The sub in the MACH system of my 98 EB is blown and needed a link where I can find a replacement that would fit.

 

Send me your e-mail and I can give you instructions on how to replace the sub. I replaced mine with an 8" Kicker Comp sub. It is much better because the kicker is not made out of paper like the factory one is. The installation will take some time if this will be your first time throught it but it is not hard. I ordered my sub from crutchfield.com They are very friendly and have great pricing

 

Having same issue replacing sub in 98 EB Expedition 98. Have tried kenwood from Crutchfield 8" 4 ohm, was told too much ohm. It had a heavy vibrate. Now am trying a Kicker 8" 2 ohm, and it gives base when it wants to. Mostly not at all. Did I do something wrong at install? Is it the wrong speaker? Is it my amp? NEED HELP! Seems you did this before, and had good luck. Anything to offer is appreciated.

 

Edysart-

I am no expert, it might be the amp but, more likely the sub. My kicker comp sub puts out plenty of bass. I looked up my req. from crutchfield and I bought the Kicker Competition C8d-4 sub. I am guessing that the 4 might stand for 4-ohm. If it does stand for this, I am surprised that they would tell you it was too much. I talked to the crutchfield guy and he said that the kicker that I purchased would be a perfect replacment for the stock sub. So, based on that, it then could be the sub itself. Return the Kicker 2-ohm and get a 4-ohm Kicker. As you know, Crutchfield has free return shipping. This might solve your problem. Let me know if the sub is the problem. I just went on the crutchfield website and saw the Kicker Comp 03C84 for 69.99. That is not too bad a price. Good Luck!!

 

who1975,
Crutchfield refered me to the Kenwood KFC-W2005 for $69 originally. It has basic hookups, and was easy. It sounded good for about a week. Then the vibration. Someone on a post told me they had a difficult time with a replacement on the Mach system (forgot that detail) and it was the ohms. They said to go for 2 ohms. Now that I did try that, It's worse. They both sound bad. I am out of my return period with Crutchfield. THe kicker I am using now is 01c8vr2 the box says kicker comp 8vr. Could both subs be bad?

 

I don't know who told you about the ohms but I would go with a 4-ohm sub. I have put the kicker in two different EB expys. and have had no problem. The kicker produces much better bass. Both of your subs could be going bad, and I think the 2-ohm Kicker is not the right way to go. You could try selling the subs on ebay or something. The 2-ohm Kicker would be great for someone to use if they build a box. I still have my factory sub if you would like it. I took my '99 factory sub out when I traded in my '97 and put the Kicker comp in. It still works fine. This would at least help you for a little bit until you could get a 4-ohm kicker. I am no electrician but there must be something with the 2-ohm sub and factory amp that don't go well together. Let me know. My e-mail is william_ho@fclass.hilliard.k12.oh.us Good Luck!!

 

<----New to the forum!

I just bought an '01 E.B. and want to put a bigger sub in, but the wifey won't let me put a box in it. So.....I plan on replacing the factory sub. I haven't relly looked too closely at it, but would it be possible to put in an aftermarket amp as well? Also, is it very much trouble to replace the rest of the stock system throughout? I have replaced speakers in other vehicles in the past, so, if nothing else, i can figure it out myself. But, any tips would be much appreciated.

 

The only advice I have is, Dont listen to the wife

 

Don't change anything unless something breaks. I am going through hell replacing just a sub. Maybe if you pay some shop $2k or Ford, but otherwise...the system sounds great right? I am lucky enough to find someone willing to part with a factory sub and I hope it works. Will post after I try it. Nothing else has worked, and I wouldn't do the whole system unless you're willing to drive around without sound for a while. Or you REALLY know your stuff.

 

I recently replaced the stock head unit with a kenwood mp3 player. Didn't have any trouble whatsoever. I bought the wiring harness and mounting bracket from walmart. Total cost was around $20. Oh, don't forget the stupid tools you need to extract the factory head unit. They were $4.

Also, I mounted the amp under the passenger seat. This was a little tricky but still not that hard. I've learned after several installs that removing the seat to do the install is definitely worth it. It makes it alot easier to run wires under the carpet, make your connections and hard mount the amp without having to twist and turn underneath the seat and dash.

Finally, I put the sub I had from a previous vehicle in the back behind the third row. Luckily the sub in its box fits but not much room for anything else. Its a Apline 10 in the orig box and doesn't go all the way across so there is some room on the drivers side but it takes up the entire area between the seat the tailgate.

Good Luck!

 

Aaron, welcome to the forum.

MTX makes a replacement, but you wont get much out of the factory amp.

If you want more bass, plan on changing your head unit if you want to do it correctly.

I had to use a hi-lo box off of the factory amp, and from there into my hi-level inputs on my amp (should only have to use 1 or the other). The signal is just very high for aftermarket equipment. Here's the problem:

Lets say your deck goes from -10db to +10 db. With an aftermarket amp it goes from around -3db to +5 db - when your volume is low you have way too much bass but when it's high you don't have enough. It's due to the regulation from the hi-lo box/inputs, but there's no way around it without replacing your factory head unit.

If you do replace your sub with an aftermarket sub buy one with a very high sensitivity. If one sub has a sensitivity rating of 87db, and the other has 90db - the one with 90db will be twice as loud with the same input wattage. The sub with 87db sensitivity will reproduce more accurately however your aftermarket will be much more accurate than the factory. I recommend the Kenwood tornado series - cheap, high sensitivy and very good accuracy for the sensitivity. Replacing the mach isn't too bad, the audiophile I hear is a little more involved (dual voice coil factory sub).

Hope it helps, send me an email and I can give you pictures/diagrams/step by step to remove the factory sub.

 

Thanks for the input, I talked to the guys at Car Toys, and they suggested getting the custom box with a 10" JL Audio sub. They said that I could use my factory head unit, but mount an aftermarket amp under the front seat. The problem is.....the box and sub cost around $500! This is my wife's car and I wasn't planning on spending that much on it! (don't tell her I said that) So, I'll probably just get an aftermarket 8" and another amp. Thanks for your input, and maybe one of these days I'll be able to help someone with one of their problems.

 

JL subs have the highest markup in the industry (comparable to kicker). Their only sold at "custom audio" shops to decrease supply and increase the namesake thus increasing price. The W7s are great, but the W3's are similar to subs 1/4 the price, and the differences are even less noticable when you're JUST replacing the sub.

I would get on eBay and get a Kenwood W2005 8" sub, and an amp capable of running it. Get a mono amp unless you plan to extend the audio in the future. Something small should do it, I think it's a 125w speaker. You'll get 10x the factory bass from powering it with 50w, but honestly I would recommend an amp in the 150-200w rms range. Buy a sealed enclosure the appropriate size (.8 - 1.0 cubic feet I THINK for that sub). Alltogether on ebay I bet it's around $150.

 

This post is for the user named "who1975." You advised one Expy user to install a 4 Ohm Kicker subwoofer, rather than a 2 Ohm Kicker. The factory sub is a 4 Ohm sub (that's what I got when I ohm'd it out). Which one of the Kicker's did you install (the Kicker Comp 03C84 or the Kicker Comp VR 03CVR84)? Also, how did you wire it? The Kicker's are dual coil subs. If you wire the 4 ohm Kicker in parallel, it puts out 2 ohms, and in series 8 ohms. If you go to http://kicker.com/images/manuals/03CompVRManual.pdf you can see Kicker's wirig instructions. So how did you a sub that puts out either 2 ohms or 8 ohms to put out 8 ohms, unless you're only using one of the 2 coils (meaning you only connected to 2 of the 4 terminals)? Thanx much for the advice.

 

Chip-

The Kicker comp sub that I installed is no longer available from Crutchfield. So if I had the two choices that you gave me, I would probably install the Kicker Comp 03C84. The VR subs are nice but this other one seems to be fine. If you look at the kicker sub, I put one wire on one othe the connectors and one on the other connector. I had to stretch the wires from the harness a little bit so that they would reach on opposite ends. I hope that makes sense. When I tried to hook both wires up to the same terminal, nothing worked so I just spread them apart and everything works now. Hope this helps. Let me know if it works.
Thanks.