The harness is done and the bezel adapter is ready. Tonight I'll run the sub control and AI cables. Hopefully, I'll be jammin to MP3's by Thursday.

I tried out the harness last night, and the system sounds amazing. I've always though the Ford Mach unit was good, but nowhere near the sound quality of this $200 Alpine unit. My speakers have never sounded so good. The Ford box goes in the trash when the project is done.

http://silvertank.batcave.net/Alpine.htm

 

looks pretty good... alpine makes some nice stuff

 

one more reason why alpine is the best u can get

enjoy man!

 

I know the feeling. I had pretty much the same reaction when I installed my new Kenwood. Night and day! The following weekend I removed the stock front speakers and installed a set of Boston Acoustics. Imagine my disapointment when the sound quality seemed inferior! I've since decided that they don't sound worse, they just sound different. And w/ some EQ tweaking I think I actually have them sounding better..

Anyhow, back on subject, glad to hear of your success. Dig the '****' harness wrap. I tie wrapped mine every 3-4" and felt it was good enough. But I too left the harness long. The antenna and Sirius receiver leads are unfortunately too short to make the long harness usefull though.

 

Thanks for the good word guys!

Colin, The BA's may just need time to 'break in". The Polk speakers in my Eclipse took a few months, and then sounded better every month afterward. I guess the good ones are "tighter" than the factory junk, and need to work loose. All my speakers are loose after 2 years with the Mach unit, so they sounded great right away.

The unknown fact is that good speakers take time to sound good, and there is a "breaking in" period. people that crank them right away are doing a disservice.

 

looks pretty good...

 

Actually they were transplanted from my '99. I actually had Boston's all around in that truck. I harvested the good set from the doors on that truck to put into the new truck, but left the lesser ones behind the seat when I traded. When I first installed them in the new truck I figured I'd reversed the polarity on one speaker and had that missing bass effect or something. Wasn't the case. I think that says something positive about the stock Ford speakers. The head unit was a night and day difference, but the speaker change, while for the better in the long run, was far more subtle..

 

where did ya get that temp thingy that goes into the slot?

 

Ok, no laughing at me.

http://www.littlehavanacigars.com/pr...?prod=HY1062LT

 

Got the Alpine in last night. Good cold night for running cables. Almost froze my butt, since I was wearing shorts. Turned out great though, very few issues.

Here's a pic of the PDA playing "Ice Age" while the audio goes through the Alpine.
That should get me at least a 7 on the geek scale. I'm sure John can easily top it.



The whole pictoral is here:
http://silvertank.batcave.net/Alpine.htm

Yeah, I know my windshield is cracked. It's growing every day. No hurry to fix it yet. The glass is only a few months old.

I do have a pop from the sub when the system comes on. It may be because I didn't hook the "remote on" wire from the stereo to the sub. I'll have to ask Alpine and Bazooka.

 

I've sooo been waiting to use that smiley! .. Last night's lows up this way were around 22F! So go cry me a river in your shorts!

Oh, but the stereo looks good. Hope it sounds good too..

 

I was wearing thin river shorts and no socks if that helps. I need one of them heated garages, with a mini bar, and fridge. Yeah, that's the ticket.