Ok. I'v been looking for a Cd player and my 1st stop was Best Buy, they told me that it would cost me $50 extra to put one in. This is for "custom labor" they say. My mom got hers in her camry for free so why is it $50 for the van. I know some of you have put CD players in your vans. And I bet some of you did it your self so is this going to cost me $50 or should I go to some other place.

93'Aerostar XLT. Intake, cherrybomb glasspack, dual 3" tip, red LED blinkers, red neons all in, under, around.

 

Well, I can't imagine why they told you that. I installed a Blaupunkt 10 disc changer under the front seat (passenger side) and it was quick, easy, and required little extra work. IF you wanted it hidden better than that, you probably would need an extended controller cable. That might cost a few bucks. And really, where could you put it that would be accessible?

When I installed mine I did take the passenger seat out of the van (the four floor bolts) and routed the cable through the carpet then under the plastic cover under the door. I put a plastic panel in the back of the seat opening to minimize a child kicking the changer. It has been there for two plus years with nary a problem.

I DID have a matching Blaupunkt head unit, which minimized any extra wiring.

Good luck.

Mario Perez
67 F250 2WD Camper Special 5.8FE
84 Bronco XLT 5.8HO
88 Aerostar XL 3.0

 

I was not very happy with the factory radio and installed a Radio/CD changer unit. I fastened the changer to the side panel under the rear left window and ran the cable behind the side panel and then under the carpets to the front.
I considered installing the changer under the driver's seat first but discarded this option because I'd have to remove the seat in oder to install it. Plus accessibilty to the disc magazine would not be quite as good as in the back. Disadvantage: the changer is spotted easier by thieves although the tinted glass helps a lot.

Tom Ucen
1993 Aerostar XL 3.0 Ext.
Munich, Germany

 

I put a pioneer deh-34 in mine. all you have to buy is the player, the wiring kit, and something to connect the wires together(i bought some of those little wire splices you have to crip on, they seem to do fine.) the wiring kit i bought was like 10 bucks. once you get all that stuff pull out the ash tray and there are two screws there, remove those and gently pull off the dash, don't force it off, i broke my clips doing this... then find some way to get the factory radio out, i just got a friend to get one side with a screwdriver while i did the other side, it can be tricky, but it beats buying the tool to do it... then just put in the mounting sleve for your radio, bend the tabs to secure it, and install the radio. also you may want to run new wires to your speakers, because there might be a factory amp that WILL cause distortion if you don't re-wire the speakers, which is a good reason to do it yourself... i wouldn't pay somebody 50 dollars to do that. helpfull hint: do the acctual wiring inside, theres no need to sit outside in that small space and try to connect those wires.

if you need better help to do this email me cardude_mad(No Email Addresses In Posts!) and i'll give you more detailed instructions.

if you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself try to find somebody who knows what they are doing for a lesser price...

good luck.
Mike D.

 

This depends entirely on what the installation entails. If you have a factory "premium" sound system that has an amp and EQ, this really needs to be cut out of the loop (as does the rear headphone and controls), which requires running new wires. Otherwise the distortion produced by these components will reduce your fidelity, and that's certainly not why you bought the CD player in the first place. It may be a good idea in any case to install all new wiring as opposed to adapting a wiring harness to the factory wiring - your system will sound better for it. I put in an in-dash CD player, but ran all new 14 gauge speaker wiring. I put JBL P432's in the dash, and P9632's in the side panel 6x9 locations (this required a bit of custom work). The new 14 gauge speaker wires are soldered to the speaker input tabs. The head unit is 50W x 4, but I plan on adding a separate two channel amp to drive the speakers at some point in the future. I also have two 15" JBL subwoofers running off a BP600.1 amp (600W mono), in a fairly large cabinet which also doubles as a SCUBA tank rack. When I get the second amp for the mids and highs, I'm going to convert the P432's to mids only, and place separate tweeters up on the doorframe for better imaging. This is one reason why I went with JBL, as they sell a conversion kit, including the proper crossover, to make this modification to the P432.

As it is, the most difficult part was stiffening the side panels and sound deadening the van. This particular subwoofer system has impressive power, but didn't sound good until I stopped the panels and windows from rattling.

Anyway, sorry for the rant, but the answer to your question is probably yes - it is worth the $50. I had to completely dismantle the entire dash to be able to easily run the new wiring.

-Gadget

 

This was what I needed b/c I have the headphone jacks in the back. So it may be worth the $50 to have them take everything apart and put it back together. Right now I have 2- MTX 6000 10' to run off of a 500 watt RMS Lighting Audio amp. Very soon I will be switching to 3 12's and another 500watt amp. On yeah, how hard is it to replace the factory speakers? Thanks for the help.


93'Aerostar XLT. Intake, cherrybomb glasspack, dual 3" tip, red LED blinkers, red neons inside, and red Street Glow under body kit .

 

replacing the rear speakers is easy, the front speakers, however, are harder. you have to get a right angle screwdriver to get the dash screws out, then the speakers. once you get the screw driver it isn't that bad

 

I just redid the wiring on my 94 Aerostar when I ripped out the factory radio and installed a Koss radio/cd player with removeable faceplate. Just use a short, stubby screwdriver - worked fine for me - no need for a special tool. And when removing the factory radio, you really need 2 people to remove it or use the keys that usually come with the new system.

1FABWCH

 

Sears sells a little ratcheting screwdriver (looks like a mini-wrench) that accepts standard bits and can also work by twisting the **** with your fingers. I have found it very handy taking Ford dashes apart or removing speaker covers close to the windshield.