aftermarket audio questions - 2012 convertible

[mango14]

I just purchased a 2012 GT500 with a Shaker 500 system/Nave. I’m not very pleased with the Shaker system. I plan replacing all speakers / adding a sub / and new head unit.

After doing a ton of research, I think I’m back to having more questions than answers….

Just to start….

If I purchase a kenwood unit (with or without cd player), can I retain use of my factory CD play with Idata? I would prefer to keep factory climate controls and not go with complete maestro setup. If the kenwood unit has a cd player on it as well, would both function?

If I can find a shaker 1000 sub, will this fit in the convertible? Any special wiring or harnesses needed? Could I go with any amp or will I need a specific one?
I’ve seen a few different discussions regarding subs on a convertible in the trunk --- again not many answers. Most sites indicate the kicker sub or jl stealth will NOT fit in a convertible. Any suggestions?

 

[RedVenom48]

I just purchased a 2012 GT500 with a Shaker 500 system/Nave. I’m not very pleased with the Shaker system. I plan replacing all speakers / adding a sub / and new head unit.

After doing a ton of research, I think I’m back to having more questions than answers….

Just to start….

If I purchase a kenwood unit (with or without cd player), can I retain use of my factory CD play with Idata? I would prefer to keep factory climate controls and not go with complete maestro setup. If the kenwood unit has a cd player on it as well, would both function?

If I can find a shaker 1000 sub, will this fit in the convertible? Any special wiring or harnesses needed? Could I go with any amp or will I need a specific one?
I’ve seen a few different discussions regarding subs on a convertible in the trunk --- again not many answers. Most sites indicate the kicker sub or jl stealth will NOT fit in a convertible. Any suggestions?

Best i could do was find this article. Its the unfortunate nature of anti theft radio designs.

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-yFlqRpmavJ2/learn/2011-ford-mustang-coupe.html

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[1Kona_Venom]

Is your OEM unit the touch screen or just analog head deck?

 

[mango14]

Is your OEM unit the touch screen or just analog head deck?

Touch screen

 

[tromt01]

If your gonna replace the deck you will lose the factory CD player slot. And the climate controls will display on your new screen if you use the idata link and the radio has the newer technology in it.
However depending on how much you care about audio your best bet would be to change speakers and add a signal processor to fine tune the audio then you wouldn’t need to mess with the deck.


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[mango14]

Has anyone had experience with idata on factory nav ? Everything I see has an opening for base system clock (which I won’t have).

 

[tromt01]

The idata is just the harness to get everything to work with the factory wiring. You have 2 choices when installing a radio using a aftermarket dash kit that relocates the radio below or have a custom installer create a mounting bracket and frame to put the radio in the factory spot.


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[craustin1]

Did you decide in anything yet for your system? If not, let me know, I have a killer system in mine, and can give you some tips on what I did.

I just purchased a 2012 GT500 with a Shaker 500 system/Nave. I’m not very pleased with the Shaker system. I plan replacing all speakers / adding a sub / and new head unit.

After doing a ton of research, I think I’m back to having more questions than answers….

Just to start….

If I purchase a kenwood unit (with or without cd player), can I retain use of my factory CD play with Idata? I would prefer to keep factory climate controls and not go with complete maestro setup. If the kenwood unit has a cd player on it as well, would both function?

If I can find a shaker 1000 sub, will this fit in the convertible? Any special wiring or harnesses needed? Could I go with any amp or will I need a specific one?
I’ve seen a few different discussions regarding subs on a convertible in the trunk --- again not many answers. Most sites indicate the kicker sub or jl stealth will NOT fit in a convertible. Any suggestions?

 

[1st usa car]

I just roll down the windows when I want to hear music ... If I need some more bass, i put the vert top down.

 

[mango14]

I’m going with Shelby kicker speakers and doors subs - nothing too crazy.

But I would love some tips on the head unit since I have factory nav.

Did you decide in anything yet for your system? If not, let me know, I have a killer system in mine, and can give you some tips on what I did.

 

[craustin1]

I have factory Nav as well, and did not want to loose any of the functionality of that, plus Ford sync. What I did is use an Audio Control LC71 unit, that is designed to interface with OEM factory units. It allows me to run external power amplifiers, and matches the line level coming out of the head unit. I also have the bass adjusting unit mounted just below my dash, so I can tune the bass depending on the music. My system sounds incredible, and I mostly play music on a USB stick. The cd unit also works with the system, as well as the hard drive. Here is the links to the audio control units.

http://www.audiocontrol.com/car-audio/factory-system-upgrade/lc7i/

http://www.audiocontrol.com/car-audio/accessories/acr-1/

I’m going with Shelby kicker speakers and doors subs - nothing too crazy.

But I would love some tips on the head unit since I have factory nav.

 

[craustin1]

Actually, I have the next model up, LC8i in grey. The new units are black

http://www.audiocontrol.com/car-audio/factory-system-upgrade/lc8i/

 

[craustin1]

Pic of amps and LC8i

 

[craustin1]

I also replaced all of the speakers. The doors have Polk Audio SR5250 components, with a 7 inch scan speak midwoofer. I have an old school Boston Acoustics G510RS small box subwoofer also.

 

[Mushtang]

I just purchased a 2012 GT500 with a Shaker 500 system/Nave. I’m not very pleased with the Shaker system. I plan replacing all speakers / adding a sub / and new head unit.

After doing a ton of research, I think I’m back to having more questions than answers….

Just to start….

If I purchase a kenwood unit (with or without cd player), can I retain use of my factory CD play with Idata? I would prefer to keep factory climate controls and not go with complete maestro setup. If the kenwood unit has a cd player on it as well, would both function?

If I can find a shaker 1000 sub, will this fit in the convertible? Any special wiring or harnesses needed? Could I go with any amp or will I need a specific one?
I’ve seen a few different discussions regarding subs on a convertible in the trunk --- again not many answers. Most sites indicate the kicker sub or jl stealth will NOT fit in a convertible. Any suggestions?

I highly recommend going with the ADS Maestro kit if you purchased a kenwood unit, you can retain climate controls within the radio itself using the idatalink cables provided with the KIT-MUS1 by ADS, that kit comes with all the wiring except you would need the ADS-MRR Steering wheel control retention module which you would need to flash to your vehicle. Here's a link to the pics of an install Sound of Tri-State did in a 2012 Mustang GT premium with shaker 500 system. (i know its not the convertible but the stereo system is the same) http://gallery.soundoftristate.com/...mium-with-Shaker-500-Sync-and-SiriusXM?page=2
As far as the subwoofer, the same company also does custom fabricated boxes, they are out of Delaware and can do a custom system for you. It's worth it, especially for a nice vehicle like yours. Tons of pics on their site of jobs they've done http://gallery.soundoftristate.com/index.php/Ford/Mustang

 

[bostonbands]

Anyone change the actual head unit on their GT500 with the electronics package? I had been quoted a new system (speakers, amp, KENwood HU, etc) with the idatalink setup but was told it doesn’t support the electronics package or the gt500 because there are additional performance related features in the factory head unit. Then they tried Metra and they said the same thing. I thought it inconceivable that by now, no one makes a kit for a 2010 GT500 (Convertable) with factory NAV (electronics package). So i called metra myself in Daytona beach. Their website allows me to select my car as the gt500 (although it doesn’t ask me if i have the electronics package) so i assumed they’d say “yeah, we support that”. They said no! They haven’t tested their stuff but know from people trying it that it doesn’t quite work. Since i’m Local they are seeing if their engineers want to borrow my car to test and maybe make something work. Which i might do.

But bigger question, what would i actually lose if i do the system anyway? What “performance features” are in the gt500/nav that aren’t in say a GT? Anyone know? Or anyone done this with a different vendor?