CD changer and premium sound?

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CD changer and premium sound?

December 04, 2004, 11:32:24 AM

i really like the facory premium sound in the TC, it actually sounds better than the speakers and head unit i put in my red bird, but the downfall as we all know, is that we cannot play CD's

ive read many times over that you cant use an aftermarket head unit with the premium sound, but would it be possible to use a trunk mounted 5-cd changer or something similar in conjunction with the premium sound

i have no idea how a cd changer is wired, or how it works, this is just an idea off the top of my head

Re: CD changer and premium sound?

Reply #1 – December 04, 2004, 11:37:07 AM

Don't some changers have a connection through the antenna?

Re: CD changer and premium sound?

Reply #2 – December 04, 2004, 11:48:13 AM

i actually went through google, did a bit of a search, and found that most CD changers that are "universal" or "work in any car" actually broadcast the cd over an unused frequency in the FM band, like those 89.3 where its just static

so...i now have an item on my christmas list, a 10 disk changer from sony goes for like 160 bucks, and i can just burn cd's that hold about 80 minutes each...well over 10 hours worth of music

Re: CD changer and premium sound?

Reply #3 – December 04, 2004, 03:01:50 PM

yes they use an unused frequency band but the sound quality is sub par at times my friend did that with an ipod n it would static in an out and the signal would fade at other times. i mean if thats all u can do then do it but if there another way deff do it, im not fimiliar with premium sound cause i dont have a tc but if u can replace the unit and still use premium sound then all u gotta do is replace the unit with one that is also cd changer compatible

Re: CD changer and premium sound?

Reply #4 – December 04, 2004, 08:47:17 PM

there are some that plug directly into the headunit itself in my oppin\ion those are alot better because there isn't really isn't any distortion or static when you are lisining to the cd so i but i don't know if they make a way you can use your stock premium sound set up with the aftermarket cd disk changer

hope some of this info does help you in your selection.

Re: CD changer and premium sound?

Reply #5 – December 04, 2004, 11:03:22 PM

the premium sound had no provisions for the CD changer to plug into

Re: CD changer and premium sound?

Reply #6 – December 04, 2004, 11:27:01 PM

couldn't you make it work by splicing a switch into the wires that head to the equalizer and amp? Position 1 - stock radio, position 2 - cd changer. The commonly-bad power button on the eq could be soldered permanently on and a switch could be put in its place thats wired between the radio - eq- cd. It'd need to have 9 solder points, three for each the radio and cd changer which switch back and forth, three that'd remain a closed cirtuit to the eq.

Thats if you have premium with eq and plan on sticking with the stock radio. It "seems" things would be easier since you don't have to deal with the amplifier in a new head unit. I don't think you need anything special running to the switch besides left/right/common ground, as long as you have the changer powered properly and grounded to the car

Re: CD changer and premium sound?

Reply #7 – December 05, 2004, 02:03:03 AM

Back in the day (meaning like 2 years ago) I bought one of those FM transmitters that plug into your Discman, etc. to use in your car. The thing was garbage! Granted, it only cost like $20 and i'm sure the FM signal would probably be alot stronger for the Sony unit, but the quality was still lacking and you always had to pump up the volume to hear anything at a normal level. The reason I bought this thing was because I thought I messed up the tape player, so the tape adapter didn't work too well. I've noticed alot of people use it though, and the sound quality seems nice.

I'd personally take that couple hundred dollars, buy an iPod, and use a cassette adapter. :)

Re: CD changer and premium sound?

Reply #8 – December 05, 2004, 12:03:08 PM

Shawn, you should be able to get that to work properly, without having to use an FM transmitter. Have you gone to any local stereo shops? How about Circuit City or Best Buy? They deal with that stuff all the time. There is a workaround. You can get some jumper harnesses made especially for the Ford Premium Sound system that bypasses the factory amp (if you ever want to put your own in), and I think there's one to keep the factory EQ working with an aftermarket radio. The trick is, all the speaker grounds are now tied together in a "floating ground" system. That makes it really, really difficult to just throw in an aftermarket radio. But shops have the workarounds. It's been done before.

Re: CD changer and premium sound?

Reply #9 – December 05, 2004, 12:44:05 PM

It can actually be done rather easily, and you can even make the harness yourself. Of course you can't use the stock head unit because A) it has no provisions for inputs and B) It has no CD changer controls.

Shawn, all you need to do is get a head unit with at least two RCA outputs. You make a harness by getting a short RCA jumper harness (should cost a few bucks) and cutting off one end, then tying the grounds together, and connecting them to the black with white stripe wire in the stock harness. Then connect the right RCA wire's positive wire to the pink/light blue stripe wire in the factory harness, and the left RCA wire's positive wire to the Pink.Light Green stripe wire in the factory harness. Don't use any of the head unit's speaker outputs, you only use the RCA outputs.

Now connect the head unit's ground wire to ground (RED, attached to the back of the stock head unit), the BAT wire (red on most head units) to the Light Green/Yellow wire in the factory harness, the ACC wire (yellow on most head units) to the Yellow/Black stripe wire in the factory harness, and the AMP OUT (or REM) wire (blue or blue with white stripe on most head units) wire to the Orange/Light Blue wire in the factory harness. Hook it up like this and you can listen to your aftermarket head unit with CD changer controls through the factory premium sound system while retaining the factory EQ.

Re: CD changer and premium sound?

Reply #10 – December 05, 2004, 01:03:17 PM

I'll stick with my IRiver MP3 player - it's only 10% full and I already have more than 2 days worth of music. Eventually I'll have all 300 of my CD's on the player. It's a beautiful thing :D

Re: CD changer and premium sound?

Reply #11 – December 05, 2004, 01:38:33 PM

Here, Shawn (or anyone else wanting to add an aftremarket head unit to premium sound with equalizer): I did up a wiring diagram.

http://www.foxthundercats.com/tech/aftermarketpremweq.pdf

Re: CD changer and premium sound?

Reply #12 – December 05, 2004, 02:38:01 PM

Quote from: Cougar5.0

I'll stick with my IRiver MP3 player - it's only 10% full and I already have more than 2 days worth of music. Eventually I'll have all 300 of my CD's on the player. It's a beautiful thing :D

Ditto...all 3 of my cars have a CD deck with an auxiliary in, and they're all wired with a 1/8" stereo mini jack to accept my 40GB iPod. It is just sooooooooo nice never having to carry a CD with me ever again. I'm at 3,000 songs, 18.6 GB, 9.1 days and counting. :)

Re: CD changer and premium sound?

Reply #13 – December 05, 2004, 09:28:54 PM

im trying to avoid any wiring mess at the moment, i can try it with the FM transmitter, if i dont like it, i should be able to make it work, my main objective is keeping the factory premium sound all together, and keeping the stock outward appearance

thanks for the diagrams and schtuff

Re: CD changer and premium sound?

Reply #14 – December 05, 2004, 09:30:54 PM

I use the py way.. portable MP3 CD player w/ cassette adapter. $54 for a decent Sony. (already had a car kit for it) But at least any car I drive/ride in, that we own, can make use of it.