Which trims had MACH/JBL option?

[Fix4Dirt]

iirc kris had mentioned to me that you can make it a standalone system to make the older systems work. wonder if therrs another one in the yard with the mach system. the 8" driver has more punch than the 6.5" driver... i see a decent amount of mach X's in my local yatrd, maybe 2 a month show up. that was when i had time to go to the yard at least

 

[Fix4Dirt]

imo for the biggest bang for buck when it comes down to bass is getting some nice door speakers. even though my kciekr door speakers cant remotely ttouch the sub, hey made a huge difference thruout the whole range. crisper, cleaner. and more bass, and the highs are much better with actual tweeters now so imo first order is door speakrs, then conversion to have a sub in it.good bass is only so good when the rest of the range dont sound great. are there any mach ones in your yard? i swear i see a decent amount of machs in my yard, tempted to pull one next time and ship it to you

 

[Mbrooks420]

I wouldn’t bother with the effort of swapping a factory radio in. No options, tons of work, and no real gain.

Nothing beats a subwoofer. I’d rather spend $150 on door speakers and $150 on a small sub and amp than $300 on door speakers.

 

[XLTrunner]

Appreciate the feedback. I'm going to have get more familiar with these systems and think on this awhile before I decide whether it's worthwhile to pursue something like this. I really don't spend that much time in the Explorer these days to justify such an endeavor if it gets too complicated.

 

[efBrianM]

My '95 Ex (2 door), Expedition trim level, has the Ford/JBL hu with a cassette and a cd changer in the console, some controls in the rear of the console, and a sub with an amp in the cargo area. Ford/JBL 2-way speakers in the doors, and Ford/JBL speakers for the rear seat (don't believe these are 2-way).

Anybody have an idea how many watts RMS the hu is rated at?

It sounds good at low volume settings, but as mentioned above, the more the volume is turned up, the more it distorts! I have thought about adding a power amp just to keep the hu at low volume settings.

How much of an amp can the stock speaker wiring handle?

 

[CDW6212R]

The distortion is mostly from the head unit, the speaker level signals, or the amp itself in models that were external. The small speaker wires can handle plenty of power/RMS, and so can the speakers. The weakest link is the main signal source(s) itself. Finding an amp with a very low distortion(under .500% THD) will help the most. I like an amp with .005% THD, my first car with that 30w x 2 amp was extremely loud with simple Pioneer 6.5" door speakers.

 

[donalds]

I went with a Bluetooth radio
Then I went to the junkyard I ended up with jbl full range just plugged them in

door speakers sounds great!

 

[Fix4Dirt]

My '95 Ex (2 door), Expedition trim level, has the Ford/JBL hu with a cassette and a cd changer in the console, some controls in the rear of the console, and a sub with an amp in the cargo area. Ford/JBL 2-way speakers in the doors, and Ford/JBL speakers for the rear seat (don't believe these are 2-way).

Anybody have an idea how many watts RMS the hu is rated at?

It sounds good at low volume settings, but as mentioned above, the more the volume is turned up, the more it distorts! I have thought about adding a power amp just to keep the hu at low volume settings.

How much of an amp can the stock speaker wiring handle?

the HU iirc ii the mach not sure about jbl is 15x4 so 60 rms iirc. if the amp is external that may be worth a looksie, tore mine open and its fine for low vol but as you kentioned at high volume i get a bit of distrotion(talking about the sub amp here in my case i assume the radio amp is similiar not sure kine is internal and sounds pretty decent)

 

[CDW6212R]

The JBL systems Ford installed in many models were very good, about the best Ford ever had. My first Mark VII had the JBL option and it was okay given the not that special HU.

One owner liked his enough that he had the JBL speakers renovated with new components. He swore it was much better with that done by a local shop he knew. I've had as many stock radios that were mediocre like everyone has at some time. I paid that other Mark VII owner $100 for a spare rear seat he had just received back. I was looking for the JBL front speakers to have done also, but I planned to wait until I get the PA 350 amp installed, with a Kenwood DVD player. Building a nice stereo takes some thought, and many OEM components are poor choices for many systems.

Work on the weak links first, see if you are making good progress, and found a big weak link.

 

[Fix4Dirt]

The JBL systems Ford installed in many models were very good, about the best Ford ever had. My first Mark VII had the JBL option and it was okay given the not that special HU.

One owner liked his enough that he had the JBL speakers renovated with new components. He swore it was much better with that done by a local shop he knew. I've had as many stock radios that were mediocre like everyone has at some time. I paid that other Mark VII owner $100 for a spare rear seat he had just received back. I was looking for the JBL front speakers to have done also, but I planned to wait until I get the PA 350 amp installed, with a Kenwood DVD player. Building a nice stereo takes some thought, and many OEM components are poor choices for many systems.

Work on the weak links first, see if you are making good progress, and found a big weak link.

luckily my ears are still tuned to stock systems to to me my mach hu with mach amp kicker sub/coaxials still sounds real good to me, except at high vol, and i dont even listen to music that loud anyways! though if i were to do it again id maybe put a different sub amp, but at the price i paid cant complain for sure

 

[Rdc#1958]

Mine looks like that although I can't see a display on it.

Mine is like that too, everything works except the display although I understand that is a common problem with these,I have a second one that is the same way.

 

[Rdc#1958]

The 1995-97 Explorers had a differently wired stereo, those the JBL was an optional system. The Mach and Premium were not just a trim level name like many Ford vehicles have had over many years.

In 1998-2001 the Mach and Premium deck in those was not made by Ford, those are Pioneer HU's. That's very special, I don't of other Mach radios which are also Pioneer decks, but all of those 98-01 Explorers have a defect in the display board.

The wiring for the 98-01's is not the same as 95-97's, it's not a plug and play swap to move the radios to different Explorers.

I really like the Mach and Premium HU due to the OEM look huge buttons, and the nice FM quality versus typical OEM. But you have to have all of those repaired if the prior owner didn't get it done.

FYI, the later Sports and Sport Trac had a deck in them which looks a lot like the older Mach, but it has a changer inside it, six CD's I think there are. Those are grey on the face instead of black, and of course they have a clock button. The Mach and Premium both have an RDS button instead of the clock button.

My 2000 Mountaineer has this same unit and display is a dead player,I have read both the power board and the display board could be at fault,Dorman sells a replacement power unit for these but only place I see them possibly available is at O'Reillys

 

[CDW6212R]

The Dorman board is said to not work for the Mach unit, but does in the Premium. I find that hard to believe that those were different in any big way, but that's the story of them.