Help with aftermarket radio

i love crystal clear sound so out went the mach crap and in went the old school stuff...

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You need something like this to make your after market HU work with the Mach 460...

Car Stereo Output Converter

I have a prior version and my Alpine has always worked just fine with the rest of the 460.

Interesting. Im curious to see what the rest of the audio community has to say about something like this. Would this device be beneficial to having an aftermarket HU installed on the stock 460 system?
 
The adapter above with RCAs work, but you need to have a hu than has a built in high pass filter for the internal amp because you'll be giving the tweeters bass notes without it. I tried it with my Kenwood KDC-X891 and took it out because I didnt like how it sounded. Although I didnt mess with the settings enough.

I used one of these for my friends 00 GT with the Mach 460 when he had the factory amps. Worked perfectly and sounded fine. The speakers would pop when the HU turned on though without a resister on the remote wire.

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The adapter above with RCAs work, but you need to have a hu than has a built in high pass filter for the internal amp because you'll be giving the tweeters bass notes without it. I tried it with my Kenwood KDC-X891 and took it out because I didnt like how it sounded. Although I didnt mess with the settings enough.

I used one of these for my friends 00 GT with the Mach 460 when he had the factory amps. Worked perfectly and sounded fine. The speakers would pop when the HU turned on though without a resister on the remote wire.

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That's the one I actually have installed for my Alpine CDR-9855 w/Mach 460. It works perfectly fine. I just couldn't find a picture of it. I'm not sure Crutchfield sells those anymore.
 
You don't need that to make the Mach460 work correctly if you have a HU with sub output and crossover control. All you need is this wiring harness Ford Receiver Wire Harness For select 2003-up Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury models at Crutchfield.com and you just plug the harness with the RCA jacks into the sub output of the deck. The only time you need that is when you need to convert speaker level to RCA level which you don't need to do with the Mach460 system.


Nice so you are saying that if I buy that adapter my factory speakers will work with the hu correctly? im begining to wonder if the crutchfield wiring harness that came with it is the wrong one and that I should buy the Metra wiring harness.....
I have this hu btw
Kenwood Excelon KDC-X494 CD receiver at Crutchfield Signature

I keep looking for the specs to see if it has the crossover that you guys say that is needed to make the amps work correctly but I cant seem to find out if it does or doesnt.... :(
 
OP - I'll assume this is for your '03. The harness you need is a Metra 70-5519. It will have 2 plugs that go to stock radio harness, one has a pair of rca's & amp turn on wire, the other has the wiring for your aftermarket stereo. Your stereo must have a sub or rear switchable preout to work the best. Wire up the harness, don't forget the blu/wht amp turn on wires & RCA jacks to the sub preout. Once wired up, turn the key to accy or On and listen for 'turn-on pop' when the radio turns on. If you have a pop from the speakers, use a 1-1.5k ohm resistor on the amp turn-on wire.
Now you can set the stereo preout low pass and the speakers' high pass filters. Your Mach460 system works as follows: 3 amps, 8 speakers. 1 amp runs the 2 rear 5x7/6x8 mid range speakers. 1 amp runs the same up front. 1 amp (inside the factory radio) runs 4 (front/rear) 2.5" mid-high range tweeters. So, set the stereo HPF at ~200hz and the sub preout to ~200hz. Now your 5x7's will play <200hz & your 2.5's will play >200hz. If you have any questions, ask. If you don't understand or have already messed something up, take it to a professional.
 
Ok that makes sense, I think I know what the problem is now, the amp preout wires and RCA jacks wont connect at all to the factory harness, like the clip fits to the corresponding harness but it wont stay together at all, now the wiring harness does work with the radio its just the RCA Jack harness that doesnt stay together, sorry I hope this makes sense.... Im going to go to one of the audio stores near here and have them look at it and hopefully figure this nightmare out... Thanks for all the help everyone!:nice:
 
Been a while and I forgot to tell everyone what the problem was... The power cord for the RCA cables wasnt spliced together with the factory harness adapter and after working on it for 5 min voila! I heard the most beautiful sound of my speakers working correctly! Thanks for the help again guys I cant believe I overlooked that one thing...