hey guys have a quick questions i have a 94 cobra with the mach 460 sound system. if i remove the stock radio and put in after market will it still power the stock amps and subs? or will i need a harness of some sort if so where do i get it. thanks
You have to get an adapter to de-amplify (I know that's not the right word, but you know what I'm talking about) the output on the radio. They are about $50, and they last about 4 years, and then they melt inside because they are all made in China. I'm on my 3rd one. It's simple to install. Best Buy has them, but their install guys are idiots, and generally have no idea what you are talking about when you ask for one. I'm sure Crutchfield and all the other online stereo places sell them too.
Um, I don't know what kind of harness you're talking about Kurt, but you don't need anything that fancy. Order a Metra 70-5514 harness, it is an exact match for the Mach 460. I have it on my Mach 460 in both my GT and Cobra clone. $15 from Amazon:
I bypassed the amps by running wires from the aftermarket cd player to an aftermarket amp. As much as I liked the mach system it doesn't hold a match to aftermarket. I replaced head unit, amps and speakers the only thing left from the mach is that little speaker in the corner of the doors, I like them things.
The Metra is a plug-n-play wiring system. You have to splice the Metra wires into the aftermarket wiring harness of course, but it plugs directly into the Mach 460 system. No wire cutting involved.
IMO, the two main problems with the Mach 460 are the head unit and echos within the door panels. The stock head unit has zero bass and makes the system sound like crap. The echos in the doors causes some muddy midrange and vibrations with decent bass. An aftermarket head unit (Pioneer in my case) woke up the system, and a door kit from Cascade Audio eliminated the muddiness and almost all of the door vibrations.
A bit of info: The Mach 460 is a system that Ford licensed to install in the Mustangs. It's not a factory designed system. Also, the large door speakers in the Mach 460 are midrange AND subwoofers; if you replace one with a non-Mach 460 you lose the bass out of that corner. You must replace it with a used Mach 460 speaker or replace the entire system with aftermarket.
Personally, I'm quite happy with the Mach 460 with the two caveats I mentioned above.