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88 Town Car Project... What issues will I run into?

Discussion in 'General Car Audio Discussions' started by EnriqueI, Jan 19, 2008.

  1. EnriqueI

    EnriqueI New Member

    I got an 88 towncar for 500 bucks last year. I just got it thru smog (passed easily... only had 65k on the engine) last month. The previous owner replaced the old head unit... as far as I can tell the speakers and the sub are stock.

    I have a 65 amp alternator that is only pumping out ~45... gonna be replacing that with a 100 amp alternator in the near future. The current head unit in there right now is a Kenwood KDC-5003 4x25W CDA only system (No MP3s, etc). I think the wiring is getting a little shoddy because until eight months ago the driver speaker never worked... I took apart the dash and unplugged it from the Head Unit and plugged it back in... and juggled it along the way. It worked fine for a few months, and then started going in and out. Also the speakers pop whenever I hit a bump at high speed while driving or turn the audio loud while driving. LOL. If I'm just parked, it sounds fine loud.

    How much of a pain will it be to rewire the whole damn thing? I like the head unit, so I'm gonna stick with Kenwood.

    For the HU I'm looking at this: Kenwood - KDC-MP735U
    $190 on amazon.com

    For the front speakers I'm looking at these:
    http://www.kenwoodusa.com/Car_Entertainment/Speakers/6.5''_Oversized_n_6.5''_Speakers/KFC-1682ie
    $55 on amazon

    For the rear I'm looking at these: http://www.kenwoodusa.com/Car_Entertainment/Speakers/6''_x_9''_Speakers/KFC-6950S
    $45 on amazon for both.

    Don't know if tweeters really matter... but looking at this:
    Kenwood - KFC-T207

    $49 on amazon.

    This would be my first time putting in an entire audio system.

    So will I need to run more power to the stereo from the batt? How hard will it be to rewire the speakers?

    Are these decent choices, and should they work well together? I listen mostly to Rock, so vibratin the whole street isn't too important to me... but if I want to slap some, I wouldn't mind being able to... lol
     
    EnriqueI, Jan 19, 2008
    #1
  2. electrolytic

    electrolytic Full Member

    Welcome !!
     
    electrolytic, Jan 19, 2008
    #2
  3. pedro quiroga

    pedro quiroga Well-Known Member

    welcome to the site.
    it looks like your on your way to a good start.
    now when the speakers pop is it all of them or just the front doors?if its just the doors then running new wires wont be too too hard.if your comfertable taking your car apart then my guess is a coat hanger and elec. tape should sufice in routing the new wire thru the door.

    another concern is adding the tweets.if you add them with the front speakers you may harm the head unit.cause it may not handle the impedance load of both of them.i.e 2 ohms.

    if you want mids and tweetsyou should look into getting a componant set.
     
    pedro quiroga, Jan 19, 2008
    #3
  4. EnriqueI

    EnriqueI New Member

    Thank you


    Thanks. I think it varies which speakers pop. But they all have at one point or another. I don't really like the idea of rewiring the front speakers and leaving 20 year old wiring to the back.

    Are the tweeters that important? I'm not gonna be listening to emo music. :D

    I'm not familiar with ratings for head units... When it says 4x50, is this sending out 200 watts per speaker, or 200 total? I'm probably gonna put a sub in there, but that's a different project since I need to figure out how i'm gonna set up the trunk for that.

    In the 1st gen towncar stereo tut, it says
    Do I need to worry about this, or not? Like I said, someone else already put in the KDC-5003 (4x25w system).

    Here is a link to the tut: Stereo and Speaker Swap - 1980 - 1989 Lincoln Towncar
     
    EnriqueI, Jan 19, 2008
    #4
  5. aznboi3644

    aznboi3644 Full Member

    rewiring isn't that hard...its just a pain in the ass and takes some time.

    You don't need to buy more tweeters...those speakers are two ways with tweeters already.

    I would spend some money one some sound dampening material. I have some 60 dollar a pair kenwoods that sound a lot better then a lot of my friends speakers that cost 3-4 times as much.

    [​IMG]
     
    aznboi3644, Jan 20, 2008
    #5
  6. pedro quiroga

    pedro quiroga Well-Known Member

    you wont have to worry about the old wires back there,cause they wont be hooked up to anything.

    and the head unit rateing is a little exagerated.i dont know of any radio that puts out 50.last i read 18 watts per ch was really good.it may be more but i'm not sure.

    oh and i looked at the link for the rear speakers.you may want to buy a 2 way like the fronts.cause you may not like the sound of them without a tweet in them.
     
    pedro quiroga, Jan 20, 2008
    #6
  7. Ranger SVO

    Ranger SVO Full Member

    Typically that is not a problem as long as there is a crossover between the tweeter and the full range speaker. Most tweeters will come with a crossover. Now the only load the HU will see is the Full Range speaker and the crossover. It does not see the tweeter as a load. The impedence of the crossover is typically pretty high, this is especially true for high pass crossovers.

    So adding tweeters will not cause a problem
     
    Ranger SVO, Jan 20, 2008
    #7
  8. pedro quiroga

    pedro quiroga Well-Known Member

    hmm..... didnt know that.
     
    pedro quiroga, Jan 20, 2008
    #8
  9. cccullen

    cccullen Full Member

    what did you have in mind as far as amps and a sub goes?
     
    cccullen, Jan 20, 2008
    #9
  10. EnriqueI

    EnriqueI New Member

    I'm not sure yet. I actually ran into a hitch today (not literally)... Someone backed into my door, so that's a priority right now... since it looks like #^%$.

    I was thinking on waiting on a sub right now, because it currently doesn't have one and it sounds decent except for the pops. The car has an amp, but I'm pretty sure I'm not gonna use it. I need to do more research on those... Like I said I'm pretty inexperienced when it comes to sound systems. ^_^
     
    EnriqueI, Jan 21, 2008
    #10
  11. cccullen

    cccullen Full Member

    Don't worry about being inexperienced. We all were at one time or another (i still am!). There are threads here that go on for ages, questions after questions while going through installs. As long as you are ready to do it and you have a camera, the guys here will be more than willing to help you out with any questions that you'll have.
     
    cccullen, Jan 21, 2008
    #11
  12. Ranger SVO

    Ranger SVO Full Member

    Many people don't know that. And as long as we are dealling with higher frequencies its not a problem.

    Let me add one more thing, don't put two full range speakers in your door and add a 99-microfarad cap to one of them. I won't work. Crossovers work because the act like resistors. For a tweeter crossover, as the frequency goes lower the resistance gets higher. The resistance doesnt get low enough to let sound through until 6000Hz or more. So no problem

    But the 99-farad Bass blocker will let frquencies above 400Hz through. We will now see a near 2-ohm load through out most of the frequency range. Now we might have a problem.
     
    Ranger SVO, Jan 21, 2008
    #12
  13. pedro quiroga

    pedro quiroga Well-Known Member

    oh ok....i thought because it was 2 4ohm loads it would see it as 2ohms at the head unit.

    so then it never goes below 4ohms or what?
     
    pedro quiroga, Jan 21, 2008
    #13