i really like the facory premium sound in the TC, it actually sounds better than the speakers and head unit i put in my red bird, but the downfall as we all know, is that we cannot play CD's
ive read many times over that you cant use an aftermarket head unit with the premium sound, but would it be possible to use a trunk mounted 5-cd changer or something similar in conjunction with the premium sound
i have no idea how a cd changer is wired, or how it works, this is just an idea off the top of my head
Don't some changers have a connection through the antenna?
i actually went through google, did a bit of a search, and found that most CD changers that are "universal" or "work in any car" actually broadcast the cd over an unused frequency in the FM band, like those 89.3 where its just static
so...i now have an item on my christmas list, a 10 disk changer from sony goes for like 160 bucks, and i can just burn cd's that hold about 80 minutes each...well over 10 hours worth of music
yes they use an unused frequency band but the sound quality is sub par at times my friend did that with an ipod n it would static in an out and the signal would fade at other times. i mean if thats all u can do then do it but if there another way deff do it, im not fimiliar with premium sound cause i dont have a tc but if u can replace the unit and still use premium sound then all u gotta do is replace the unit with one that is also cd changer compatible
there are some that plug directly into the headunit itself in my oppin\ion those are alot better because there isn't really isn't any distortion or static when you are lisining to the cd so i but i don't know if they make a way you can use your stock premium sound set up with the aftermarket cd disk changer :dunno: hope some of this info does help you in your selection.
the premium sound had no provisions for the CD changer to plug into
couldn't you make it work by splicing a switch into the wires that head to the equalizer and amp? Position 1 - stock radio, position 2 - cd changer. The commonly-bad power button on the eq could be soldered permanently on and a switch could be put in its place thats wired between the radio - eq- cd. It'd need to have 9 solder points, three for each the radio and cd changer which switch back and forth, three that'd remain a closed cirtuit to the eq.
Thats if you have premium with eq and plan on sticking with the stock radio. It "seems" things would be easier since you don't have to deal with the amplifier in a new head unit. I don't think you need anything special running to the switch besides left/right/common ground, as long as you have the changer powered properly and grounded to the car
Back in the day (meaning like 2 years ago) I bought one of those FM transmitters that plug into your Discman, etc. to use in your car. The thing was garbage! Granted, it only cost like $20 and i'm sure the FM signal would probably be alot stronger for the Sony unit, but the quality was still lacking and you always had to pump up the volume to hear anything at a normal level. The reason I bought this thing was because I thought I messed up the tape player, so the tape adapter didn't work too well. I've noticed alot of people use it though, and the sound quality seems nice.
I'd personally take that couple hundred dollars, buy an iPod, and use a cassette adapter. :)
Shawn, you should be able to get that to work properly, without having to use an FM transmitter. Have you gone to any local stereo shops? How about Circuit City or Best Buy? They deal with that stuff all the time. There is a workaround. You can get some jumper harnesses made especially for the Ford Premium Sound system that bypasses the factory amp (if you ever want to put your own in), and I think there's one to keep the factory EQ working with an aftermarket radio. The trick is, all the speaker grounds are now tied together in a "floating ground" system. That makes it really, really difficult to just throw in an aftermarket radio. But shops have the workarounds. It's been done before.
It can actually be done rather easily, and you can even make the harness yourself. Of course you can't use the stock head unit because A) it has no provisions for inputs and B) It has no CD changer controls.
Shawn, all you need to do is get a head unit with at least two RCA outputs. You make a harness by getting a short RCA jumper harness (should cost a few bucks) and cutting off one end, then tying the grounds together, and connecting them to the black with white stripe wire in the stock harness. Then connect the right RCA wire's positive wire to the pink/light blue stripe wire in the factory harness, and the left RCA wire's positive wire to the Pink.Light Green stripe wire in the factory harness. Don't use any of the head unit's speaker outputs, you only use the RCA outputs.
Now connect the head unit's ground wire to ground (RED, attached to the back of the stock head unit), the BAT wire (red on most head units) to the Light Green/Yellow wire in the factory harness, the ACC wire (yellow on most head units) to the Yellow/Black stripe wire in the factory harness, and the AMP OUT (or REM) wire (blue or blue with white stripe on most head units) wire to the Orange/Light Blue wire in the factory harness. Hook it up like this and you can listen to your aftermarket head unit with CD changer controls through the factory premium sound system while retaining the factory EQ.
I'll stick with my IRiver MP3 player - it's only 10% full and I already have more than 2 days worth of music. Eventually I'll have all 300 of my CD's on the player. It's a beautiful thing :D
Here, Shawn (or anyone else wanting to add an aftremarket head unit to premium sound with equalizer): I did up a wiring diagram.
http://www.foxthundercats.com/tech/aftermarketpremweq.pdf (http://"http://www.foxthundercats.com/tech/aftermarketpremweq.pdf")
Ditto...all 3 of my cars have a CD deck with an auxiliary in, and they're all wired with a 1/8" stereo mini jack to accept my 40GB iPod. It is just sooooooooo nice never having to carry a CD with me ever again. I'm at 3,000 songs, 18.6 GB, 9.1 days and counting. :)
im trying to avoid any wiring mess at the moment, i can try it with the FM transmitter, if i dont like it, i should be able to make it work, my main objective is keeping the factory premium sound all together, and keeping the stock outward appearance
thanks for the diagrams and schtuff
I use the py way.. portable MP3 CD player w/ cassette adapter. $54 for a decent Sony. (already had a car kit for it) But at least any car I drive/ride in, that we own, can make use of it.
ehh, if u ask me, id buy a headunit n just not worry about it, i dont know much about premium sound but granted it cant be better than most headunits out there now. electronics unlike whine dont get better with age, most of those old stock stuff sucks n e way. u can prob match it or even improve upon it with some nice headunit n speaker components.
alright, i got the changer for christmas, it has almost a splitter box, it runs up to under the dash, the factory antenna runs to that little box, and a wire from the box runs into the factory head unit, so it doesnt actually transmit, it just sends the signal through the antenna feed
i havnt installed it yet, i need to get the trunk sealed and dried out before i do, and figure out why the front, driver side speakers dont work
honestly ive never heard premium sound, but no stock system has ever impressed me, dont mind me asking but what in gods name is so great about premium sound. to me it sounds like ur doing all this work for somthign that is outdated n prob isnt so great. maybe thats just me but it seems alot of ppl just stick a headunit in their car. my original radio was stolen when my aunt drove the car so idk what was even in it.
out of every car ive had, its always been a low option, rather base model car, im not a fan of removing options, or factory gizmo's if i dont really have to
that, and the premium sound sounds suprisingly awesome, it man handles my aftermarket setup in my other bird in volume and sound quality, the only downfall is i cant play CD's, which i will be able to once i install this changer
and i cant find a CD player that actually matches the dash, the dashs are nice and bruched aluminum, dark blue/gray, satin black, green illumnation, then a CHROME cd changer with BLUE/RED/YELLOW/PURPLE/MAGENTA illumination....yeah
My new Kenwood deck has that 64-color illumination . You can make it match stock illum. pretty well. Even the buttons have a red/green option.
ohh My car has a headunit that lights up green. pretty close to the color of the spedo and the clock. n then its got silver s, cause i hate chrome. i didnt intend for it to match at first, cause when i bought it my car was still in storage it just worked out for me.
Sheesh....there's hardly anything available now that isn't silver. I think that's because of newer cars going with satin nickel finishes on the dash. That's why I did my dash up with brushed aluminum...I made the dash match the radio, literally!
Mine's a Blaupunkt Los Angeles MP72 CD/MP3 player that lights up red, white and blue. :america:
with all the white and aluminum, you gotta do something about that shifter base, anything in the market for the mustangs in that respect?
i have an alpine in my red bird that matches rather nicely, but it doesnt fit as id like it to, doesnt sound as good as id like (its from '98), and it doesnt play burned CD's
looks or function, makes it tough
Not without losing all looks and functionality of the console...no choice but to use what I've got. I tried making an aluminum cover plate for the shifter base (the part that's dark grey) but it ended up looking mighty cheesy to me. I can live with it for now...no biggie.
What about using one of those "chrome paints" that always ends up looking like any metallic surface other than chrome?
Finally, someone else out there trying to keep the stock interfaces but improve the sound and function. Shawn, I posted a question about this some time ago on the old board and Thunder Chicken posted some useful information. Granted, you are asking about CD players but I'm sure the thought of using the factory premium sound with aftermarket speakers has crossed your mind. I emailed Crutchfield two years ago asking questions about preserving the factory interfaces but bypassing the factory amp and their response is in the body of my original email:
[size=-2]
advisors@crutchfield.com wrote:
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 16:58:07 -0500
From: advisors@crutchfield.com
Subject: RE: keeping the factory interface [T2002121800R3]
To: debandkarl@yahoo.com
Hi Karl,
Thanks for your e-mail, and for shopping the Crutchfield web site.
In answer to your questions about upgrading your system, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that, unfortunately, I do not have any information on your Mark VIII. In addition, I do not have much of the information you are looking for on the Cougar.
However, the good news is that I will try to answer the questions, as best I can, from the information that I have. I have taken the liberty of answering your questions within the text body of your e-mail. My responses should appear in Blue to make them easier to discern.
When you're ready to make a purchase, just visit our web site at http://www.crutchfield.com. For only $3, Crutchfield will still get most items to you by Christmas. (TVs 24" and up and large tower speakers are excluded.)
Thanks again for your e-mail. Please let me know whenever you need anything else!
Jerry
Product Advisor
Advisors@crutchfield.com
http://www.crutchfield.com
1-888-474-7138
P.S. Get a $20.00 credit whenever you refer a friend! Details at:
http://www.crutchfield.com/SendAFriend
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2002 1:08 PM
Subject: keeping the factory interface [T2002121800R3Z1533921]
Tracking Number
: T2002121800R3Z1533921
Sent to
: Advisors@Crutchfield.com
Date
: 12/18/02 1:08 PM
_____
Crutchfield Advisors,
I would like to upgrade my vehicle audio system in two cars - 1996 Lincoln Mark 8 with factory "premium sound" and a factory CD changer in the trunk and a 1988 Mercury Cougar XR-7 with factory "premium sound" and a factory equalizer in the dash. My request is unorthodox because I want to pull a "RC" or "line level" signal from my factory radios which do not have these ports usually found on aftermarket source units. However, I think that a low level, "pre-amp" signal is sent from my source unit or e.q. to a factory amp mounted against the back seat (I want to check with you on that one - questions below). I think my speakers are then connected to that amp (again, can you confirm or clear this up for me?). On the surface, one might suggest to just take the signal currently going to the factory amp and run it into an aftermarket amp and go from there but I want to find the signal from my radio in its earliest stages before it goes through too much of the factory componentry. I will then take that signal to quality aftermarket componentry so as to get the best possible sound sent to my speakers. The reason for all of this is I want to have aftermarket sound but I want to still be able to use my factory interface. I will upgrade everything else: the speakers, install Dynamat, perhaps upgrade the wiring, install a crossover, amp, and a sub in the trunk.
While I cannot give you specifically how this works in either vehicle, I can tell you that, in general, there is a low powered signal (about 2-5 watts) coming from the factory receiver to the factory amplifier. This is higher than a pre-amp level output. There are very few factory systems (and only ones in the last year or two) that use a pre-amp level voltage from the receiver to the amplifier.
Some additional questions: Has the "RC" or "line level" output signal coming out of aftermarket radios gone through a "pre-amp" stage within the radio or is it an "uncorrupted" signal meant to be sent to a separate amp somewhere else in the vehicle?
Typically, the signal is amplified coming out of the receiver. More information on this below.
If I were to compare the cleanliness/quality of a signal coming from the "RC" or "line" port of an aftermarket radio before it goes into an aftermarket amp to the signal coming out of my factory radio before it goes into the separate amp, is the aftermarket signal cleaner because it has not gone through any pre-amp stages or is it cleaner because even though they both (factory and aftermarket) go through a pre-amp stage, the quality of the components inside the aftermarket is better and no radio in existence has a signal coming out of it that has not gone through a pre-amp stage within the radio?
The signal coming out of an aftermarket radio is typically a lot cleaner because of better quality components, and also because it is pre-amp level (less susceptible to noise)
I know these are lengthy sentences but I couldn't articulate my questions any better. All I want is to pull the cleanest signal from my radio in its earliest stages and send it to amps, crossovers and everything else from there. If I have to, would it be feasible to find someone who repairs factory radios and have them open mine up and trace out the signal and do some soldering, drill a hole in the housing and create RC/line level jacks?
This may be feasible, but at the cost that you will incur to do this, you will be much better off going with an aftermarket receiver. In addition, you will receive better sound quality from an aftermarket unit.
Have you seen this done by someone who understands factory componentry within the radios and factory equalizers?
Thank you,
Karl M.[/size]
i knew if anyone did some homework, youd be the man Karl
too good to get on AIM i pressume?
so basically, crutchfield is saying "no, it wont work"
From the looks of that email it seems to me that Crutchfield just wants to sell you a stereo. Even if the outputs of a factory premium sound deck aren't line level they'd be close (and certainly not 2-5 watts, else you'd be able to use the head unit without an amp). Almost all amplifiers have a "gain" control that would allow you to compensate for a higher line level.
You could install a nice 4-channel amp in the place of the factory premium amp without even having to cut any wires (except you'd have to cut the plugs off the factory amp). If you cut the plugs off the factory premium amp you could connect RCA ends to the low-level wires from the head unit to these plugs (and then plug them into your new amp) and you could connect the speaker wires in these plugs directly to the speaker outputs of the new amp. then just plug the plugs that used to be attached to the premium sound amp back into the vehicle's harness and presto, you're wired. About the only wire you would have to run is a heavy gauge wire from the battery because the stock power wire wouldn't power a very big amplifier. I know this can be done because I did it in my own car. I replaced the head unit, though, but I used the stock premium sound wiring for the head unit and the amp.
I eventually will do up another diagram showing the connections required to install an aftermarket amp with stock premium sound head unit (and if applicable, the EQ, as the wiring in the trunk would be identical), but the info is already in my other diagrams if you know hw to read schematics
could you also do a diagram, if possible, showing how to run an amp in addition to the factory amp, to run a sub or additional speakers?
Dude, Shawn, sell both your T-birds for $300 a piece and just buy a Mustang. Then you don't have to worry about swapping the 5.0 in anymore. That's your best bet.
The output of the factory premium Bird head unit is more than the line level of the RCA outs on the aftermarket units. The premium head will drive speakers(although very weak), you ain't gonna get squat for audio(directly to a speaker) from the aftermarket line outs. I suspect if you tried to connect the line level outs to the factory EQ/Amp the volume would be rather weak.