Help with aftermarket radio

03_TrueBlue_GT

Active Member
May 5, 2010
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Houston, Tx
Hey guys I just installed a Kenwood HU from Crutchfield that I got as an early christmas gift and Im having a problem with my cars speakers. The soundsystem does not sound better than stock at all, like there is no bass coming from the speakers. I have the Mach460 soundsystem and I thought that the wiring harness they would send would let my speakers work with an aftermarket radio. Right now Im a little frustrated because I thought I got all the right things to make this work correctly in the kit...

To get this to work will I have to get an aftermarket amp installed to get the speakers to work correctly? Or jsut go ahead and get new speakers and an amp?

I really appreciate any help guys this is giving me a headache and I want to enjoy listening to my ipod and not the regular radio....


Thanks again!:nice:
 
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Im in a similar situation. I bought my car with an absolutely garbage no-name HU already in it. My Mach system has sounded like **** since I purchased the car. I too am getting a completely revamped audio unit for Christmas so Im interested in what the audio guru's have to say.

I have to have the sound level switched almost completely to the rear because turning the volume up just a little causes the front A-pillar speakers to pop really bad :shrug:
 
Im in a similar situation. I bought my car with an absolutely garbage no-name HU already in it. My Mach system has sounded like **** since I purchased the car. I too am getting a completely revamped audio unit for Christmas so Im interested in what the audio guru's have to say.

I have to have the sound level switched almost completely to the rear because turning the volume up just a little causes the front A-pillar speakers to pop really bad :shrug:

I know EXACTLY what you mean by the fronts popping... Im almost tempted to go down to Fry's and have them help me but Im afraid since I dont know anything about radios they will just sell me crap to make me spend money that wont solve anything......
 
Well the mach systems can be a pain sometimes. I'll start with the basic stuff and ask if you tweaked any of the settings on the CD player but after that I'm not quite sure. Did it have bass output before the switch? Just changing out a CD player won't affect the bass unless its the settings on the new player and your still getting sound from the speakers. They are obviously working correctly if you can hear it. Slight possibility it could be that the tweeters are only working and not the mid's which should be 4x6's. Put your ear directly to the lower speaker to test for that or take the door panel off and feel if it's moving. If it is and the settings are correct I believe that is all that can be done without adding a sub to the mach system or new amp and door speakers.
 
I also know how you feel. Mine Mach460 sounds like crap. My front tweeters do not even work, and you can BARELY hear the front door speakers at all. The rear speakers have 0 bass to them. and I am still running the stock radio.....
 
If you have a setting turned off, or not set correct on the HU then it will sound like dudu. I changed out my HU and all my speakers and wiring to get rid of the crappy mach system. I had to go thru the manual and check each setting and play with them. The sound is sooooo much better now :nice:
 
Ditch all of the Mach 460 stuff. You'll save some weight in the process and will have much better sound quality with new stereo components. Buy 2 pairs of 6" components (the sets that have a 6" woofer and a small tweeter w/ an crossover), mount the rear woofers and tweeters to the back dash using a template (I'd use 1/4" MDF) and the fronts should slip right into the door sockets while the tweeters can be hid behind the Mach 460 top door speakers (the ones in the front corner of the doors). Then get yourself a nice 4 channel amp to drive the speakers. Mount the amp in the trunk to the back of the rear seats and get some decent power wire, speaker wire, and some nice RCA's. You'll have a great sounding system and if you want more bass you can always add a sub :nice:
 
Well the mach systems can be a pain sometimes. I'll start with the basic stuff and ask if you tweaked any of the settings on the CD player but after that I'm not quite sure. Did it have bass output before the switch? Just changing out a CD player won't affect the bass unless its the settings on the new player and your still getting sound from the speakers. They are obviously working correctly if you can hear it. Slight possibility it could be that the tweeters are only working and not the mid's which should be 4x6's. Put your ear directly to the lower speaker to test for that or take the door panel off and feel if it's moving. If it is and the settings are correct I believe that is all that can be done without adding a sub to the mach system or new amp and door speakers.


Yes the car did have notice bass before the swap. I got a Kenwood hu and I did notice improvements when I was tweaking the settings but it didn't get the bass it used to have. The radio does make Rock n Roll sound really good though because the lyrics and other stuff sounds real clean.

also know how you feel. Mine Mach460 sounds like crap. My front tweeters do not even work, and you can BARELY hear the front door speakers at all. The rear speakers have 0 bass to them. and I am still running the stock radio.....
Today 01:19 AM

Ouch man that sucks, I guess I shouldn't complain about my sound system then...

I have a no name aftermarket head unit in my car and it sounds alright. Are your speakers blown? Thats the only thing ive ever had cause any kind of "popping" noises from speakers.

Not that I now off, but I do believe that they are really worn out bc b4 I did it I could hear a electric buzz sometime from the passenger side... I guess totally new speakers would be a good investment..

[QUOTEIf you have a setting turned off, or not set correct on the HU then it will sound like dudu. I changed out my HU and all my speakers and wiring to get rid of the crappy mach system. I had to go thru the manual and check each setting and play with them. The sound is sooooo much better now ][/QUOTE]

I did play with the settings and it did sound a little better, some of the things I could change though I had no idea what they do but I guess I will try to get more familiar with the HU. Thanks!:flag:

Ditch all of the Mach 460 stuff. You'll save some weight in the process and will have much better sound quality with new stereo components. Buy 2 pairs of 6" components (the sets that have a 6" woofer and a small tweeter w/ an crossover), mount the rear woofers and tweeters to the back dash using a template (I'd use 1/4" MDF) and the fronts should slip right into the door sockets while the tweeters can be hid behind the Mach 460 top door speakers (the ones in the front corner of the doors). Then get yourself a nice 4 channel amp to drive the speakers. Mount the amp in the trunk to the back of the rear seats and get some decent power wire, speaker wire, and some nice RCA's. You'll have a great sounding system and if you want more bass you can always add a sub

Awesome thanks for the info man this totally helps me!:nice: You mean by 6" components you mean new speakers that are 6" with a built in subwoofer? Forgive my ignorance.....:(


Again thanks guys/gals y'all have no idea how much better I feel about tackling this sound system nightmare!
:flag:
 
Hey guys I just installed a Kenwood HU from Crutchfield that I got as an early christmas gift and Im having a problem with my cars speakers. The soundsystem does not sound better than stock at all, like there is no bass coming from the speakers. I have the Mach460 soundsystem and I thought that the wiring harness they would send would let my speakers work with an aftermarket radio. Right now Im a little frustrated because I thought I got all the right things to make this work correctly in the kit...

To get this to work will I have to get an aftermarket amp installed to get the speakers to work correctly? Or jsut go ahead and get new speakers and an amp?

I really appreciate any help guys this is giving me a headache and I want to enjoy listening to my ipod and not the regular radio....


Thanks again!:nice:

Was the system working correctly before you installed the new headunit?

Is there any sound coming out of all the speakers? If you crank the bass up on the headunit, do you hear bass coming out of the woofers in the door and rear deck?

Is there a highpass crossover enabled in the headunit?

Is the adapter harness the correct one for your year and is it wired correctly? Probably worth double checking.

My experience when installing my Kenwood headunit was that the factory headunits must have a lot of EQ shaping applied to the signal before it hits the amp because right out of the box the Kenwood sounded dead with no bass. I had to put a really big, narrow spike at 60hz, boosted the bass overall a good bit and then put a mild cut at either 2.5Khz or 4Khz. Get in there and play with the EQs and whatever else is in the DSP - don't be afraid to make big changes to a setting, if it sounds right, it probably is. The factory stuff is EQed (and there may be other DSP tricks going on too) to sound good with the factory speakers and the car's environment - aftermarket radios are going to be set flat out of the box and won't sound as good until you get them dialed in. It took a couple of weeks of tweaking before I settled on settings I was happy with.

Speakers pop usually because they are trying to play a frequency too low and with too much power for the speaker to handle. If your tweeters are popping, their crossover needs to be set at a higher frequency and/or it needs a steeper slope (you do have a crossover on them, right?) and if your woofers are popping you need a hi-pass crossover down around the low frequency cutoff point of the speaker or you need to ease back on the bass boost some(and if you boost the bass enough you'll cancel out the effect of the crossover).

The factory amps should have proper crossovers and limiting for the stock speakers but music with enough really low frequency content can still make them pop. This makes my rear speakers pop like crazy
 
These are component speakers:

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTUsX4-DQiTfWZturtENdZ2t3PXFY2i0v_7H2Bs49sBay6nd5Rx


Notice that it comes with a 6" woofer for the mid and low frequencies, and then small tweeters for the high frequency's. Components will also come with a crossover (black box looking thing) that separates the sound frequencies so that the tweeters only receive high frequency signals, while the woofers receive the mid and low frequency signals.

You could go cheap with speaker/tweeter combos like this:

View attachment 201734

They'll sound alright, but for just a little more money you can get the component stuff and you'll be quite happy with the sound quality.

Like I said, if you do all of this your stereo will sound great. If you want more bass, you can always add a subwoofer later. A single 10" or 12" in a sealed box with a decent amp would provide plenty of bass :nice:
 
There are only two ways to deal with the Mach 460 system... 1.) rip all of it out, amplifiers and everything, or 2.) get a nice HU with subwoofer output and crossover control. Option 1 is pretty self explanatory. Option 2 is that you get a nice HU and get the wiring harness for the mach460 amplified system (has the RCA input on the harness). Connect everything on the harness like normal then plug the RCA cables into the SUB output on the HU. This will make the 2.5" speakers in the A-pillar mounts up front and the deck in the back play full range. The sub output of the deck will then feed into the Mach460 amplifiers to play the 5x7" speakers in the door and back deck (they act as subs from the factory). Then you set the Low Pass Filter (crossover) on the deck to play up to 220Hz and set the High Pass Filter to play down to 220Hz with a 12db slope octave.
 
Thanks again for the help guys. Im going to go ahead and just remove the old speakers and go with the component speakers whenever I can.

I decided that whenever I can get the extra money, I will get these guys.
Kenwood KFC-P509PS Performance Series 5-1/4" component speaker system at Crutchfield.com

Now another stupid question from me, when I buy a component speaker setup such as the one in the link, would I have to buy two sets of these for one in the front and the back? Sorry about that but Im trying to learn this stuff..:(
 
Thanks again for the help guys. Im going to go ahead and just remove the old speakers and go with the component speakers whenever I can.

I decided that whenever I can get the extra money, I will get these guys.
Kenwood KFC-P509PS Performance Series 5-1/4" component speaker system at Crutchfield.com

Now another stupid question from me, when I buy a component speaker setup such as the one in the link, would I have to buy two sets of these for one in the front and the back? Sorry about that but Im trying to learn this stuff..:(

I feel like I am a bit of an audiophile and I have a quality front component setup and just basic speakers in the rear deck. This is due to to reasons, 1) The speakers were free since I blew another pair similar under warranty and 2) rear deck speakers are not heard much if at all, they are simply fill speakers to fill in the areas of sound that the fronts didn't get to. The front speakers is where to invest the goods and if it were my car in the price range for the speakers in the link, I would personally choose JL over Kenwood.

JL Audio VR525-CSi Evolution™ VR Series 5-1/4" component speaker system at Crutchfield Signature

$15 a speaker isn't a huge jump and the you can get these or something similar for the rear. These are the exact speakers I have in the rear deck.

Alpine SPS-507 Type-S 5"x7" 2-way car speakers — fits 5"x7" or 6"x8" openings at Crutchfield.com

After that a 4 way amp will be your best friend and that's were you regulate how many watts each speaker gets (More front, less rear). A good amp won't be too cheap. I have had JL, MTX and Alpine amps and those are good pieces. The Alpine PDX amps are awesome for the power they produce and their size since they are digital.

Alpine PDX-F4 4-channel car amplifier — 100 watts RMS x 4 at Crutchfield Signature

That's the amp I have and its a bit much pricewise but it can be found cheaper. Also factor in wires too, 8 gauge might be acceptable but 4 gauge would be better, RCA's as well. One last concern is just make sure the ohms are good. Overload speakers or amp and you will eventually blow one of them. I've tried to understand them and it seems simple but I have yet to grasp that part of it :(

Goodluck with it. You will be AMAZED at the difference. Maybe go to a local stereo shop and ask to hear some stuff, all the guys who work there are bound to have a good setup and will be more than happy to show theirs off, they might even have a demo car. Custom Sounds is big in Texas and in San Antonio they have a Viper completely decked out.
 
get a nice HU with subwoofer output and crossover control. Option 2 is that you get a nice HU and get the wiring harness for the mach460 amplified system (has the RCA input on the harness).

Good God.

Any suggestions on a specific "nice HU" and where to get this wiring harness?

Jesus Im such an audio noob.
 
Good God.

Any suggestions on a specific "nice HU" and where to get this wiring harness?

Jesus Im such an audio noob.

What are you looking for? I personally HATE the look of aftermarket CD decks, especially the 1 din units. If or when I decide to upgrade my Mach 460 equipment it will be with a LCD screen unit so that it appears clean and like it came that way from the factory. Something like the following would probably be similar to what I'd be looking for. I don't need a GPS system, because I am a human GPS :D.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Pioneer+-+50W+x+4+Apple%26%23174;+iPod%26%23174;-/Satellite+Radio-/HD+Radio-Ready+In-Dash+DVD+Deck/9955408.p?id=1218200371891&skuId=9955408

As far as how to wire the deck, most sell a wiring harness that's specific to the vehicle you are installing it in. The car specific harness hard wires to the deck's harness and then its just a simple matter of plugging it into your car and bolting in the deck. If you plan on running aftermarket amps and aftermarket speakers you'd need to do the following:

Run RCA cables from the deck to the trunk where the amp is located (can be routed under the carpet in the car to the trunk). If there are RCA outputs for front and rear speakers be sure to run 2 sets of RCA cables.

Run a minimum of 8 gauge wire (4 would be better, but it's much larger) off of the red terminal of the battery to the trunk where the amp is located. You must also have an inline fuse under the hood ~ 10" from the red terminal on the battery.

Run a minimum of 4 gauge wire from the negative terminal on the amp and ground it to the chassis on the car.

Then you'll need to run speaker wires from the AMP to the speakers in the rear deck and the speakers in the door. This will get you set up with a nice sounding stereo, but may lack some bass.

If you want to include a sub you'll probably want a separate monoblock amp. In that case, it would make more sense to run 4 gauge wire from the battery to the trunk and have it split off into 2 8 gauge wires (one 8 gauge wire to each amp).

This is a reasonably abbreviated process for this, but if you have additional questions feel free to ask.
 
Yep n8dogg98 hit it on the head. A decent stereo is going to cost close to a grand for a complete setup (HU, 2 sets of speakers, 2 amps, subs, wiring). The thing about stereos though is I have pulled stereos out of my cars when I traded them off so I've saved money that way.
 
Yep n8dogg98 hit it on the head. A decent stereo is going to cost close to a grand for a complete setup (HU, 2 sets of speakers, 2 amps, subs, wiring). The thing about stereos though is I have pulled stereos out of my cars when I traded them off so I've saved money that way.

You know, you could probably put one together for under $500 if you know how to shop, and it would still sound 100 times better than factory. :shrug:

If/when I do it, I will be doing it right the first time though and will be dropping around 1 stack to do it.
 
You know, you could probably put one together for under $500 if you know how to shop, and it would still sound 100 times better than factory. :shrug:

I got all my parts/pieces for about $600. Did the install myself which saved a bunch of $$. I knew what I wanted and got everything from different sources which took a couple of weeks, but then I wasn't in any rush.
 
In my 2002 GT I was running a Kenwood DNX-8120 double din touch screen HU with JL VR 6.5" Components up front and JL TR 6.5" coaxials in the back deck. Had a Boston Acoustics 10" sub in a sealed box and all was being powered by a Boston Acoustics 5 channel amplifier and it sounded awesome. I worked as a salesman / MECP certified installer at a higher end local car audio / home theater shop. So i've dealt with this kind of stuff for a number of years now.

Since I totaled the GT i now have an 04 Mach1 and the only thing in it is the DNX-8120 HU and it still sounds ok with the stock Mach460 speakers and amps. I hooked it up just like I was talking about earlier, you just have to have the right wiring harness and a nice HU with crossover control. If I were just going to replace the HU I would get something like the Kenwood KDC-X994 Kenwood Excelon KDC-X994 CD receiver at Crutchfield Signature. Or anything in Kenwood's Excelon line is a great product and would do the job. You just have to hook it up properly and set up the crossovers right. I'm glad to answer any questions you might have on Audio especially in mustangs.