Howdy,
I finally decided to swap the Mach460's Head Unit with an Alpine CDA-9813 I had in another car.
I followed the advice from Stangnet's technical article regarding the 2001 replacement (My car is an 03 GT): http://www.stangnet.com/Tech-Articles/Replacing-Your-2001-Mach-460-Head-Unit-4.html
As suggested, I purchased the METRA 70-5519 Harness. I've had experience installing several aftermarket systems ranging from simple receiver/harness replacement, to a full custom amplified systems. Everything wired and fit perfectly.
Having read about the need to configure crossovers on the system, I configured the HP/LP crossovers on the unit to 50Hz LP on the subs, and 163Hz HP for the front and rear tweeters.
Now for the testing...
I slowly ramped up the volume and started noticing tweeter distortion at what for me is my usual listening volume (somewhere around 1/2 volume on the stock mach unit). Immediately, one of my first concerns was that the crossover frequency for the tweeter might somehow not be high enough. Yet the tech article recommended 50Hz for the subs and 170Hz for the tweeters...
After about 10 minutes of playing with the crossover slopes, level adjusting, and cutoff frequencies, I decided to isolate the speakers for further testing.
I started with the subs by turning off the integrated amp in the head unit (gotta love that setting...). I was able to get excellent response and clarity at all volume levels with a crossover anywhere from 50-100Hz, and setting the master sub level adjustment up a fair bit.
Now onto the tweeters...
I started with the fronts by turning the subs off, and setting the fade to full front. No distortion... I played with the crossover settings and found no distrotion anywhere from 160-200Hz, even playing the radio loud!
However, when I started moving the fader toward equal front and rear however, I started noticing significant distortion in both the front and rear tweeters. Swinging the fade to full rear also results in distortion...
Yet if I have it set to full, or close to full front, the system performs beautifully (just with no rear tweeters playing...)
The sound imaging in the car is somewhat off with only the front tweeters playing, and I'm quite confident that there were no issues with the rears with the stock configuration.
So I'm rather stuck. Has anybody experienced something similar? Any ideas?
Thank You!
I finally decided to swap the Mach460's Head Unit with an Alpine CDA-9813 I had in another car.
I followed the advice from Stangnet's technical article regarding the 2001 replacement (My car is an 03 GT): http://www.stangnet.com/Tech-Articles/Replacing-Your-2001-Mach-460-Head-Unit-4.html
As suggested, I purchased the METRA 70-5519 Harness. I've had experience installing several aftermarket systems ranging from simple receiver/harness replacement, to a full custom amplified systems. Everything wired and fit perfectly.
Having read about the need to configure crossovers on the system, I configured the HP/LP crossovers on the unit to 50Hz LP on the subs, and 163Hz HP for the front and rear tweeters.
Now for the testing...
I slowly ramped up the volume and started noticing tweeter distortion at what for me is my usual listening volume (somewhere around 1/2 volume on the stock mach unit). Immediately, one of my first concerns was that the crossover frequency for the tweeter might somehow not be high enough. Yet the tech article recommended 50Hz for the subs and 170Hz for the tweeters...
After about 10 minutes of playing with the crossover slopes, level adjusting, and cutoff frequencies, I decided to isolate the speakers for further testing.
I started with the subs by turning off the integrated amp in the head unit (gotta love that setting...). I was able to get excellent response and clarity at all volume levels with a crossover anywhere from 50-100Hz, and setting the master sub level adjustment up a fair bit.
Now onto the tweeters...
I started with the fronts by turning the subs off, and setting the fade to full front. No distortion... I played with the crossover settings and found no distrotion anywhere from 160-200Hz, even playing the radio loud!
However, when I started moving the fader toward equal front and rear however, I started noticing significant distortion in both the front and rear tweeters. Swinging the fade to full rear also results in distortion...
Yet if I have it set to full, or close to full front, the system performs beautifully (just with no rear tweeters playing...)
The sound imaging in the car is somewhat off with only the front tweeters playing, and I'm quite confident that there were no issues with the rears with the stock configuration.
So I'm rather stuck. Has anybody experienced something similar? Any ideas?
Thank You!