Mach460 help please.

[yeasure]

Ok heres what i'm trying to do.....
I have a pioneer head unit i want to use instead of my stock unit(03 cobra).
Reason being, i bought this unit awhile back and paid a lot of $$ for it and honestly would just like to use it for the fact i spent so much for it.
Ok i go out and buy all the adapters and such for the head unit but as soon as i was asked what i was doing i was told not to do this.
Now i suck when it comes to systems of any type so bare with me.
I'm told the mach460 system just sends a signal but my pioneer head unit sends a power signal and could in the long run kill the amps off.
Now my question is how should i go about this, should i just wire up the head unit and say piss on what they told me(2 different shops), should i buy an amp/amps that can handle this, or should i just go back with the stock unit and let the pioneer gather dust?
Btw, i'm not looking for a better/louder system, i'm just wanting to replace the head unit for the most part and nothing more.
Thanks for any replies.

 

[ALA G8R]

If your Pioneer HU has front and rear pre-outs, then your golden. You want to wire up everything exept the speaker leads per the wiring adapter. Then you want to use the FL, FR, RR, and RL preouts and connect them to the corresponding leads on the wiring adapter.

This will ensure that you bypassing your Pioneer's HU amp and not overdriving the Mach460 amp inputs. It will also result in better sound with lower distortion.

You should not use an aftermarket HU's amp output to drive a Mach 460 amp. It will work, but sound distorted.

 

[FireRed04Vert]

As he said...use the pre-out leads. Some of the cheaper pioneers had both sets of leads. I'm sure yours does.

 

[bender460]

I'm not so sure of that. If you go to aftermarket amps with the stock head unit the level is too low to drive the new amps, so you need an adapter to aplify the low level output of the stock unit. Also I believe the speakers by the rearview mirrors are run off of the head unit. So I'm like 99.9% sure that the low level out of you pioner will be to high for the stock amps. So I would just repace the amps.

 

[ChicagoMike]

Anyone that has tried to just swap the head unit ended up ripping out the entire system - wiring, speakers AND amps. The speakers and amps and weird and don't work right with anything but the Mach head units.

 

[TK Doom]

If the Mach in the 03 is the same as the Mach in the 99, then you are ok, it will for sure work. I KNOW they changed the Mach from 03-04 as I had a hard time finding the right wiring harness for my Alpine.

 

[FireRed04Vert]

If the Mach in the 03 is the same as the Mach in the 99, then you are ok, it will for sure work. I KNOW they changed the Mach from 03-04 as I had a hard time finding the right wiring harness for my Alpine.

04 has a different head unit too. It's satellite ready where the 03's aren't...and they aren't interchangable.

 

[ChicagoMike]

I know for a fact the mach 460 in the 03 is different than previous years. The mach 460 in the 2003 Cobra sounds like ass, something about the head unit pinout being different

04 has a different head unit too. It's satellite ready where the 03's aren't...and they aren't interchangable.

 

[JoeNashville]

04 has a different head unit too. It's satellite ready where the 03's aren't...and they aren't interchangable.

Wellllllll...not totally.

I swapped a 04 Expy sat capable head in place of an 03 regular head. Not too bad, PM me for the spiel if you're bored.

 

[TK Doom]

04 has a different head unit too. It's satellite ready where the 03's aren't...and they aren't interchangable.

Right...99 and 00, 01-02, 03, and 04 are the different head units.

I just worded mine a bit incorrectly in the prior post...musta been tired or something...

 

[Juiced-03]

I had a local shop bypass the amps so I could run my aftermarket head unit. I was then able to remove the rear amp rack which saved a few pounds too. Now I have an amplifier which runs the Mach speakers and sounds ok. I am about to buy the JL Audio XR570 CSI's for the front and the XR570 CXI's for the rear.

 

[78mphgpr]

Some of you really don't know what you are talking about. The mach consists of 8 speakers, 4 (the mids) amplified by the radios internal amp, and the 4 woofers (5x7's) are powered by external amplifiers. There is a harness that lets you use your Pioneers internal amp to the mids and then use a pre-out to control the subs. If your hu has a subwoofer pre-out, you will have control over the subs which is very nice. Using this harness does not run an amp into an amp at all. The harness should be available at any decent stereo shop and installs VERY easily. I will post the part #'s for both the 03 and 04's if you like.

 

[Sailing2Smth]

I will post the part #'s for both the 03 and 04's if you like.

Could you please, would love to know this info!!

 

[TK Doom]

http://www.metraonline.com/home.aspx

I got my Alpine harness from them, NO ONE IN TOWN had the harness.

 

[ALA G8R]

Some of you really don't know what you are talking about. The mach consists of 8 speakers, 4 (the mids) amplified by the radios internal amp, and the 4 woofers (5x7's) are powered by external amplifiers. There is a harness that lets you use your Pioneers internal amp to the mids and then use a pre-out to control the subs. If your hu has a subwoofer pre-out, you will have control over the subs which is very nice. Using this harness does not run an amp into an amp at all. The harness should be available at any decent stereo shop and installs VERY easily. I will post the part #'s for both the 03 and 04's if you like.

This information is simply not accurate. The radio does not contain an internal amp. The Mach 460 Headunit outputs a single pair of signals for each channel (FL/FR/RL/RR). These low level (preamp) signals drive the Mach 460 amplifier chain.

The Mach 460 amplifier system consists of a high pass amplifier that drives the four 2.5in midrange/tweeters. The high pass amp also contains a low pass crossover network. The output of the low pass crossover feeds the two subwoofer amps. The subwoofer amps drive the four 5.5x7.5 subwoofer speakers.

The high pass amp is located behind the dash on the transmission hump. The two low pass amps are located behind the rear seat.

Here is some info that Visteon provides to market the Mach 460 system. Please note the mention of the high pass amp and the two low pass amps.
http://www.evisteon.com/prod_serv/mobile_electronics/products/mach_460/

 

[Sailing2Smth]

This information is simply not accurate. The radio does not contain an internal amp. The Mach 460 Headunit outputs a single pair of signals for each channel (FL/FR/RL/RR). These low level (preamp) signals drive the Mach 460 amplifier chain.

The Mach 460 amplifier system consists of a high pass amplifier that drives the four 2.5in midrange/tweeters. The high pass amp also contains a low pass crossover network. The output of the low pass crossover feeds the two subwoofer amps. The subwoofer amps drive the four 5.5x7.5 subwoofer speakers.

The high pass amp is located behind the dash on the transmission hump. The two low pass amps are located behind the rear seat.

Here is some info that Visteon provides to market the Mach 460 system. Please note the mention of the high pass amp and the two low pass amps.
http://www.evisteon.com/prod_serv/mobile_electronics/products/mach_460/

OK ALA G8R...you seem like you know your shit when it comes to audio systems.

SO - if I were to buy an aftermarket head unit for my 03 Mach 460.....could/would I be able to run an aftermarket amp (such as a kicker amp) to the factory speakers?
Would it sound good, i.e. no distortion at high volume?

 

[ALA G8R]

OK ALA G8R...you seem like you know your shit when it comes to audio systems.

SO - if I were to buy an aftermarket head unit for my 03 Mach 460.....could/would I be able to run an aftermarket amp (such as a kicker amp) to the factory speakers?
Would it sound good, i.e. no distortion at high volume?

Sailing2Smith,
The only feasible way to use the Mach 460 speakers is with the Mach 460 amps. This is because the Mach 460 speakers depend on the crossover network in the high pass amp to split the signals between the tweets and woofers. Using an external amp such as a Kicker, you would need to construct external crossover networks to split the signals between the tweets and woofers. I don't know if this is even feasible.

Your best bet if you want to use an aftermarket HU and the Mach speakers is to buy an HU with 3 sets of preouts (F/R/Sub). Connect the F/R preouts to the Mach 460 hi pass amp inputs (FL/FR/RL/RR) through a wiring harness like this. http://www.crutchfield.com/S-cKiKPXxbu6V/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=103000&I=120705700. This will allow your aftermarket HU to drive all of the Mach speakers similar to the stock Mach 460 headunit. Then you can use the aftermarket HU's Sub preout to drive an external mono subwoofer amp and add on subwoofer.

 

[TK Doom]

If the 03 speaker system is the same as the 04, then you can use the sub control on the HU to add/decrease bass. It works on my Alpine/04 system.

 

[78mphgpr]

This information is simply not accurate. The radio does not contain an internal amp. The Mach 460 Headunit outputs a single pair of signals for each channel (FL/FR/RL/RR). These low level (preamp) signals drive the Mach 460 amplifier chain.

The Mach 460 amplifier system consists of a high pass amplifier that drives the four 2.5in midrange/tweeters. The high pass amp also contains a low pass crossover network. The output of the low pass crossover feeds the two subwoofer amps. The subwoofer amps drive the four 5.5x7.5 subwoofer speakers.

The high pass amp is located behind the dash on the transmission hump. The two low pass amps are located behind the rear seat.

Here is some info that Visteon provides to market the Mach 460 system. Please note the mention of the high pass amp and the two low pass amps.
http://www.evisteon.com/prod_serv/mobile_electronics/products/mach_460/

You are wrong, I did not read it, this is what I do everyday. Take yours apart then find out for yourself, I will accept your apology.

 

[JoeNashville]

You are wrong, I did not read it, this is what I do everyday. Take yours apart then find out for yourself, I will accept your apology.

You know, there's nothing like having an open mind to change. :shrug:

I do things every day but I am always open to learning BETTER ways to do them. Frankly, even if your way was correct I wouldn't stand there and listen to you tell it, with the attitude that comes through your posts in this thread.

I've worked with ALA G8R on another board on stereo installs, and he knows MUCH more about this. He even provides appropriate references to back up what he's saying.

To avoid hijacking the thread totally...you may find that the best way to accomplish what you're attempting is to start over from the beginning. The Mach 460 system is marginal, yes, but works fairly well as long as the end user doesn't change too much. Once we begin plugging in different head units and amplifiers it may be best to extract the lot and start over.