Hey I just bought my first Mustang, a cherry red 2001.

My question is this:
She has a Mach sound system, and I wanted to replace the stock head unit with my alpine head unit from my old car. So i bought a new wiring harness and install kit, and hooked it up and it OPERATES perfectly.

However, she sounds like crap compared to the stock head unit. I tried upping the bass because on default alpine setting sounded so tinny, and when I did that the front speakers were sooooooo distorted. So i balanced it more to the rear speakers and that helped.... but not anything special.

I want to use my Alpine head unit because it has an Aux input and I can plug my iPod in directly to it. I tried using a radio transmitter and it sucked, there is so much interference around where I live its ridiculous. I wanna get true Hi-Quality sound from my iPod into my sound system...

The stock head unit sounds great but no aux input, the Alpine has an aux input but sounds like ****.
I am stuck......

Thanks in advance

 

well, heres my guess... the stock speakers are powered by a couple amps in your trunk, which are set to get a line level input from your head unit - so my guess is your feeding the stock amps speaker level inputs when you should be feeding them line level inputs. So, either bypass your amps and send power straight from your Alpine to your speakers, or get a converter and wire it behind your stereo to convert the speaker level output from your stereo into line level outputs (much easier).

Welcome to the boards by the way.

 

I wired out out of my alpine the line-level outputs to the appropriate speaker wires in the wiring harness. There was NO sound coming from the alpine at that point. At the volume set to 100% it was barely a whisper.

So this Mach Sound system is a little more complex than I though.

Where can I find some documentation about this Mach 460 sound system. I really need a wiring daigram.
I have looked online now for several hours and I cannot find a damn thing. It has to be public knowledge. The wiring diagram has to be somewhere.

The owners manual says nothing of course. Can anybody help?

 

I'd think the wiring would be in a repair manual from any parts store - you may be better off calling a local stereo shop - Im sure they've done their share of Mach systems.

 

Check out this site, it's got pdf's of the mach 460 system's wiring set up... kinda hard to understand but maybe it can help

http://www.flemworld.com/Mach460/Mach.html

 

You need to run your line-out converter at the signal harness for the amp rack in the trunk right behind the rear seats - then no more noise. I just had this problem myself today on an amp install for my car and figured it out.

 

I had a friend who bought a 2003 and she had the Mach system in it. When she changed the head untis she had the same problem. [:-]

 

I found this site on the web: http://www.studio711.com/web/ipod/index.shtml. It was good information and good photos. I ordered the adapter from Crutchfield and it worked just fine with my 2001 Mustang (Mach 460 Stereo).

... Line Drive

 

Ok so now I'm completely confused [:-]

The Mach 460 head unit sends signal to the rear amps via that "data cable" correct? And that signal isn't "speaker level" or "line level" power? Did Ford create a new signal format that's not either one of those?

It's like the advice on adding a subwoofer/amp to the rear of the car.. the suggestion is to splice a LINE OUT CONVERTER into the rear amp data cable and send the RCA signal to your sub amp. So that would suggest the data cable signal isn't already a line level signal? Doh,, I need a coffee..