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Ford Explorer Community - Maintenance - Modifications - Performance Upgrades - Problem Solving - Off-Road - Street
Explorer Forum Covers the Explorer ST, Explorer Sport, Explorer Sport Trac, Lincoln Aviator, Mercury Mountaineer, Mazda Navajo, Ford Ranger, Mazda Pickups, and the Ford Aerostar
Is it possible to get a 4-channel amp and use it with my OEM head unit that has an amp already built-in? I heard of adjustable line-level inputs....is that what I need? I have this 4-channel Sherwood amp that someone gave me (new, unused) that has adjustable inputs, I forget how much power it puts out but it's gotta be more than the OEM. Useable???
I checked the Sherwood amplifier I have and it says 4x25 watts (probably 25 watts at 1000% distortion) but it's gotta be better than nothing. Anyway, it has 4 RCA plugs for input and the line-in is adjustable. How can I adapt the 4-pairs of speaker wires into 4 RCA plugs? I know RCA-type cables are shielded and speaker wires aren't so will I get static? Also, does the OEM head unit (1998 premium) have a floating ground for the speakers? I'm not sure if the amplifier has a common ground for the inputs.
I have just replaced my stocker 5x7's with kicker dk57's and got the same result. I went into my HU and boosted the bass untill I can get an amp on those door speakers. My HU Peaks @ 50w/ channel and the kickers RMS @ 75 I think. Just simply not enough pwr to push them.
Two choices really... buy an amp or put the stockers back in. I did notice the stockers I had were rated @ 33 Peak so they were powered nicely.
Oh well My trip to meet up with hurricane frances didnt sound so well but I'll get my new amp in a couple of weeks
With the clarity I'm getting right now they should really sound good then.
How did you go into the head unit and boost the bass? Is there some kind of adjustment that allows this? I do notice that the rear speakers pass more bass than the front; is this bias adjustable? I've been watching CNN and the east coast sure got pounded from hurricane Frances; at least hurricane Ivan is further south and, hopefully, won't turn north........Floridians have had enough!
My Kenwood has a simple built in EQ that I just pumped the bass up on... thats all. And yes it is speaker selectable so I could pump the rears and not the fronts.
I had put off my vacation to the family beach house three times and was detirmined to go this past weekend. We (Destin) just missed it so it was a good weekend. Ivan may get us though.
Kamaaina, I still have all my wiring pieces from when I had a 4 ch amp running from my stock 98 prem HU using RCAs. I wanted to use stock speaker wiring and did not want to cut wires so it was a three part thing . A metra 71-1771 harness plugged into the stock HU and it's speakers wires only (not power, grnd, etc) were connected to a peripgheral VEN4 4 channel line out converter. From the converter I ran rcas to the amp. From the amp I ran speaker wires under the trans hump back to the dash and connected into a metra 70-1771 harnes which nicely snapped into the stock harness. Power and grnd wires from the 71-1771 wire nutted directly to the 70-1771 harness to complete the connections. Cost about $60 for a tangle of wires.
Its kind of hard to explain but I'll go into it more if you want. And I'll sell you all my stuff if your interested.
Oh yes, I also have the infinity ref speakers in the rear and with 50-75 watts they are completly different speakers compared to when you feed them only a little power. Mostly the bass as you said. But in general just a more rich well rounded sound when you give them power (=$$). Good luck.
M.Scott -- thanks for the info. I'll check out this "Metra 71-1771" wiring set up and see if it's what I need. Gee, all I wanted to do was to change the speakers and now this project is starting to grow. Oh well, such is life!
For what it's worth, I just installed the Infiinity Reference 6802 all the way around also.
While I did initially notice some loss of bottom end, it was more than made up for by the increased clarity and quality of the high's. I have the Premium sound system which has a factory amp powering the door speakers at about 20w/ch RMS. All I did was set the treble flat at the HU and bump the bass up a couple of notches. Sounds great to me...
Next steps are to find a deal on a thunderform sub and pair it with an amp I already have, then 4 channel amp for the door speakers. When the HU or cd changer pukes, I have a Pioneer unit ready to install.
My .02, different people will have different preferences.
Well, I returned the Infinity speakers to Circuit City for a refund and I thought, what the heck, I'll give the Pioneer speakers a try. So I did the exchange and installed just the front and they sounded worse than the Infinity. So I returned the Pioneers and got a full refund. I re-installed the factory 6x8's and added Kenwood tweeters just in the front. I am now finally satisfied with the sound; I have the bass I want (not great but acceptable) and the highs come out super clear. The front speaker grills on my '96 are triangle shaped so adding the tweeters fit within the grill area with the 6x8 door panel grill. Anyway, this is just my 2-cents for anybody interested in improving their OEM system. Just adding a set of tweeters to the OEM speakers is a great low-buck upgrade.
