Hi all,

Now that, with your help, I have gotten most of the big stuff taken care of (installing a muffler and a resonator in my dirt driveway was the last project), I am looking to enhance my audio for not a lot of coin.

I have a subwoofer, so I assume I need an amp and then I need to hook it into my factory stereo (AM/FM/Cassette/Single CD). How would I hook the amp into the factory system and what would you folks recommend for audio upgrades?

Thanks!

 

You say you have a subwoofer. Do you mean you have a subwoofer that you are wanting to install in your Explorer, or your Explorer came with the factory subwoofer?

The factory subwoofer has a factory amp that receives a logic-level mute signal and a differential audio pair, so it's not a straight-forward connection to use the factory subwoofer amplifier inputs to run an aftermarket amp. I managed to pull it off in my 2000 Mountaineer a few years ago using a MOS relay for the trigger, but I don't recall exactly what I did for the low-level input.

If your Explorer does not have the factory subwoofer and you plan to keep the factory deck, I'd suggest you first budget in some new door speakers. New door speakers may not give you much, if any, additional bass output, but will provide much better mids and highs. Then add the subwoofer using a line level converter with the rear speakers as the input.

-Rod