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

 

Earl,

Just got my first Mustang this past Saturday. Got GT Deluxe w/ the Shaker 500.

I have noticed the problems reading audio disks and MP3 disks that you mentioned. How do I determine if I have and "A" or "B" model installed?

Another question that I searched for and did not find an answer for was the "Aux" button. Do you know (or anyone else) if this means there are input jacks in the back of the unit?

Thanks,
Craig Enders

 

Never mind, found another post where you gave the instructions.

Craig