Replacing the head in a Mach460 system.

[Rickorion]

I am quite new to Car Audio and I have a probably simple question for you vets.

I have a 1999 Ford Mustang GT with the stock Mach460 sound system, the one with the seperate cd deck below the head. I had purchased a Kenwood MP919 back before I bought the Mustang for my previous car. I want to replace the head and cd deck in my Mustang with the Kenwood, but I've had 2 different people tell me I could not do it because of the way the amps and speakers of the Mach460 are designed. Is this true at all, and if not, could someone explain to me what it is that I need to do?

If you need more info, just ask. And thanks for the help.

Rick

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[Alaxan 5,000+ posts]

Originally posted by Rickorion I am quite new to Car Audio and I have a probably simple question for you vets.

 

I have a 1999 Ford Mustang GT with the stock Mach460 sound system, the one with the seperate cd deck below the head. I had purchased a Kenwood MP919 back before I bought the Mustang for my previous car. I want to replace the head and cd deck in my Mustang with the Kenwood, but I've had 2 different people tell me I could not do it because of the way the amps and speakers of the Mach460 are designed. Is this true at all, and if not, could someone explain to me what it is that I need to do?

 

If you need more info, just ask. And thanks for the help.

 

Rick

You can do it, but you will probably not be happy with the results. In order to do it properly you would have to bypass the amps in the car and simply run the power off of the head unit. Nothing is totally impossible when trying to do an install like this, but some things are not recomended. Unless you are planning on getting separate amps I would say stick with what you have for the time being, but that is a personal preference.

 

[Rickorion]

Originally posted by Alaxan You can do it, but you will probably not be happy with the results. In order to do it properly you would have to bypass the amps in the car and simply run the power off of the head unit. Nothing is totally impossible when trying to do an install like this, but some things are not recomended. Unless you are planning on getting separate amps I would say stick with what you have for the time being, but that is a personal preference.

That's what I was afraid of. All well, thanks for the tip though //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[awalbert88 10+ year member]

Since I've gone through the ordeal of replacing the Mach460 system piece by piece, I'll give you some help. Replacing the head unit and running it through the current amps will work just fine, though it will limit your volume control. Contrary to popular belief, it's pretty easy to bypass the factory amps. There is a harness that plugs into the front amp which can be removed and then spliced into for the speaker connections to the head unit. It's not exactly easy to get to, because the amp is tucked away beneath the cd player unit, but with a bit of work, you can get to it. To bypass the rear amps, just switch the audio input plugs from the amps over to the speakers. If you take a look at the rear deck, you'll see what I mean.

I noticed a serious difference after I installed a new head unit and bypassed the amps. It will also get you ready if you want to upgrade your system later on.

A lot of shops will tell you that the Mach460 system has to be replaced as a whole, but that is simply not true.

 

[Rickorion]

Originally posted by awalbert88 Since I've gone through the ordeal of replacing the Mach460 system piece by piece, I'll give you some help. Replacing the head unit and running it through the current amps will work just fine, though it will limit your volume control. Contrary to popular belief, it's pretty easy to bypass the factory amps. There is a harness that plugs into the front amp which can be removed and then spliced into for the speaker connections to the head unit. It's not exactly easy to get to, because the amp is tucked away beneath the cd player unit, but with a bit of work, you can get to it. To bypass the rear amps, just switch the audio input plugs from the amps over to the speakers. If you take a look at the rear deck, you'll see what I mean.

 

I noticed a serious difference after I installed a new head unit and bypassed the amps. It will also get you ready if you want to upgrade your system later on.

 

A lot of shops will tell you that the Mach460 system has to be replaced as a whole, but that is simply not true.

Thanks, I just had a friend that swapped his head unit out with a kenwood tell me all I needed to buy was an adaptor. I forgot to ask him what it was called though. Can ya help me on this one too? (sorry I'm such a noob hehe)

 

[awalbert88 10+ year member]

Well, I was too cheap at the time to buy an adapter, so I just spliced into the wiring directly and ghetto-rigged it.

 

[mustang0969 10+ year member]

i have a 2000 mustang gt and am a ten year vet of the install bay.

you can use the amps in the car for now. all you need is the harness for ford premium sound systems.

it will have one rectangular gray plug

and one small black plug

if you have cd and tape in the car which you probably do. there will be to black plugs that look alike on the left side of the radio.

use the one that has 8 contact not 6 that one is for the cd player.

dont forget to use the blue/white wire to turn on the amps.

 

[Rickorion]

Originally posted by mustang0969 i have a 2000 mustang gt and am a ten year vet of the install bay.

 

you can use the amps in the car for now. all you need is the harness for ford premium sound systems.

 

it will have one rectangular gray plug

and one small black plug

 

if you have cd and tape in the car which you probably do. there will be to black plugs that look alike on the left side of the radio.

 

use the one that has 8 contact not 6 that one is for the cd player.

 

dont forget to use the blue/white wire to turn on the amps.

Thanks for the input. I have a friend who recently told me the same thing and he did his the same way.

 

[mattj 5,000+ posts]

i gotta go a 97 mustang gt install like this with the mach460 this weekend. thanx for the tip ahead of time.

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