2000 mustang audio system

[wolf39us]

Ok so here is the new deal, I went to circuit city in an attempt to save some money...yep I'm not happy...

I bought a pretty decent head unit a JVC KD-HDR30 and with circuit city I get a free install...

now I was totally aware of the fact that the speakers on my right side were not working correctly at all...but I figured I'd give it a shot and just throw the car at them...

so here is what happened...they installed the radio with a harness adapter that hooks up to the ford harness...when I went to go pick up the car they let me know that the ford harness is not working properly and that they need to rewire the whole thing...which cost me an additional $80 for them to do...

ok so they gave me 3-4 hours ETA ...so I got the car later, and the store was already about to close..... But the guy did tell me that I may wanna invest into an upgrade on my speakers which I thought was a little odd....my speakers say MACH on them (not sure if that means they are the MACH 460 or not)


so I was messing with the radio, I do like the headunit and all...but there was something weird with this...it was all the way up to volume 35 and not very loud at all....the Bass was little to nothing...(I KNOW there HAS to be more bass to this system)...I played around with it even more and noticed that the BALANCE was set almost all the way to the right side....why???? why is it that they are not balanced at 0??

I parked the car at home...changed the settings to all be at ZERO and guess what!...the tweeter speaker on the left side was SOOO loud....WAY too loud...and the rest of the speakers were WAY too low...

I put my ear up to each speaker....the bass speaker in the door on the left side was OFF, and the tweeter on the right door was OFF...and of course the balance was way off!

I am very pissed off and they know it now because I gave them a pretty nasty call....and they agreed to fix it....

but I don't wanna have to go through this again....do you guys think that they didn't bypass an amplifier possibly?? why so little bass??? I don't understand (I REALLY do think that they did not bypass one of the amps tho)

please help!!

 

[ChingonStang]

Your issue is basically the sole reason I won't mess with my Mach 460 system in my Mustang. I have added a subwoofer to it, but that is it. The rest of the Mach 460 system is stock. If ever replace the head unit, I am going to rip out the entire Mach System and replace everything with aftermarket.

You are not the only one who has issues with the Mach 460 system when it comes to replacing the head unit.

You might also want to ask this question in the sound forum.

Good Luck!

 

[stang315]

My advise is that if u were going to invest in making your system sound better i would get it totally rewired with new speakers and take it to an actual pro. , and the guy at circut city may not be the best choise but thats just me.

 

[texastang99]

I used to sell, build, and install stereo systems in a couple different shops. If you want an upgrade to the stock Mach460 system, you should take it all out and start from scratch. The amp system is all intertwined. Basically, the signal goes from the dash unit, to the amp in the back and then distributed to the speakers throughout the whole car. If you change the head unit, then the whole system fails, since the amp is controlled by the stock unit. And if you decide you want to have a custom box built for your trunk, then you'll have some serious space issues because the amps are mounted underneath the rear dash in the trunk.

 

[94 3.8]

Mach 460 Radio Fix

The easiest way to interface with a Mach 460 system ( or any factory amplified system if the factory system is working properly) and retain the volume level and bass. Is to use a quality interface like a PAC Mach interface. They basically convert the high level speaker output to the specific low level input signal required by the Mach system. Sometimes they will produce a turn on signal for the amps but normally that is simply the remote turn on provided by the aftermarket head unit. The reason Circuit city did not use it is probably cost they typically run $50-$75 and you have to pay for parts (even with "free" install). It does plug directly into the factory so no labor is required. They like to say rewire it because the labor makes them more money. There is another way to interface but typically the sound is not as good as the factory that is using a bypass plug. Its a standard ford plug behind the radio (no line level change) and then you go to the trunk and use a amplifier bypass plug (you unplug the connector from the amp input and the output and this adaptor connects the two. Making it straight through from the radio to the speakers. The second option is around $25-$40 in parts but does not sound quite as good typically. I do not recommend a full rewire unless you upgrade the speakers or are having a problem with something else. You do spend more money doing it right but trust me it is well worth it and will not lose quality of sound.

 

[rrroland]

Hello All,
not sure if I'm doing this right or not, but here goes.
I have a 2000 V6 convertible with premium sound (not mach 460),
it has a head unit and separate 1 disk cd player.
I bought a Mach 460 6 cd changer and the amps and speakers for the mach 460 system,
anyone know what wiring-stuff I'll need to convert the thng????? <I realize the mounting of the unit itself will be a little challenging>.
Please advise!

 

[sav0320]

The Mach 460 in my 2004 is all stock except for my Alpine CDA-7897 receiver.

You can use aftermarket receivers to get rid of the POS factory headunit. The headunit powers the mids/tweets, with the subs/woofers powered by the separate amps.

I had the wiring schematics and added male RCA connectors to the signal wires heading to the sub amps. I can now control the sub level and x-over freq. in the receiver. The amps use a standard turn-on signal like aftermarket amps.

It F-ing ROCKS! It makes the Mach 460 system sound like a completely different system. The Alpine has Bass Engine Pro that lets me fine tune the output. I run the woofers at <200hz, 24dB/octave and the mids at >200hz, 24dB/octave.

One note - DO NOT do this unless you are able to control the levels independently for sub out/main speakers and frequency cut off. A low end receiver will not likely provide the level of control you need. You could always use the capacitor method to filter lower frequencies from the mids. It will not take much power at <200hz to destroy those speakers.

 

[sav0320]

Ok so here is the new deal, I went to circuit city in an attempt to save some money...yep I'm not happy...

There is your problem...ever hear the phrase "you get what you pay for"?

You'd do better taking your car to the local high school auto shop class...

 

[30AnnivStang]

subscribing

 

[Mustang5L5]

This thread is 5 years old...i don't think they will be back. I'd be surprised if they still owned the car