Earl

Ok....My Shaker saga continues....

First like most people I had the issues with the skipping, failure to play end of songs, "bad disc" errors, etc. I swapped out the "A" version Shaker 500 for a "B" and those problems are now gone.

My car previously has had a 200WRMS Rockford P2002 Amp and 250WRMS P2 10" sub added to the trunk. Other than the Shaker issues - I LOVED the sound. No complaints. After the "B" version Shaker was installed I noticed that the sound stage was very different. Alot more base than it had been - and more distortion in the speakers at very high volume. Also I started experiencing some rattling issues where I had not had any with the "A" - could just be that something had finally worked loose.

Dynamated the trunk and rattling went away.

I decided to replace the factory 5x7 door and rear deck speakers to see how that changed the sound stage. I left the Shaker door subs intact and they are still playing. I had installed 2 pairs of Pioneer TS-6880R 6x8 50WRMS 4-way speakers. That definitely improved the sound stage - sound is more clear, but it did point out something about the Shaker system. Perhaps some of you have noticed this and if you have gotten around it, let me know what you did.

The factory 5x7 rear speakers (4 ohm, 25W) are a simple dual cone design - no tweeter. the door speakers are left overs from the Mach system (indeed the back of the enclosure says Mach - 3W4T-18808-BA) it is a component midrange with seperate tweeter. Since these speakers are not capable of full range reproduction, the Shaker 500 is NOT sending a full range signal to any of these speakers.

Hence the 4-ways I have in the door are producing more highs and less base, while those in the rear deck are producing only base and mid (no highs). You can see this yourself either with speakers you have replaced your Shaker speakers with, or with the factory Shaker speakers. Just move your fade control between back and front.

Are there jacks on the back of the Shaker 500 head unit that will send a full range sound signal to all 4 channels? If not, then if that is what you want the only option is to ditch the Shaker.

It isn't a route I'm wanting to take as I like the convenience of the indash 6-disc player.

Unless there are jacks on the back of the unit for the 4 channels - and connecting those to a seperate 4 channel amp to power the door and rear speakers, then I've got it as good as I can get it without ditching the head unit. Don't get me wrong - it sounds good, damn good. But would sound even better if sending full range signals to all speakers. Unless though there is a way around the units crossover, adding a seperate 4 channel amp while it will sound a bit better, won't negate the fact that you still aren't sending full sound range to each channel. It would cost between $600-700 to add a 4 channel amp, capacitor for the 2 amps, and installation. Alot of money for likely not a great improvement unless one can get around the Shaker's crossover control.

For those interested, the A6880R's fit nicely in the factory enclosures.

Earl

gotmineNov04

I'm looking to do a much-needed audio upgrade in my '05 Mustang GT as well. First, I need to have my dealer replace the Shaker 500 head unit (cutting off ends of songs but otherwise o.k.) for looks and resale value if/when I ever sell the car, and could use some advice. I don't know the actual speaker sizes in the door panels, but have heard the subs are 6 or 6 1/2" and have separate tweeters mounted above. Do you know the actual sizes? At this point I plan to replace the subs with McIntosh 5 1/4' co-axials with component crossovers (using template adapters for size adjustment) and replace the additional tweeters with McIntosh tweeter drivers tapped into the high frequency crossover (any bass lost will be made up for with a McIntosh sub in the trunk). The fronts will be powered by 2 channels of a McIntosh 2/3/4-channel amp, 50W continuous RMS per channel, the rear sub by the remaining two channels bridged, 100W. I intend to mount a McIntosh am/fm/cdplayer head unit inside the console compartment, so as to leave the uncontaminated look of the original factory install of Shaker head unit, yet still nicely accessible. I'll replace the speakers in the rear deck with component 5" mids and 1" dome tweeters (also Mc and with templates for size) and power them with a Mc 30W/channel stereo amp (for any McIntosh amps, multiply rated power by about 1 and 1/3 for actual output for performance within distortion specs). The weakest link is that I, for now, will use crossovers pulled from Yamaha bookshelf speakers with the same-sized drivers.
Sounds good, so far, but here's where I could use some help: what are the standardized sizes of all of the Shaker 500 speakers so that I can order the right-sized adapters? Any suggestions on where to mount the amps? (one is about 12" x 16" x 4" and the little one is about 12" x 12" x 4"; both have fanned forced-air cooling, so ventilation shouldn't be much of an issue). I was thinking maybe even under the rear seats. Any thoughts on a better configuration of speaker component placement (I already have or have on order all of the drivers )?
A 260W total sounds lame for the entire system, but it actually produces about 340W, continuous vs. peak, and my home system fills the living room with sound and rattles the foundation with a total of approximately 800W continuous; the intent of the car system is to sound good on the inside, let 'em wonder and dream from the outside !
Any comments, suggestions, ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Earl

The factory door component speakers are approximatly 5x7" in size. The door and rear deck spaces will accomdodate 5x7 and 6x8 speaker sizes (put 6x8s) in mine and they fit fine. The door subs are aproximatly 7" in actuall size - but others have replaced them with 8" subs however I've yet to see an aftermarket install where they have been able to utilize the factory sub door grilles.

Earl