Stereo Replacement?

[Andrew10AE]

Anyone attempt to replace the factory stereo in an MM (or, presumably, another premium equiped car)? I am getting my MM tomorrow and the stereo is going in shortly after. I think I may have to run all new speaker wires because of the factory amp, which isnt the end of the world (I just need to find a good place to run them - probably along the edge of the carpet under the door sills - I need to run power for my Infinity Basslink and the connection for my Kenwood Sirius receiver there anyhow) but if anyone else has done this, I would appreciate the info of your experience...

any ideas?

also I was wondering if anyone knew about the power going to the factory amp in the trunk and how much it can handle. I'm sure connecting it to my Sirius receiver wont be a problem - thats not much juice, but if it will handle 10-15A, I can forgo the new power wire for the Basslink/Sirius alltogether and save some time...

thanks in advance! (and I did a search and came up fruitless, btw)

[RCSignals]

There should be a conduit of sorts down the passenger side at the sills, under the carpet, front to back.

If you change out yor system are you interested in selling the original pieces?

[Andrew10AE]

oooh... that sounds good - the conduit... all I need to do now is figure a good way to get speaker wires into the doors... or figure out where the come into the car without making too much of a mess... with those power seat controls there, I'm sure there is a huge bundle...

I might consider selling the system... ... I suspect it will be the entire kit and kaboodle... head unit, factory amp & subwoofer, 4 speakers, and the 6 disc cd changer.

[RCSignals]

please let me know if you decide to sell the OEM setup. You can send me a "PM" message

You should be able to use the factory wiring, unless you are wanting heavier wire to the speakers etc.

[Andrew10AE]

Thats probably the plan... I might just run 4 sets of wires to the trunk and hook into the factory speaker wiring from there (I want to leave it as un-cut up as I can and still get good quality). Anyone have a wiring diagram with colors (assuming they are standard, something Ford isnt known for) so I can find the speaker wires where they come in from the doors? Worse case I can probably see them when I pull the door panels off to replace the speakers...

which, incedentally, leads me to yet another question for the bunch - anyone take the door panels off yet? I'd rather go with confidance in not breaking the plastic pins, if anyone has any tips... I've done it plenty of times, but every car is different and its always hard the 1st time to get them off cleanly...

[RCSignals]

i have a service manual. I'll look up door panel removal and speaker wire color codes to post later

[Andrew10AE]

Update! RCSignals was nice enough to send me some info about the stereo connections and it seems that the factory amplifier is used only to power the subwoofer - the speakers are powered off of the head unit. This is a good thing for me because it means I do not have to run new speaker wires - I can use the ones that go from the stereo to the speakers on the factory system... thanks RCSignals!

Another bit of good news - I called Crutchfield on the off chance that they would have a wire harness for the car. It turns out that they do - it doesnt do anything with the amp/subwoofer, but thats ok - I'm replacing that with an Infinity Basslink anyway - but it does connect everything in a nice a neat way, without having to cut into the factory wires at all...

bottom line - no problem in putting the factory system back if I want to...

$5 for it too, which isnt bad, and $5 for the DIN removal tools... makes life easier (some people perfer to use wire hangars, but for $5 I wanted to use the tools...)

and - even better - it includes full instructions. Not that its difficult to install any of this stuff, but it lists useful things like where exactly the door pins are for easier removal without damage, and the easiest way to get to the rear speakers etc... not exactly required, but a very nice thing to have.

I'll update more when its all done, but now that I am getting the harness, the job is going to be very simple - solder the harness to the harness for my kenwood stereo and hook it up... other then that, all I will need to do is run a pair of RCA cables for my Basslink and the data/audio cable for the Sirius receiver (which is goingin the trunk) and I'm all set. The only question is if I can use the existing power that is driving the factory amplifier to run the Basslink as well as the Sirius receiver. At this point I would say that the answer to that is yes, considering that the 100W amp in the Basslink is going to be as effecient, or more so, then the 100W Ford amp, because it is digital, and the Sirius receiver doesnt use a whole lot of power.

Thanks everyone for the help, especially RCSignals... made my life much easier!

-Andrew

[duhtroll]

Hi -

Thinking of upgrading to a receiver with mp3 player very soon. Anyone got one that they are happy with or know which brands have been recommended lately? I haven't bought a car audio device in 15 years or so.

I know the factory amp supplies power for the sub and the receiver will power the speakers. I have the service manual and will make sure I check wirings, ohms, etc. before I install, but any tips anyone has for this type of install are appreciated. (like, if doing the speaker upgrade at the same time is better than waiting, etc.)

Looking to match the green LED display and interior dash colors if possible. Surprisingly that's actually more important to me than getting the best model.

I must be getting old.

Thanks,
-A