Aux input, OE radio

greggdotcom · #1 06-10-2017, 10:02 AM

I don't like the look of aftermarket radios. I just replaced the stock tape deck from my '96 with a CD from a 98 f150 from pull a part (Wire harness changed '97-'98). I have it all wired (front and rear bridged to front, rears mono'd to the sub) and it works well but there are a lot of extra wires. Like 8 or 10. The 150 didn't have a changer and the unit doesn't have the provision like my '98 explorer had (CD/cassette/changer). Is there a possibility that some of these extras may be an aux input? Any info I find online just addresses the usual power/speakers. I would like to be able to hook up an external device, phone, xm, whatever, without a modulator (do they even still make those?).

Thanks in advance.

Undrstm8ed · #2 06-11-2017, 08:55 PM

The F series vehicle has a 2 pc wire harness. The black connector is the input to the vehicles separate amplifier; usually JBL Premium or early GEN1 MACH systems. The second plug contains all necessary power wires as any Gray plug would for general Ford Power, Ign, grnd, dimm, power ant.. etc...

You could use the outputs as if it were like a "pre-amp" but to have them bridged as you mentioned, output would quickly clip if worked properly at all. The amplifiers in Stock radios werent exactly meant to be used in those kinds of wiring configurations. Theres a reason why even a 25w X 2 amplifier has a heat sink the size of your radio, Even old Peanuts or Punch 45's rated at 15w x 2 and 22w x 2 were 5.5" x 6" and 7.5" x 7.5" despite in its time.. about $9 of Radio shack parts and some passive X-overs you could rock a strong 225w out of a Punch 45 in mixed mono-stereo mode.. And now im really dating myself.

Ford Ideally only had 3 types of Audio wiring, as far as production goes anyway:

- Standard wire harness connectors: this connector design is for basic radios but many times one vehicle model has different wire colors from another vehicle model.
- Premium or amplified wire harness connectors: these connectors are used with JBL, Mach, and other Ford amplified radio systems. One connector has all wires contained inside a gray data cable and these wires should never be cut.
- Common ground wiring: Older Ford vehicles used a common ground wiring method or in other words they only used one ground wire for all speakers in the vehicle.

greggdotcom · #3 06-12-2017, 03:04 PM

Okay, so ideally I need to run only four channels. (?). What if I were to series the fronts and rears, presumably bringing the front channels to operate at 8 ohms, leaving the rears at 4? Is heat the issue or the mismatched impedance between the front and rears?

greggdotcom · #4 06-12-2017, 03:16 PM

This part of the f150 harness I did not use.

Undrstm8ed · #5 06-19-2017, 01:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greggdotcom

Okay, so ideally I need to run only four channels. (?). What if I were to series the fronts and rears, presumably bringing the front channels to operate at 8 ohms, leaving the rears at 4? Is heat the issue or the mismatched impedance between the front and rears?

Again, your not (a) dealing with enough power to benefit from any means of parallel or series wiring combinations off of just radio power.., Even an after market radio in todays market with a 35w-50w x 4 amplifier is barely 18w by the time you take into consideration the weenie power supply powered by an 18ga wire from a dash harness fed by a 10a circuit, THD, it would be horribly weak and do more damage than good. And (b) whether aftermarket or OEM radios, they were not designed to operate in that fashion or wiring configuration.

I prefer lower wattage systems with high and dynamic headrooms over monolithic 1000w amps driven to 1.6 ohms utilizing 3 - 12" subs in a vehicle. Not knocking the preferences or choices of people, whatever blows your skirt up. But a total system power of under 350w or so can sound really good, keeping to a single 10" or pair of 8" or surprisingly 6" subs [Not from Subway kind] can sound really good if keeping the wattage low is your idea of keeping your system from other people who may want it more (?). If that were the case, I'd stick to a good name brand 50x4 amp. Run the fronts to the front channels, preferably a component set - choice of 2 or 3 way is yours. the difference being more separation, cleaner sound and better imaging/sound staging. Run the rears off the radio for rear fill [ONLY if extra cab] And bridge the rear amp channels for the sub(s) and call it a day. The rest of your time should consist of tuning it and setting up the x-overs properly.

Why, if I may ask are you even wasting your time with such a task? I am just trying to understand the logic is all..?