MACH 460 with aftermarket head unit, aftermarket amp and stock speakers?

badass98svt

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FYI, SO speakers are not so good. I'd be willing to bet those "6.5" speakers are closer to 5 1/4". I made that mistake with SO 6.5" separates years ago.
Also, the door speakers are 6x8. Some 6.5s will fit , but most will require modifications.
 

ttocs

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FYI, SO speakers are not so good. I'd be willing to bet those "6.5" speakers are closer to 5 1/4". I made that mistake with SO 6.5" separates years ago.
Also, the door speakers are 6x8. Some 6.5s will fit , but most will require modifications.
I am not sure what 6.5" speakers you got that only measured 5.25 unless you were not counting the rubber surround or something. I mean I have installed they cheapest crap best buy and flea markets sold over the years but never pulled out a 6.5 that was actually a 5.25. or do you mean the stock speakers are 5.25? He is right that you will need a baffle to put the round speakers in the oval holes. If you need I can cut them on my laser if you don't have the tools

As long as your measurements are fine with the amp/sub everything should work together and sound pretty good imo. I am not sure I would recommend the component speakers in the rear as its just extra wiring/work/money and there isn't that much to gain for the rear fill. You will need to find a place to mount the cross overs for the front speakers but that should not be too hard. I would see about removing the lower portion of the tweeter enclosure that isn't needed and see if it will fit there otherwise they need a place that is dry so not the bottom of the door.

For wiring there is an easy way to use the stock wiring but it might sound confusing at first so bear with me. First your just going to run the speaker wires for the rear speakers from the amp and connect them straight to the speakers. At the same time run the front speaker wires up, but connect them to the factory speaker wires that use to connect to the tweeters. Now if you get the 70-1770 ford wiring harness there will be two harness one for power, one for speakers. What you want to do is to take the speaker wire harness and connect the front speaker wires, to the rear speaker wires. So what happens is you send the signal back up through the stock wires(not being used otherwise) to the dash, where they connect to the front speaker wires and then go out into the doors. Use the tweeter speaker wires as your input to the cross overs and run the wires out from there then.
 

badass98svt

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I am not sure what 6.5" speakers you got that only measured 5.25 unless you were not counting the rubber surround or something.
I just told you. They were a SO 6.5" component set.
 
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robster94gt

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I just told you. They were a SO 6.5" component set.
I am not sure what 6.5" speakers you got that only measured 5.25 unless you were not counting the rubber surround or something. I mean I have installed they cheapest crap best buy and flea markets sold over the years but never pulled out a 6.5 that was actually a 5.25. or do you mean the stock speakers are 5.25? He is right that you will need a baffle to put the round speakers in the oval holes. If you need I can cut them on my laser if you don't have the tools

As long as your measurements are fine with the amp/sub everything should work together and sound pretty good imo. I am not sure I would recommend the component speakers in the rear as its just extra wiring/work/money and there isn't that much to gain for the rear fill. You will need to find a place to mount the cross overs for the front speakers but that should not be too hard. I would see about removing the lower portion of the tweeter enclosure that isn't needed and see if it will fit there otherwise they need a place that is dry so not the bottom of the door.

For wiring there is an easy way to use the stock wiring but it might sound confusing at first so bear with me. First your just going to run the speaker wires for the rear speakers from the amp and connect them straight to the speakers. At the same time run the front speaker wires up, but connect them to the factory speaker wires that use to connect to the tweeters. Now if you get the 70-1770 ford wiring harness there will be two harness one for power, one for speakers. What you want to do is to take the speaker wire harness and connect the front speaker wires, to the rear speaker wires. So what happens is you send the signal back up through the stock wires(not being used otherwise) to the dash, where they connect to the front speaker wires and then go out into the doors. Use the tweeter speaker wires as your input to the cross overs and run the wires out from there then.
Ok, so if I'm understanding correctly, I use the metra harness, which I already have from the head unit install, and cross the front and rear wires on it. Then I tap into the tweeter wires in the rear and connect those the amp output for the front.

For the rear speakers, I just run new speaker wires directly to the amp?
 
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robster94gt

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ok thanks.
I was speaking to Crutchfield and they said that the Pioneer sub box I was looking at would not be suitable to the amp, due to power level difference
The amp sub out was 600 watts RMS, and the sub was rated at 250 watts RMS.
 

ttocs

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are you planning on turning it up for long periods, jamming for an hour or two at high volume? If not don't worry about it. The power ratings on speakers are numbers I have never paid attention to because I have seen just as more speakers blown from low powered decks than I have subs overpowered. The sub is not going to explode when you reach 251 watts as long as you keep the signal clean and out of the clipping stage. Clipping will make a clicking/buzzing noise for short periods and what happens is the speaker is driven to the max output the amp can make and then it has to hold that position till the clipping ends, and then it goes to the other extreme and does it again. The time that it holds that position builds up heat, the heat is what eventually will blow the speaker.
 
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robster94gt

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That's interesting the rep felt that speaker would indeed blow due the big difference in power ratings.

How would I avoid clipping? Turn the bass knob on the remote down? - adjust the gain?

I'm now trying to decide between the 5 channel Kenwood and the 8" sub box, or a kenwood 4 channel with a kicker 10" powered sub.
 

ttocs

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no hooking it up will not automatically = smoke. You also have the ability to limit the output of the amp with the gain control. It is safer for him to say that you should not because to many people just turn the gain and bass all the way up with the though more = better. My personal build the PG2250 amps can put out 1200 watts but my subs are rated for 700.

The way I have always avoided clipping was just to use my ears but I recognize that with some of the modern music that a lot of people today do not recognize it as bad, rather just part of the song. I was looking for the most recent example I could find but can't find it. If you remember that horrible reality tv show hardcore pawn with those guys in detroit, the them song ended with a perfect example of a clipped bass note. The best way I can describe it is that it will first start to sound sloppy, just not as tight and accurate. If you continue past that point it will start to rattle/click depending on how far you turn it up. If you keep going it almost turns the note into a mechanical fart before the magic smoke starts to come out...
 
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robster94gt

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Ok, So the 'gain' would be the Bass Boost Level, in this case, on the kenwood below?
1659466429828.png
 

badass98svt

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I'm now trying to decide between the 5 channel Kenwood and the 8" sub box, or a kenwood 4 channel with a kicker 10" powered sub.

I recently installed a Kicker amp (5 channel KXA800.5) in my car and I don't have a damn bad thing to say about it. They literally make it effortless to set the gains too.
It's 100w x4 and 400w x1 for the sub. The 400w is perfect for the 10" JL 10w3 in the stealthbox.
You can find the amp for a pretty good deal on eBay.

 
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robster94gt

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I recently installed a Kicker amp (5 channel KXA800.5) in my car and I don't have a damn bad thing to say about it. They literally make it effortless to set the gains too.
It's 100w x4 and 400w x1 for the sub. The 400w is perfect for the 10" JL 10w3 in the stealthbox.
You can find the amp for a pretty good deal on eBay.

That looks pretty easy on the kicker where the knob lights up
 
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robster94gt

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Ok, I've got everything installed and running.
I set the A, B, and Sub channel gains using the ohms law calculations I found on youtube - setting the multimeter to AC volts, and matching the output to the formula numbers.

Next I've got set up the crossovers - my Kenwood deck has all sorts of crossover options, and the amp itself has it it's own settings.

Not sure if I should use the settings on the deck or on the amp.
 
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robster94gt

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Hey alright so it's a convertible, and I ended up putting components front and rear.
Front:
Rear:
Sub:
Amp:
Head Unit:
 

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