Replacing stock amp?/

[donaldbc]

I have upgraded the door speakers in my car and have the stock headunit. I don't want to change the headunit and/or cd changer, so I was wondering if anyone has replaced the stock amp with a newer/more powerful aftermarket amp? Thanks

 

[aldive]

What brand and model speakers did you use?

How do they sound with the stock set up?

How would you compare their sound with that of the stock speakers?

Thanks.....

 

[donaldbc]

I have pioneer 3-ways in the front and Infinity Reference 2-ways in the rear. They sound alot better than stock, I like to listen to the music relatively loud and the quality gets worse the higher the volume is. I was thinking that that was due to the rms on the stock amp not being too hi. Do you know what the output is on the stock amp? How hard would it be to accomplish this?(replacing the amp) thanks

 

[Jorge]

As far as I know there is no easy way of retaining the stock headunit and using an aftermarket amplifier with it. The stock headunit does not have rca outputs. It has low level outputs that look like normal speaker wire that feeds the amplifier the audio signal. You would have to figure out what wires correspond to the correct channel(left, right, front, rear) and the polarity(+ & -) of each channel and then attatch rca plugs to that. Hopefully the stock head unit would have enough power that it sounds good with the aftermarket amplifier. Too much work in my mind, but if you have the time and want to make the effort it may be worth it.

 

[aldive]

Probly a futile quest. The stock headunit is notorious for having the display fail.

 

[ACBlessing]

I'm running the stock head and CD changer but changed my speakers to JBLs in front, Infinity in rear and RF sub. I spliced into the wires going to the speakers (high level) and run those to my amp's high-level input. Sound great.

I'm still stuck on bypassing the factory amp in the rear for the sub. I need to get the inputs from the plug that goes to the sub amp but can't figure it out yet.

I do have the wire codes for the door speakers though.

-AC

 

[mrsteve]

If you are looking to bypass the factory sub Crutchfield has an amplifier bypass harness made for the Explorer that will take care of your problem. All you do is plug the harness inline with the stock wiring. I believe it's $10 or less. Give them a call 'cause it's not in the catalog or on their website.

Steve