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Epic Mach460 upgrade

2K views 14 replies 6 participants last post by  quicktime 
#1 ·
Just calling it epic out of sarcasm. ... thought I'd share.

The mach460 had to go... it was never cutting edge, even in 93 when the design was finalized... by the cost-cutters.

Kenwood component speakers went in the front door. They said they needed 50W min, and my receiver supposedly put out 55W/channel. The combo sounded awful.
So I got a new kenwood 180W/channel amp for cheap. It's not JL, but I can't believe how inexpensive stuff is nowadays. the combo sounded much better.

I have a 98 vert, so next to go was the rear speakers. I got some Polk speakers that have very good reviews. Again, these reviews are by normal consumers, not gung-ho JL people. (my other car has JL btw)
I left the rear mach 460 enclosures in place, replacing the "woofer" with the Polk, wired that into the amp, and added a half farad cap for good measure.

This is where I took a shortcut. Instead of routing a humungous power line to the amp in the trunk, I just used a 18 guage wire, figuring the cap would take the load. It seems to be working, the amp hits hard.

I wanted to put the amp where the mach 460 rear amps were, but it doesn't quite fit, so it's in the trunk.
The cap replaced one of the 460 amps.
I still need to trim the trunk "bulkhead" to make a nice wire pass-through for the amp.

... too busy cruising and blowing my ears out though. :)
 
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#4 ·
No to both. Wait, I used the wiring inside the rear enclosures, so the leads that came off the factory speaker got attached to the polks. Outside the enclosure I clipped the connector an soldered speaker wires from the amp.

The mach 460 amps look impressive, then you pick them up and they have the weight of a tennis ball. :shakehead

The scary thing was that there is a standoff on top of each amp for the top hydraulics. I need to install a substitute JustInCase. At first I thought it was to protect the line from the amp, but then it occurred that it could be protecting the line from GRAVITY. :rofl:
 
#5 ·
18 seems to be working.

This cap holds a lot of coulombs.
 
#7 ·
Ya, I'm just out of steam right now.

I felt guilty about that whiskey delta wire... I'll replace it in a month or so.

I'm using something like 8 guage from the cap to the amp, and the +12v terminates on the cap electrode, not on the amp.
 
#11 ·
Link for 4 GA.
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Link for 0 GA.
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I just ordered the 8 yesterday. The 0 I got 2 weeks ago, its super high quality! I am using all this for my battery relocation and wiring up my nitrous, switches, 6A, tach etc. I ran a juction block under the center console.

My Mach stuff is sitting in the shed with the entire rear harness lol
 
#13 ·
It's been 2.5 years and I haven't got around to rightsizing the amp's power line...

... yet everything works great and I haven't blown a fuse.
 
#14 ·
It didn't sound good with just your receiver because you're looking at the max power rating, which is worthless. The RMS rating, of virtually any aftermarket head-unit out there today is typically 18-20w per channel.

You can blame Pioneer for doing the max ratings on stuff back in the 80's for all the BS you see today.

Any set of components/separates with an outboard x-over network should have a "real" amp on them, to make them sound like they're capable of. Power not only adds volume, but clarity as well.
 
#15 ·
P63,whats your entire system consist of? head unit,what polk components,etc?

i am looking to put something in my 94 cobra..mach does not work,and would like somethind decent to replace it..is there any amps and spakers that would basically fit in the original spots in the rear? would like to keep the rear stuff mounted like factory to keep them out of the way..thanks in advance
 
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