I don't see much on Econoline sound systems so I thought I'd post my experience.

A few months back I purchased a '99 Econoline Conversion to replace my Aerostar that developed a warped head (wasn't worth repairing). The "******* Wagon II" came with the premium sound system but I still disappointed with the sound and wanted to be able to play MP3s, CDs and IPOD.

For the head unit I went with a Kenwood KDC-HD545U that had the all the capabilities I wanted including HD radio, USB, front AUX input and IPOD control.

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_113HD545U/Kenwood-KDC-HD545U.html?tp=5684

I ordered from Crutchfield and paid a few buck more to do so, but the price included the install kit, harness adaptor, double din removal tools, and their install guides tailers to my van. With all these extras it was a savings.

<OInstall had a couple challenges: The first was dealing with the rear bracket on the stock OEM head unit. It's a white plastic piece that is screwed on the back of the head until and slides on a metal rail at the bottom of the radio bay. The problem was you couldn't use the metal single din cage and get the bracket on the slide from the front of the bay. The solution was to put the bracket on the slide, slide the radio in, then screw the bracket the back of the radio. While it does provide some added theft prevention, this hassle requires removing the engine cowl to access the back of the radio

The second hassle was with the antenna wire. There is never enough slack, and every time I pushed the head unit in it would pull the antenna plug out. I had to loosen the antenna wire from underneath the front dash to pull enough slack to work with.

<OOnce in the head unit worked great. Its my first HD radio and now I can finally understand most of the lyrics I never could before.

<OBut the OEM speakers still sounded lousy, all six of them. Attracted by the price and reviews I went with some Kenwood KFC-6893PS 6x8" for $39/pair on Amazon. I needed three pairs so price was a big factor, but was also encouraged by the reviews I had seen.

<Ohttp://www.crutchfield.com/p_113KFC6893/Kenwood-KFC-C6893PS.html?tp=92

<OUnfortunately I am very disappointed with the sound. They sound muffled and distort badly at even moderate volumes. I found them only marginally better than the OEM speakers and it is hard to believe the high ratings they received. They are just awful, but I’m stuck with them for now.
<OInstallation was straight forward. The hardest part was finding the polarity of the van speaker wires. It took me about 45 minutes before I found this resource on this site:

http://www.installdr.com/Harnesses/Ford-Wiring.pdf

FYI--I do have rear headphone jacks on this conversion van but determined they are all hooked into a second head unit behind the driver’s seat. I'm leaving that unit a alone--with IPODs and laptops it's not getting used.

The final piece was a Boss powered subwoofer also ordered from Amazon:
<O
http://www.amazon.com/Boss-BASS1500-Profile-Amplified-Subwoofer/dp/B0032FOJXE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1280512606&sr= 8-3

<OI wanted something compact and out of sight and had good luck with other powered subwoofers, and I wasn't looking for window shattering bass.

<OI ordered this one since the dimensions indicated it would fit under the front passenger seat. It did, but I didn't account the seat mounting bolts coming up from the floor when I took my measurements. To get it to fit, I had to remove the front seat from the seat mounting bracket and remove the bracket from the floor (and had to run out and get a T55 Star socket for that). Then I cut one piece of 11/32nds MDF to clear the bolts, then a second piece of MDF large enough to mount the subwoofer to (12"x17"). The first piece was cut with some "wings" to fit under the seat mounting bracket so with the mounting bracket bolted down the board is pressed tight to carpet and won't move around.

<OThen the second board was mounted on top of the first with screws—that was what required removing the seat from the mounting bracket. Then the sub was mounted on the board with the supplied brackets. The boards were painted black to be less conspicuous.

<OI bought a Boss wire kit for the sub install and it came with the necessary cable and wires. To get the cable from the battery to the sub I went from the engine compartment under the front passenger side fender and then followed the antenna wire, drilling an access hole just above the antenna access that’s exposed when you open the passenger door. From there it is pretty straight run along the existing cable runs under the kick panels to under the front seat

Overall, most of the installation was pretty straightforward. Soundwise, it's good at low volumes but I'm really disappointed with the Kenwood cabin speakers. I've done at least a half dozen aftermarket radios on my cars and my kids cars and have never had a set of aftermarket speakers sound so bad at volume. I'll keep them for now but also keep my eyes open for a bargain on something better.

With HD, I do use the radio much more now and enjoy it more. It sounds so much better.

And I like the IPOD interface that lets me control the IPOD with the IPOD rather than a clunky head unit inteface. I've never found a head unit that could navigate an IPOD as well as the IPOD interface does.

<OKontoboy<O</O

 

I know you use the install kits, but try fading the speakers left and right and listen if the distortion decreases. You could have a phase issue in the wiring causing them sound poor that can be fix relatively easily.

 

Yes, this^

Also, does your Econoline have the factory amplified system? If so, running the high level output of the aftermarket headunit into the factory amp will overdrive the speakers. If you have this they make a jumper harness that allows you to bypass the factory amp. However, doing so my subject certain channels of the headunit to too low of an Ohm load...so be careful. How wide of a range of volume control do you have?

 

I tried fading front to rear and right to left and noticed no discernable change in the sound quality.

There is no factory amplifier that I'm aware of. I'd be surprised if there were. They start these conversions with a base van.

I'm thinking I may need to go back and check the speaker wire polarity. I relied on the chart in the link above and assumed it was correct, but never checked with a multi-meter. Checking should be fairly easy since most speakers are easily accessible.

If that doesn't reveal anything I think my next check would be the continuity on the speaker wires from the head unit to speakers and from speaker to speaker. There is no rear control for them, but it's possible there was one before it was converted. If it was wired wrong or they are sharing a common negative it may be messing up the sound. (I had an Aerostar with a rear control and found I just needed to run new wires for each speaker.)

I have three long trip in the next month---t would be nice to get it fixed.

Kontoboy

 

The speakers get AC current, which has a feed and a return unlike DC. How are you planning to use a meter to check polarity? The only way I know of to check a speaker's polarity was to tap a battery to the terminals and watch the direction of the cone's travel. Then set all the speakers up the same and then they are in phase.

 

I didn't know they use AC. I thought they used DC and was going to see if they read + or - voltage on the multimeter. If they use AC why do they even bother with polarity?

I've got 9 volt batteries so I'll try that too.

My son (who use to sell car stereos at Circuit City) thinks the head unit is unpowered. He's recommending a seperate 4 channel amp to power the four rear speakers! It's a n additional expense and a big wiring hassle.

I'll check polarity first and if that reveals nothing think about the amp option. I've got four trips in the next three weeks so it may be awhile before I get to it.

 

It is AC current which is how the speaker cone moves in and out at such a high frequency (which is what reproduces the sound you hear). The polarity comes into the effort when you talk about an array of speakers. They need to travel in the same direction at the same time. If one or more moves in the exact opposite direction (phase), then you run into deconstructive interference and the distance between the speakers starts screwing up certain sounds (freq.s)

What the battery does is allow to discover which terminal should be the + as touching it with + to + and - to - the speaker will move away from the basket. Doing it backwards + to -, the speaker will move inward. As I said above, you want the speakers to move in the same direction at the same time. So you want all of the headunit's + hooked up to the + on all the speakers.

 

I know the speaker polarity--it's clearly marked in each speaker.

The more I think about it the more convinced I am that you're incorrect about the speaker current being AC. If it were AC, why would the wiring diagrams show the + and - polarity, and why would it be important to consistently match the wire polarity to the speakers so they move in phase with one another?

Your battery test supports my point. If it were AC current going to the speakers you wouldn't know which direction the speaker cone would move and you wouldn't be able to get the speakers in phase. Because it is DC, the speakers cones, when wired correctly, move in unison.

What I want is to verify the polarity on the speaker wires. I have a chart that shows positive and negative of the stock Ford wires, I'm just not sure I trust it. My digital multimeter will show me the positive and negative wires by displaying either "+" voltage or "-" before the voltage, e.g., "-7.6 volts."

I could also trace the wires back to the head unit, but have to pull the engine cowl to get access). The manual for the head unit shows the polarity of each speaker wire.

 

Try it, but here's a little more info Audio Output

 

I concede--all evidence points to it being AC. I took at look at your link which says speaker voltage is AC. Then I checked with my multimeter and it wasn't reading voltage with the meter set to DC, but would under the AC setting.

Still looking for a fix for my crummy sound I checked the speaker wires all the way from the speakers to the head unit to make sure they were connected correctly and had continuity.

They were, but in the process I discovered I had pinched one of the rear door speaker wires when I installed the aftermarket speakers. It had rubbed though the insulation enough to put a bit of bare wire on the door paint. It must of caused a mild short because the head unit always worked, but after taping it up the speakers sounded much, much better. Not great, but not so bad that I'm going to fuss with it any more.

Did a couple short (500 mile) trips since that discovery and fix and I was pretty happy with the tunes. I'm now looking forward to a 2000 mile round trip in four weeks and with some new tunes on the IPOD to get me through the miles.

Kontoboy