'97 Head-unit Installation

[duke16]

I'm planning on upgrading the stock head-unit in my new '97 with a Pioneer DEH-P4800MP, is there anything I need to be aware of? Last time with my '93 I just had Best Buy do the installation, but I thought I'd give it a whirl myself this time around. Do I want to bypass the stock amplifier? Or wire into it? What will I need to complete the installation besides what is provided with the head-unit itself?

I have the "Premium" level sound system.

Thanks.

 

[duke16]

Can anyone help? Do I want to bypass the stock amp or use it as well as the one the CD player has? Do I even have an amplifier, where would it be?

 

[kelly2]

the factory amp is located above the pass. rear fender. do you have the factory sub or a pocket/net in the cargo area? if you're buying from crutchfield, they supply you with a kit and harness (last i knew anyway). it easy and straight forward. it's not necessary to bypass the factory amp, just be sure to turn it on.

 

[duke16]

So it's the same place as the sub would be on the JBL system? I have the cargo area with the net there, so does that mean I don't an external amp?

On the "Quick Reference...." page it says the following for the premium system "...the amplifier was external from 1990 through 1997;"

 

[TTG]

You have an external amp if its the Premium system. You get to take that back interior panel off to bypass it. They went to the internal amps in 1998. It'll be right in front of where the JBL sub would be.

It's not too involved, all you really have to do is take off the panel, run some wires, I took the old amp out, but you can leave it if you'd like.

 

[duke16]

But I have the cargo hold there instead, is it behind that? How does that come out?

Seeing as how the harness to bypass is cheaper then the other would there be any point in routing the new CD player through the old amp? On Crutchfield the OEM Amplifier Integration v.4 is $40 whereas the bypass is $25. The Pioneer has a built-in MOSFET50 amplifier (22 watts RMS/50 peak x 4 channels) already.

 

[kelly2]

you DO have a factory amp. behind the plastic panel on the passenger side in the rea cargo area. mounted just forward (i.e.-to the front) of the wheelwell. it's NOT necessary to bypass it. you can get the right harness for $20 at best buy. the Metra part # 70-5600

 

[duke16]

So there's no reason to go to the extra trouble of bypassing it then? I can just buy the harness and plug it in behind the CD player without having to route anything else, right? This won't degrade the audio or anything?

How come Best Buy's harness is $20 and Crutchfield is $40?

 

[kelly2]

you are correct. can't tell you why the price difference. best buy's standard ford harness is $20 and wal-mart's is $10. just the way they want it to be

 

[TTG]

The Crutchfield harness plugs into the wires that run to the back to the amp and takes the amp's output. It then runs the wires all the way back where they came from so you can cleanly splice them to your head unit's adapter. Basically it'll run along the wires that go back there and plug in to the output of the external amp and supply that with the signal from your new headunit.

If you use an adapter that runs it through your external amp it will work, but your sound quality will go down, you'll get bad distortion and you risk blowing your speakers.

 

[duke16]

So I DO want to bypass the external amp? Which harness do I need for that? This one?
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-GnPzPOkASBd/cgi-bin/prodview.asp?I=120705008

 

[kelly2]

^the gray and the green plugs only^ Click Here

or this one Click Here

the factory amp will accept high level inputs (the harness on top) or you can go with the rca inputs (low level). either will work but if you're looking for a preference, i'd recommend the low level for sound quality

 

[duke16]

Slight thread resurrection here, sorry. Anyways, I actually never did upgrade the factory stereo last year.... other things came up and it got put on the back burner. Well I'm about to do a long drive from NC to CT/NY in a couple of weeks so the radio isn't going to cut it, so again, I'm going to try and upgrade the headunit.

But I'm still really confused about what harness I'm supposed to get. According to Crutchfield I need either this one;

Which says "This harness bypasses your factory amplifier," which I want to do.

And then there's this one;

Which says "allows you to integrate a high-powered aftermarket receiver into select 1995-up Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Mazda and Nissan vehicles with premium factory systems."

So what I'm confused about is if the first one bypasses the factory amp, why does it not look like the ones that Kelly posted? It doesn't have that green connection.

 

[foxy]

Mate, I did the same I upgraded from the system you have to a mach with a Changer under the rear seat and a sub in the rh rear I used a P100-T100 cable and all I had to do was plug it in and everything worked . My external amp became obsolete because the mach has an in built one . The cable I mentioned is long enough to reach where you ex amp was situated to plug into the speakers from there using the old plug . Hope I have helped a little. Cheers Barry