replacing mach HU with aftermarket

[ksaldibar]

hello everyone. i have a 99 EB and the factory mach HU is crapping out and refuses to play CDs in the HU or changer for longer than a few minutes w/o skipping. it'll even skip when its parked. ford quoted me $400 to get a refurbished mach HU and said thanks and goodbye.

I'll be getting an aftermarket HU. no question about it because i miss playing CDs. i've heard that i'll lose the ability to use the steering wheel controls and the changer and i've accepted it. i'm looking for soem suggestion on a good HU to use with the factory speakers. i believe my truck has 6 speakers + 1 sub. the rear doors have one and the front doors have this enclosure with 2 speaker grills on it. i want a good head unit that will play on all of the speakers and be just as loud as the factory radio. any suggestions or things i should know?

i know i'll have to get a wiring harness to adapt the factory connection to the new HU. will this keep the sub working?

thanks alot for your help.

-ken

 

[CougarX]

You can actually keep the steering wheel controls with an aftermarket head unit as long as the head unit supports a remote control.

http://www.cardomain.com/shoplist~b~PAC~t~Steering+Wheel+Audio+Control+Interfaces

You really only have 4 speakers + sub. The front speakers are a cheap component set with a woofer and tweeter in one plate, but these drive from one set of wires just like any other component set. Your factory sub can be made to work, kind of, with an aftermarket head unit, but not very well. It will never sound as good as the factory system. You will need to upgrade your speakers too because the factory speakers in a Mach system are tuned to work with the factory sub and won't sound very good without it.

Basically, if you lose one component of the Mach system, you might as well replace all of it, because it is all tuned to work together. If you don't want to change out any speakers or subs or anything, I would suggest looking on EBay for a used head unit. You can pick them up for around $100 or so if you watch, just make sure that it says it is a Mach head unit otherwise it won't work. You can even get refurbished head units, probably the same thing Ford wanted to sell you, for a lot less then $400.

 

[ksaldibar]

i know what you mean about the sub thing. the seam on the sub cone blew and i had to replace the sub. when i unplugged to to save my ears from the horrible flapping noise, the speakers produced no bass what-so-ever. well i'm only a poor college student till may 23 whern i graduate. i have a sweet job lined up starting june 5th. cant wait. i didnt get a chance to check out the link, but i will later. thanks alot.

ken

 

[CougarX]

I know all about the poor college student thing, I just graduated last spring and I had to wait till August to start my job so I was poor all summer too!

If you get a decent headunit and some good quality 6X8 speakers for the doors you can spend around $250 (150 head unit, 100 speakers) and it will sound as good or better then stock even without the sub. You can turn around and sell your factory sub and head unit on EBay or similar and make a good chunk of change back. You can probably get $60+ out of your head unit, even not working correctly. You can also get around $100 out of the factory sub. This will reduce your final cost to under $100 probably and you won't be stuck with the limiting factory system anymore.

 

[DuckHuntINPro]

As brad said you can sell your factory stuff however, if you ever plan to sell the car in the future I would highly recommend keeping them. Unless you want to sell your car with all that new stuff in it. Again i would also say dont keep your old sub... just get a new one if you can afford it. If your looking for a new HU sony makes very good ones in my opinion... but make ****ty subs/amps/speakers. I am a poor college student as well but fortunately I bought most of my stuff before I went to college and spent all my money on booze. I used to work in car audio shops installing systems so if you have any questions let me know.

Paul

 

[thewishkah]

IMO, I would advise against Sony for any car audio equipment, no disrespect to the last poster, I bought a Sony X plod HU 3 years ago, and within 6 months I ditched it because you could turn the volume all the way up and it would not get any louder. Also they don't last as long as other HU I have seen.

Didn't You have a system in your truck at one point? or am I thinking of someone else?

 

[ksaldibar]

Didn't You have a system in your truck at one point? or am I thinking of someone else?

i had a box in the back, that was it. i got rid of it because it was over kill. if i get a new sub it will be a cutom enclosure to fit where the factor sub was and put a nice 10" sub in there.


btw, thanks for the advice guys

-ken