Mach 460 is history

[flyn high again]

I'm tired of the muddy, too much mids sound of the Mach 460 so I'm yanking it out and replacing the entire screwball set up with a normal Head unit/Amps/Separates/Sub set up.

I bought a Sony CDX M8815X [on sale for $229 at Crutchfield including cover plate and wiring harnesses]. I know it's a Sony but if has a built in EQ and I'm not completely sold on Alpine's new stuff. It's gotten much better reviews than most Sony stuff. It also has the blacked out faceplate and a lot of bling bling features. 4 V signal, 3 sets of RCAs including sub pre-outs, Hi-pass and Low-pass filters, remote. I have a couple of Kenwood amps from my LX and 2 sets of Rockford Fosgate Q separates plus crossovers [6 1/2s and 5 1/4s] also from the LX. A 10" Bazooka tube provides the bass.

Do any of you guys who have already pulled the 460 have any suggestions? I've installed systems before so I know what I am doing but each car has its own idiosyncracies and any advice would be appreciated. I will probably end up with the 5 1/4s /tweeters in the door and the 6 1/2s /tweeters in the back package tray unless I can squeeze the 6 1/2s in the doors. I assume I'm going to have to run all new wiring? RCAs back to the amps and speaker wire from there? Any problems I should know about? Thanks in advance. :beer:

 

[flyn high again]

No stereo gurus online today? I've been going through the Ford service manual to see what's involved. Basically, I have to take the rear package tray and quarter panels out, the door panels off, and the center trim pieces off. This should give me access to all the speakers, amps, and the head unit. I'll have to see if I need adapter plates to make the speakers fit or if I can just drill some holes. Anyone know if a 6 1/2 will go in the door? I had to fabricate a panel to cover the 6 1/2s in my LX and I bet the Cobra has around the same room inside. Don't feel like messing with fabrication so the 5 1/4s will go in the doors if the 6 1/2s don't fit. Running the wires from the amps to the doors will probably be the most time consuming part of the install. Anyone know if the door speaker wires can be re-used? do they run to the amps in back already or were the door speakers powered from the Mach 460 head unit? Ford wiring probably isn't that great anyways so running new wires may be the best solution.

 

[03CobraBro]

I'm sure there are much better systems out there, but for the most part I think everyone is happy with the 460. Besides subs and all of that crap just weigh the car down.

 

[flyn high again]

I'm sure there are much better systems out there, but for the most part I think everyone is happy with the 460. Besides subs and all of that crap just weigh the car down.

My Cobra is my daily driver and I'm not worried about every lb. Actually, I may save a little weight by removing the stock speakers and amps. I can take my sub out in five minutes if I'm going to the track. ;-)

 

[BWH2003]

If I were you I would have gone with the kenwood excelon line of stereo's. The excelon's are the best money can buy. If your already going to gut the stereo you might want to actually start with a quality deck. And the mach 460 speakers are fine they even have a conversion harness to make an aftermarket deck hook up to it. Then you add your own sub and your done. Awesome stereo right there. The trick is to bypass the aftermarket stereos internal amp and use the factory mach 460 stuff. It will sound great without gutting the whole car.

 

[TK Doom]

I'm sure there are much better systems out there, but for the most part I think everyone is happy with the 460. Besides subs and all of that crap just weigh the car down.

The 460 in the Cobra's is crap.

My ex had a 2001 with a Mach it was way better than this one..

My system is outstanding now..I don't care about the weight, but both my cars have outstanding sound now.

 

[flyn high again]

If I were you I would have gone with the kenwood excelon line of stereo's. The excelon's are the best money can buy. If your already going to gut the stereo you might want to actually start with a quality deck. And the mach 460 speakers are fine they even have a conversion harness to make an aftermarket deck hook up to it. Then you add your own sub and your done. Awesome stereo right there. The trick is to bypass the aftermarket stereos internal amp and use the factory mach 460 stuff. It will sound great without gutting the whole car.

I like Kenwood stuff. Their amps are good value for the money.

I don't think the factory speakers are close to the quality of my aftermarket components so I'm yanking them all out. Thanks for the info. :beer:

 

[flyn high again]

Flemworld has a good write up on Mach 460/1000 info and removal:

http://www.flemworld.com/Mach460/Mach.html

 

[BWH2003]

Never use kenwood amps (use either kicker or jl audio). When I said amp I meant the internal amp for the cd player. If you turn that off and then only send a pre out signal to all the speakers it will sound very good. Trust me. This is the same solution for people that have bose systems in GM cars. I hooked mine up the same way in my gtp and for what it cost to put in aftermarket speakers, wire them up and make them fit, I just deemed it wasnt worth it.

Now you do have a good idea if thats what you are planning to do. And at least your researching it. Basically there are only the two ways to go about it. If you put in an aftermarket deck and wire it to the internal amp it will sound like shit period.

 

[flyn high again]

UPDATE:

Turns out that one of my 6 1/2s had a slight tear so I didn't use my aftermarket speakers. For the time being I hooked the CD player up to the Ford wiring harness using a Crutchfield supplied [included for no extra cost] harness. Easiest install I ever did. Mostly color matching of a dozen wires to hook the two harnesses together then just plug them into the Ford harness. Downside is that I'm using the crappy CD player amp to power my mids and tweets. When I see a set of good separates speakers for a low price, I will rectify that. For the time being, the CD player looks like a factory install and sounds much better than the 460 even with the crappy stereo amp. OH... I ran RCAs from the sub output on the CD player to my Kenwood amp to power the 10" Bazooka tube sub.