I've seen put out 40-45 watts x4. That would be way too much to push into the amp and sound good.

Do you guys have the stock subwoofer also? I'm thinking of adding a deck. This might be the way to go....

 

[Deaks2]

I got a Clarion DB625MP; MP3/CD-RW/50w per channel, (http://www.clarion.com/products/srcunit/srcunit9.htm) and have the JBL premium system with the amp and sub.

I have the regular JBL/Mach 460/Ford Premium Sound wiring harness (http://www.sounddomain.com/shop/item.pl?sku=SCOFDK4B&vq_id=-22) in addition to this product (http://www.sounddomain.com/shop/item.pl?sku=SCOFAI3) which is designed to allow a high-power head-unit to work with the lowly stock amp.

 

[PaulRuffo]

autobahnsho,
Where in Germany are you? My friend is stationed near Heidelberg.

Paul