Remove "Premium Sound" Ford amplifier or not?

[kas_lar]

Hi everyone.
Does the original premium sound amplifier behind the front dash improve or degrade the sound of the stereo?
Would a new aftermarket headunit work with the original amp removed?

Oh, and do you have any fit-in recommendations for the original 6 x8 front and back speakers?
Thanks for all of your time.
Best regards from Denmark

 

[ju015dd]

Hi everyone.
Does the original premium sound amplifier behind the front dash improve or degrade the sound of the stereo?
Would a new aftermarket headunit work with the original amp removed?

Oh, and do you have any fit-in recommendations for the original 6 x8 front and back speakers?
Thanks for all of your time.
Best regards from Denmark
View attachment 39894

Welcome. Go post up in the new members section as well. I am sure someone will have more info for you soon on your stereo question!

 

[ttocs]

no, it does not improve sound and I have never known of another set of speakers made that can be swapped in and keep the amp happy. The amps are also known to stay on and drain the battery if you have had any issues with the battery dying. The good news is that it is not hard to bypass it and if you get a good set of speakers and a small sub you can easily match the mach system, spend a little more and you can get much better sound. I can guide ya through bypassing it, you will need to replace the speakers and use a different speaker harness in the dash to connect the deck to them but it is all about as easy at it can be.

 

[kas_lar]

Hi ttocs. Thank for replying.
Let's remove the amp and bypass it. I'm not planning for a sub, just to replace the speakers and get a new headunit. It has already got a cheapish aftermarket headunit and a harness.
I've got a few questions:
1 - What about the harness behind the lower dash which connects to the "premium sound" amp?
Here a picture from the current harness to the aftermarket headunit.
2 - I need 4 new 6x8 speakers that can fit into the brackets. Do you have any recommendations?

 

[ttocs]

look inside the hole where the radio use to be and clipped to the passenger side there should be a black 8 pin harness that looks similar to the grey one shown. It will be clipped into a harness, disconnect it and pull the male portion of the harness and if you want easy you go get a metra 70-1770 standard ford harness from your local audio shop or maybe autoparts store(or order) and the wire colors will be the same as the deck. If you want to save a few bucks you can cut the other end of the harness off 6" past the harness and use it for the wiring as you will not be using that harness anymore when we bypass it. If you want the cheap option let me know and I will let you know how to figure out which wires go to what speaker.

Now the 2nd part of this will be to go to each speaker and when you replace them, you will use the speaker wires that go to the tweeters as your signal rather than the one that goes to the woofer. That harness I had you find goes directly from there, to each tweeter so by using it you have now bypassed the amps.

 

[kas_lar]

Thanks ttocs.
I don't have the tweeters I only have the 4 speakers.
The former owner did install a harness as in this photo. The new harness is spliced to work with the current 1 din JBL aftermarket unit.

Edit: I'm currently looking to buy four speakers. Maybe these JBL Club 8622? :

https://www.amazon.de/-/da/gp/product/B07XS45VJ7/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3JWKAKR8XB7XF&psc=1

 

[ttocs]

ok so you have the upgraded sound system but not the mach... I see how your deck is wired up for the speakers but that harness ends at the amp right below the radio. Look inside the hole and see if that black 8 pin harness is still clipped up there.

 

[kas_lar]

Thanks for help. Do you mean the pin (labeled A) in this photo? This is from my car inside the hole where the "premium sound" or upgraded amp was installed.

 

[ttocs]

a is the input for the premium sound amp that is directly below the radio. B I think might have also plugged into the amp, I do not recognize it but it is not the harness I am telling you to look for. The one you are looking for like I said almost looks like the power harness for the radio but it is black and already plugged into another harness next to the radio. This is what half of it looks like(other than wire colors) and this is the harness you would use to bypass the amp.

Metra 70-1770 Wire Harness for Aftermarket Stereo Installation | eBay

This wire harness is vehicle specific and makes the connection between your new car stereo and your vehicle's electrical system. The wire harness housing is made from high grade ABS plastic. The wires are made with 100% copper for a secure connection.

www.ebay.com

 

[kas_lar]

Hi again.
I did some more digging around and I found another harness and disconneted it.
Do you mean this new harness in the picture?
Best regards

 

[Mustang5L5]

Do you have premium sound, or the Mach 460? Premium sound uses the amp and ONLY 4 speakers, while the 460 uses that amp to drive two additional rear amps and 8 speakers total.

Anyway, if premium sound, that amp is 4x 20W max. Most modern head units are probably in that range anyway with much better quality of sound

 

[kas_lar]

Hello Mustang 5L5 :- )
It is the premium sound with only 4 identical speakers.

 

[ttocs]

yes that is the harness. As I said any audio shop has a metra 70-1770 harness that will plug right into it, otherwise if you want to save the money you can cut the other side of the stock harness off 6-8" past the harness and use it. Each speaker uses two wires from top to bottom and I can show you how to identify what wires go to what speaker with a AA battery if you want to do this way.

 

[kas_lar]

Ahhh now I understand it! I did some more digging and I got the big harness out of the dash. Have a look at the photo.
Now the dash/hole is cleaner and I understand that I need the 17-1770 harness to connect another radio.
I know you've been saying it from the start, but I needed to understand how and remove the big harness.
Is the original amp and harness of any value or should I just crash it?

 

[ttocs]

yup that is it. that harness goes from the deck to each tweeter. So if you connect to it, then swap the speakers and use the tweeter wires as your signal you have bypassed the amps and ran no extra wiring.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Is the original amp and harness of any value or should I just crash it?

I've sold them on ebay for $50-75

 

[ttocs]

you will need to keep the harness that is in the pic to connect the 1770 harness to it. Now the harness that goes from the front to the rear amps is important to the person trying to keep it stock but the speakers will be hard to find a match for new, and the stock speakers are long past their prime.

 

[kas_lar]

Hi everyone.

First - thanks for all the help. You guys and girls were essential to me and helped me to tackle this upgrade. I’m pretty new to working on cars but I’ve gotten confidence to learn new stuff.

I bought a cheap 2 din radio and crimped two metra harnesses to the radioes harness. Everything is working and the speakers are even wired correctly in phase.

All four speakers were working but I’ve replaced them with jbl GX series. I didn’t want to replace the wiring so I capped of the Ford speakers connector and soldered a new speaker wire on.

The sound is much better but just a 30-50% upgrade. I know that I’ll have to invest more money and time if I need to do better but this is great for now and it was a lot of fun. Plus I have CarPlay and with that Google maps which is great.

I even installed a short shifter while doing the radio. Now I'm deleting the AC and replacing the motor and transmission mounts.

Thanks again for all the help!