A Hey Jessie,I would say reading the magazine is a good thing especially if it gives you ideas, that's what makes this industry go round. So you have a Ford Mustang - very cool car, although upgrading the sound system can be difficult for a do-it-yourselfer. Still, it is possible. You said you wanted to install an amp; that won't be a problem. What is the amp going to be used for? You need to ask yourself if it is for a set of subwoofers; or do you want to upgrade the entire system with a larger amp? I would recommend adding an amplifier just for some subwoofers; upgrading the entire system will require a very large amplifier with lots of channels. It also sounds like you want to keep all the factory equipment, which is fine. To get the signal into the after market amplifier you should tap into the factory signal wires before it goes into the factory amps, just like you wanted to. There are a few ways you can tap into these wires. The best way to do this is to purchase a factory bypass harness or integration harness and unplug the output wire harness from the factory radio, which will be a black plug. Plug the bypass harness into the factory harness and that will tell you what channels are what (look at the pin configuration on the factory plug). All bypass harnesses wires will be labeled, which will give you the ability to distinguish each channel. And from there tap the channels you want on the factory harness, and feed the signal into the aftermarket amplifier. Once you have figured out which channels you are going to use, and soldered all your connections, plug the factory harness back into the radio. Depending on the aftermarket amplifier you use you can solder a set of RCA ends right onto these signal wires and feed the signal right into the amplifier. Make sure to properly adjust the gains, or you'll clip the signal into the aftermarket amplifier, or you can also use the high level input which a lot of amps have also. You can even use the old faithful Hi-to-Low level converter, which there are many to pick from.
Q I was wondering about using a metal enclosure for cv strokers. How will a metal box affect the characteristics of the SPL and sound quality? I know that the more rigid your box is, the louder your sub will be, but will making the box sturdy be worth the price of getting one made?Thanks,Craig Cikalukvia the Internet
A Well Craig,I am positive you are the not the only person that has wanted to try this type of enclosure. And it sounds like it would be a good idea. Although try holding a piece of metal, free-standing, by getting a hammer and hitting it to see what happens; then try getting a piece of one inch MDF and do the same thing. You will notice a dramatic difference in reaction from both materials. Metal will have a horrible ringing that will last quit a long time, while wood or other type of composite materials will have a less of an resonance or be more dead, so to speak. And depending on what type of material you use, steel, aluminum, wood, you will have different kinds of resonance. Some metals don't resonate as bad as others, but they all resonate a lot worse than any type of wood material. Something you definitely would not want for sound quality. And anytime you build an enclosure and it resonates it will also take away from SPL. So keep that in mind.