Anyone know what stock remote CD player will work for my 97 Aerostar? My van has the AM/FM Cassette w/premium sound, but the only Ford stock CD players I can find are for mid to late 90's mustangs. Are they using the same CD player? Does anyone know if the harness to connect the CD player to the radio is factory installed? I'm hoping that if I can find a CD player, it will hook up with the stock radio without having to find stock patch cables somewhere. Thanks.

 

Hi Aeroarcata:

Welcome to our FTE forum

 

I use a RF unit in my 93 Taurus, it plays though the radio. It is a 12 disk player, made by Pioneer. The main unit is mounted in the trunk, and has a remote to operate.

 

i use a cassette cartridge audio feed into Aero radio from IPod
no low level audio input on Aero with AM/FM Cassette w/premium sound at rear accessory/spkr socket

haven't seen a cassette tape fluttering in the wind for a quarter mile along the freeway for several years

 

How do these fancier RF or cassette modulators sound? I used a cheap RF modulator that plugged into anything with a headphone jack, and the portable CD player I used sounded pretty bad. Of course, this was playing through the "premium" sound system in the van, tuning with the FM receiver. I then decided that if I ever wanted high-fidelity sound in the van, I'll get a complete system to replace the stock radio. It would have to be powerful enough to overcome the noise that is normally in the van at highway speeds, and still sound balanced.

On edit:

It just occurred to me that both the cassette player and radio receiver are band-limited, so even the best such converters can't possibly sound as good as a direct aux input connection.

 

I have a higher end RF modulator, but they still have some interference, though it is not noticable most of the time. If you still have a cassette deck, use the cassette adapter, the sound quality is better that way. The best systems will use a line level output. I want to rewire my system with a standalone amplifier with line level inputs, will work better with my stereo and offer better sound quality. I don`t really look forward to pulling the wire through though. This would be a better setup than running through the factory wire anyway.

 

My RF unit sounds very good with the JBL "Premium" system in my Tuarus. My Wifes Areo has a after market cassette deck with a 8 disk CD with a dens cable. It sounds better than the Rf unit, but it also has 6 speakers, two 12" subs and enough amps to lite a small town.