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Upgrading Stereo

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Old Jun 9, 2003 | 06:24 PM
  #1  
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Question Upgrading Stereo

I have the premium system on my 93. I've already replaced all the stock speakers and was thinking of adding a headunit and having that power those speakers, and then adding a sub and having it only directly powered by the stock amp in the rear quarter of the truck. Will this work???
 
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Old Jun 9, 2003 | 10:51 PM
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WillieTD
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Upgrading Stereo

Originally posted by flashpt6
I have the premium system on my 93. I've already replaced all the stock speakers and was thinking of adding a headunit and having that power those speakers, and then adding a sub and having it only directly powered by the stock amp in the rear quarter of the truck. Will this work???
It might but, honestly, I would just get an amp and run it off of that. I'm not sure that the stock amp will work with the aftermarket stereo.
 
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Old Jun 10, 2003 | 10:20 AM
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Upgrading Stereo

Better bet is to buy a powered sub. I got a Clarion/MTX ThunderForm in my 99 and its awesome. It actually fits in the space where the cargo net and pocket used to be. Even better is that it runs on power from the headunit, not a special wire to the battery. They arent cheap but they are worth it.
 
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Old Jun 19, 2003 | 01:08 PM
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Upgrading Stereo

no it wont work to replace the head unit you have to replace BOTH amps. there is one for the highs and one for the 6"sub. the sub amp gets signal from the high amp. i am debating this install myself. but i have researched it quite extensively, as far as i can tell there is no way to just switch out the head unit.
 
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Old Jun 19, 2003 | 09:02 PM
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Upgrading Stereo

I recently installed a JVC CD/MP3 deck in my wife's Exploder. I disconnected the stock amp. It doesn't work with the head unit I installed. I priced out a few subs and the stock Ford one was by far the cheapest. It is smaller than most aftermarket ones (speaker size) but it fits right into the factory location in the back and with the stock cover on it it looks good in my opinion. It comes with it's own amp. It might not sound as good as a high end aftermarket system but it was way cheaper and sounds good enough. It sure is nice being able to fit 6 hours worth of MP3s on one cd to listen to while going long distances
 

Last edited by Racerguy; Jun 19, 2003 at 09:04 PM.
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Old Jun 19, 2003 | 11:01 PM
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Upgrading Stereo

Where'd you pickup the stock ford subwoofer?
 
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Old Jun 20, 2003 | 12:04 AM
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Upgrading Stereo

I just ordered it from the dealer that I work at
I ordered the sub/amp assembly and the cover for over it.
You might be able to find the same thing at a wrecking yard. Most Exploder Limiteds and Eddie Bauers had it.
 
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Old Jun 20, 2003 | 08:16 PM
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Upgrading Stereo

I was able to get an OEM amp to work with a new HU. I have a 2003 Explorer, so I'm not sure if that will make a difference or not, but here is a thread to what I did:

http://www.the12volt.com/installbay/...TID=15026&PN=2
 
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Old Jun 24, 2003 | 09:25 PM
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Upgrading Stereo

I'm not sure if it makes a difference, but I have a 92' Explorer Eddie Bauer. It has JBL amps in it, and I've hooked up several different aftermarket head units to it and worked fine. Just had to get wiring harness that was specific for the set-up.
 
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Old Jun 24, 2003 | 11:14 PM
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Upgrading Stereo

The main reason I had to bypass the stock amp is due to the HU I installed not having pre-outs.
 
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Old Jun 25, 2003 | 01:41 PM
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Upgrading Stereo

so is there any way to install an aftermarket head unit and use the stock amps? basiclly what i want to do is disconnect the amp for the highs but i know the amp for the subs gets a signal from the high amp. my stock head unit is telling me "error" every time i put a cd in now. it used to read burned cd and store bought just fine but now it just dont like cd's anymore. is therte any way to wire an aftermarket headunit from the preouts on the aftermarket hu to the factory amp for the subs? i just want to do this cause it would save me like 200 on the amp.
 
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Old Jun 26, 2003 | 12:34 PM
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Upgrading Stereo

Why do you want to disconnect the highs from the amp? I've found that it sounds quite good with the amp running the highs, and blends with the aftermarket subs very well. Anyway if you want to try it, there is the wiring harness for the premium sound system in the explorer. All you have to do is put the harnesses on the back of the aftermarket unit, plug them into the reciever harnesses and both amps will run from that. After reading this I walked into Wal-Mart the other day, and was suprised that they happened to have the wiring harnesses for both the premium Ford sound systems and the regular. Make sure to get the premium one. If not try any car audio store that does installations, they should have it. I believe the amps in this system only run off high input, so there wouldn't really be any way to run from pre-outs.
 
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Old Jun 26, 2003 | 04:20 PM
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Upgrading Stereo

I've heard that the stock amps are crap. Most head units sold today put out more power than the stock amps.
 
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Old Jun 26, 2003 | 06:40 PM
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Upgrading Stereo

i am sure they do but i am going for ease of install here. i have 2 10"s running off stock sub amp and it works fine all i want to do here is replace the head unit without having to spend another 300$ on an amp and wiring. i have a harness but it has a bypass for the factory high amp. i want to replace the HU and keep factoy sub amp but run the highs from the aftermarket deck.
 
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Old Jun 27, 2003 | 10:02 AM
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Upgrading Stereo

I just put a new Kenwood Cd HU in my 93 with preminum sound. It runs pretty good, the hu runs 45x4 and it is running through the stock amps also. Most places that I talked to said that they had to bypass the stock amps to get anything to work (remove rear passanger panel). The place that I finaly had install it said that the only problem would be that I don't have a lot of volume control. The new HU has a range of 0 to like 32, but I cant turn it up past 15 without blowing my ears out. That is the only problem I have had.
 
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