4 Channel Help
 

Hi everyone, sorry if this has been posted i have tried searching.

I have a 2001 convertabile mustang with MACH460 system and have had stock stereo problems.

Headunit failed so i replaced it with a Clairon CZ500 and stock stereo adapter. Nothin fancy budget build.
RMS 19W*4
6-channel preamp outputs (4-volt front, rear, sub)


After replacing it rest of the stereo went south, no bass at all. And the stock amps were clipping if i went 15 out of 40 volume. If any low bass hits the stock amps cut out and sound went real low for 3 seconds amps would come on and then off on next bass note.

So i replaced front speakers with infinity reference 6X8 RMS 2-60Watts.

This changed a little but still having issue with the stock amps clipping out at 15 volume.

Now after researching as much as i can find about the stock mach460 system seems like everything is on a 8ohm load. So i assume thats causing the clipping?

I was advised to gut the system run new speaker wires and grab a 4 channel amp. So i removed the stock amps.

So again on a budget went out and bought Sony ZR7004
RMS 70Watts*4 = 4ohm or RMS 80Watts*4 = 2ohm. 85 bucks.

Problem im having now is the wiring. I have the car completed gutted no seats, roll bar removed interior pieces everywhere. Once i did this i noticed a few more speakers then i knew about.

I made a diagram to show what im planning but need help with wiring the tweeters in the door and the rear (4 - 2.5 inch speakers ). Can i hook them up to the headunit and have it power them, leaving the other 4 speakers powered by the 4 channel amp. If so do i wire them to front and rear, just the fronts?

Please can someone give me instructions to complete the instal so i can drive the car again. thanks so much.

http://i51.tinypic.com/2dw9kcx.jpg

Yes you can hook the tweeters up to the deck. Yes connect them to the front and rear speaker outputs.

Mach systems suck to integrate to. When one comes in the shop I don't even think about it - I immediately quote a rewire to all speakers.

So just solder them into the headunit

Front L Tweeter = Front left output speaker on headunit
and so on for the rest.

Doing that will it make them sound distorted, because it will have low (bass) freq going to them as well?

or would componet speakers be better off?

or would you suggest having the deck set to a negative bass amount and just tweak the remaining speakers through the amps hi-low filters?

IIRC the stock 'tweeters' have a cap on them so you don't need anything. You should doublecheck that though. If they don't, add a 4.7uF cap onto each one.

First off, welcome to the board....:smilie_da

Second of all, congratulations on having one of the best "first questions by the new guy" posts of the year.....if only they all had that much detail right off the bat.....:thumbsup:

I'm not that familiar with the Mach460 but I'll take a few guesses here:

1: The stock amps were clipping after you changed decks due to the higher output voltage on the Clarion. It was way more than the inputs could handle and the amp was shutting down to protect itself. The crappy bass response was probably a symptom of the change in the built-in EQ from the factory deck, which is tweaked to compensate for speaker size and placement in the vehicle among other things, to the flat output of the Clarion.

2: When you swapped in the 6X8s, did you use the factory wire and were the tweeters still working? There may be a passive crossover in each corner for the mid and tweet already and that will make your wiring job easier.

You can test this by hooking each corner up to the appropriate speaker output on the clarion and listening to each in turn....if the tweet and mid are both working use the factory wires for your Sony amp's outputs and it will drive all 8 speakers without having to run new wires into the doors.

Don't worry about impedance issues for now.....if you install new rear speakers (coaxes) for now just hook them up and the factory Xover will take care of keeping all the lows out of the tweeters.....not a perfect setup but functional and easy on the budget......:smokin:

Make sure you use the RCAs to connect the Clarion to the Sony amp.....that way you will still have fader and balance functions.

HTH

thanks for all your help.
last few question hopefully, i looked up the 4.7UF cap. Shows a cylinder with two prongs. i assume installing it is just one prong to positive speaker wire and one to neg speaker wire.

lastly i googled it and it shows different voltage, any particular voltage i would need.

20 volts is fine, hook the cap up inline with the positive speaker lead....:smokin:

HTH

thanks for the big welcome, and i honestly appreciate your guys help so much. I have tried posting on the numerous mustang forums but seems like this mach460 is just too big of a headache.

1. amps i think your probably right there, crappy bass still remained even after tweeking the EQ. so im hoping with the new amp and proper voltage should bring some bass back.

2. with the clarion headunit purchase i was sent a harness with amplifier integration.

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_120705519/Ford-Receiver-Wire-Harness.html?tp=2977

So what had happened was the amps were still supposed to work the same way except the door tweeters were running off the headunit itself. When i changed the 6*8's i noticed they were wired independantly. no Crossover was present in the doors between 6*8 and tweeters.

I wish i could have run the stock wiring, but the top has a nasty spot where rain actually collects under the rear seats. I think just a bad design from ford. So the wiring i thought could use replacesment. but the tweeters i think im going to use factory, save myself the time.

So far i have replaced all speaker wiring, only part i was struggling with was the tweeters back and front. from the other gentlemens help seems like wiring them directly to the headunit might be the best cheapest solution.

So if this makes sense,
4 channel amp will run the
6.5 rears LR and RR
6*8 fronts LF and RF

the headunit will run
2.5 LR and RR
2.5 LF and RF
and to protect from distortion i will connect if not alerady present some 4.7uF. ( can somone advise voltage )

Thursday being a day off, i was planning to complete this setup and hope for the best. If you think im missing something or maybe a better method/better setup please let me know. Im open to your guys expertise.

20 volts is still fine....:D

Put it this way, unless you find some SMT parts, it would be unlikely you could find a cap with a voltage rating too low. :)

I actually prefer rewiring the convertible to the coupe. That tray under the rear deck of the coupe is a bitch to take in and out alone.