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Mach 460 stereo - adding seperate amp and sub, help please!

11K views 29 replies 5 participants last post by  RanGer498  
#1 ·
I recently bought a 2001 mustang GT 5 speed and i love it. i also like the mach 460 stereo system it has, but there is hardly any bass.. i have already purchased an amp wiring kit, amplifier, and subwoofer.

Yesterday i pulled the head unit out to attempt to hook up the RCA cables and there are no outputs for RCA's on the head unit. does anyone know how i can get a signal to my new amp? i am running a seperate power cable, but i dont know how to get the signal to the amplifier. there is a 20 prong connecting port on the back of the head unit that isnt being used, but i have no idea what it's for and i dont know what connecter i'm supposed to buy to put there! im guessing theres a way to splice rca cables into the wires of the amps that are in the trunk but i would much rather do it the "right way."
 
#2 ·
go to either best buy or circuit city and get a line out converter and then you will tap it into your speaker wire her are the wires that you will be tapping into:

LR Speaker +/- gray/lt. blue - tan/yellow +,- radio harness
RR Speaker +/- orange/red - brown/pink +,- radio harness

more then likely when you get the line out converter it will have white and gray wires, the solid colors are positive and the wires with the black stripe are negative, this should help you out Im an installer so this should be everything that you need, what ever you do though dont cut the wires on the factory harness just strip them back and then take a poker and poke a hole through it then put the wire from the lind out converter through the hole and just wrap it around and tape it up w/ electrical tape.
 
#4 ·
ok thank you this definately helps a lot. but where should i splice in the line out converter? should i do it at the head unit, or in the trunk near the rear speakers? before or after the the wires go into amps that are already in the trunk? i am still a little confused about the line out converter. is it a universal type connecter or is there one specifically for the mach stereo system?
 
#5 ·
a line out converter bacsically takes a sound signal coming from your head unit and converts it into female rca connections, you can get them all over the place, now as fas as location its up to you where you want to splice it in you can do it at the rear speakers for an easier install but i would suggest that you do it at the head unit cause if you get and aftermarket H/U later on down the road the RCA's are right there instead of having to run them again, hope this helps
 
#6 ·
i think i'll go ahead and install it right at the head unit. its easy to remove the head unit and i want to do it the right way so i dont have to do it again in the future. thank you very much, you've been extremely helpful!
 
#8 ·
that does make it a lot easier. i have one more question. what about the REM wire (i think thats what its called). the one that turns on the amp when you turn the key on. where do i connect that?
 
#9 ·
connect that to the pink/wire from the harness, that is your ignition wire. The Remote wire (REM) is what cuts your amp on and off the only problem with it is that on occasion on stock head units when you turn off your car sometimes you'll hear a buzzing sound that will go away and in some cars we put a switch inline so prevent that but I havent had any problems with mustangs so you sould be fine
 
#10 ·
ok i'll keep that in mind if it makes the buzzing noise. thank you for all the help.
 
#11 ·
no problem if you run into any problems or got any more questions just PM me. Good luck and let her BANG!! By the way what do you have ??? Just wondering on what your setup is
 
#12 ·
i have an old Bolt 2 channel amp. its about 4 years old, i took it out of my brothers '67 cougar. its a really nice amp, i dont know how many watts it is. i think its 600.. and the sub is an Infinity dual voice coil, i believe its 1240 watts, i dont remember for sure though. it should sound good though!
 
#13 ·
is it a dual 4 or dual 2 ohm sub, the reason why i am asking is cause 2 channel amps are non bridegeble, basically you can't bridge a 4Ohm sub on a 2 ch cause it will fry the amp, do you have the diagram for the wiring on the sub????
 
#14 ·
I mean you cant bridge a 4ohm sub on a 2 ch amp. Whatever it is wire it up in SERIES. If it is a dual 2 ohm it will wire it up to 4ohms and then at the amp just leave it in stereo, just use one channel dont bridge it. Now if it is a dual 4 ohm it will wire it up to 8ohms and then you can bridge it at the amp.
 
#15 ·
i actually have no idea how many ohms or anything it is. i dont know that much about amps and subs. but when my brother had it in his car, he had it professionally done, and im pretty sure the sub is hooked up using both channels, not bridged. i didnt disconnect the amp and the sub wires when i took them out because i didnt want to get confused. this way it will stay hooked up right.
 
#17 ·
well i looked for the rem pink wire but there is no wire on there thats solid pink but there are a few with pink/ other stripes with them. do you know which one it is? thanks
 
#19 ·
ok, ive completely installed the line-out converter, ran the wires back, and got everything hooked up properly. i was anxious to hear the thump of the bass but its not working! it is getting a signal and its all high noise coming from the subwoofer, theres no bass. its driving me crazy i cant figure it out! all of my amp adjustments are set to low-level sound, but i cant get any bass to come out of the subwoofer!
 
#20 ·
Thats wierd... do you have voice coming from out of the subs???? if so you shouldnt and double check to make sure that the FREQ is @ about 80 and the the filter on the amp is set to LPF
 
#21 ·
it is all set on low and the freq is set to low as well. i dont understand this. today im gonna take the sub out of my other car and try that since its a single voice coil sub instead of the dual voice coil. maybe thats the reason why its not working.. i'll keep you updated on whats goin on though.
 
#23 ·
well i tried using a different sub, it still did the same thing. im going to try using a different amp now, and if that doesnt help i definately dont know whats wrong because i have triple checked the wiring and its all correct. if it still doesnt work after all that.. i wouldnt be suprised if i threw my head unit out the window while going 70mph lol..
 
#24 ·
i just tried using a different amp. didnt work.. ANYONE WHO IS THINKING ABOUT DOING THIS I STRONGLY SUGGEST THAT YOU DONT. i know a fair share about electrical and car stereo, i have installed at least 4 complete stereo systems and i know that everything that i've done on this project is correct. it's just not working. if anyone else has an idea let me know, it would be greatly appreciated.

the power cable is run directly from the battery
the REM wire is hooked up properly
the ground wire is attached to one of the trunk hinge bolts
the LINE OUT CONVERTER is hooked up exactly as the instructions specified as well as wraitherlx's instructions.
the RCA cables are hooked up properly.

this is frustrating as hell
 
#25 ·
im gonna see what some of my other co workers think so if you can wait until wednsday ill get back to you cause if you did everything the way that i told you it should work, so give it a little and ill get back to you
 
#26 ·
alright sounds good i'll wait until then, thanks a lot for your help man i really appreciate it.