05-09 Interior and Audio Mods Enhancing Your Mustang's Interior and Sound System

Enabling the Subwoofer control on a Shaker 500

Old 7/8/06, 11:57 AM
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Enabling the Subwoofer control on a Shaker 500

is that possible? is the control menu just hidden in the Shaker 500 software or it's completely eliminated?

i'm getting a set of rockford fosgate amps and subs in the trunk of my 06 GT, and would like to have as much of a seamless fit as possible.
Old 7/10/06, 11:00 AM
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Anybody? :S
Old 7/10/06, 03:06 PM
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id like to know

how do you connect the shaker 500 to a rockford or whatever amp?
Old 7/13/06, 12:58 PM
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The only way to connect a Shaker 500 is to splice into (tap off - you don't have to cut them)the rear speaker leads at the speakers and run them to an amp that has a low pass cross-over with line level inputs.
Old 7/13/06, 03:48 PM
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Originally Posted by JoeP
The only way to connect a Shaker 500 is to splice into (tap off - you don't have to cut them)the rear speaker leads at the speakers and run them to an amp that has a low pass cross-over with line level inputs.
Not necessarily true.
Old 7/13/06, 04:02 PM
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I'm told the Soundgate LOCB.2 adapter will tap right into the pre-amp leads going into the Shaker amps. I bought the adapter but have yet to install it (getting close... just finished the sub enclosure and going to start the wiring soon).
Old 7/14/06, 11:44 AM
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well my appointment with Sound On Wheels is tomorrow to get the whole thing setup..
i was just wondering if i'd be able to get the subwoofer control from the shaker headunit, or end up having to tune the amp in the trunk, then run back in the car to check the sound quality back and forth till i get it right :S
Old 7/23/06, 04:58 AM
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G.T. -
Any word on the subwoofer control from the head unit of the 500? I'm going to be doing an install of the trunk subs from a shaker 1000 into my trunk and hook it to my 500 system, and would like to be able to turn them on/off with the head unit.
Old 7/23/06, 09:04 AM
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Originally Posted by KevinS
I'm told the Soundgate LOCB.2 adapter will tap right into the pre-amp leads going into the Shaker amps. I bought the adapter but have yet to install it (getting close... just finished the sub enclosure and going to start the wiring soon).
Kevin:

tanks for your email a few weeks back!

I'm in the same boat as everyone else here. I just installed my XM Rodey direct to the head unit (AUX) and it sounds awesome!

Now I want to hook my amp up in the trunk and put a 10" in the back into a shaker 1000 like enclosed box. There is a harness that looks like it goes to the sub (if I had the 1000) in the rear panel - I'd love to tap into that and get RCA outputs rather then take off from the speakers. There must be a way... we need to get some answers on this!!!
Old 7/24/06, 12:56 AM
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I know there is a diagnostic mode on the radio, if you are in FM and press preset 3 and 6 at the same time, it goes into diagnostic mode. I haven't figured out exactly what it is for yet, but I wonder if something in there would let you enable the Shaker feature. Even if it doesn't, hopefully the wire harness already in the trunk is hooked up to the rear of the head unit. If I can't turn it off/on, it's still better than having to dissasemble half the car to get to the back of the radio and then run wires. Running just a power wire is not so bad.
Old 7/24/06, 10:03 AM
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The amplifier was connected through a Crossover adapter to the rear shelf speakers, so i didn't have to tap into the front pre-amp lines.

however, i'm thinking of swapping the head unit all together, as with the amp and sub, i'm really missing having an equalizer..

bass and treble controls aren't cutting it
Old 8/6/06, 11:44 AM
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i've been going at this for weeks and still not satisfied.
the first attempt was to tap into the rear speakers, and wire the amplifier through a hi-low convertor.
the sound quality was just so bad..

today, after going through diagrams and service manuals, i determined that the Shaker has a connector (C290b) with subwoofer high (pin 1-2) and subwoofer low (pin 5-6) outputs.
the connector only had pins 1-4 wired, so i wired pin 5 and 6 directly to the amplifier, and all i got was a bass hum from the subwoofer, the kind of noise you'd get when you short line in connectors.

i finally connected the amp to pins 1 and 2 (Subwoofer high) and got a perfect steady signal, but no volume control

no matter how high i turned the volume on the head unit, the amplifier always got the same signal, and the subwoofer produced the same level of bass..
this finally lead me to pin #4 which is "Radio, Subwoofer High, Mute" and i figured that carries the volume signal to the amps running the front subwoofers..

needless to say now i'm out of options but to try and tap into the amplifier output through a high-low crossover, hoping that'd finally give me a reasonable sound quality.. although now i'm convinced it will never happen with the Shaker due to the lack of a simple proper pre-amp output.
and the fact that tapping to an amplified line with a high-low converter works, but gives bad sound quality when you turn up the volume
Old 8/6/06, 03:24 PM
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The shaker DOES have a proper preamp output. There are 2 of them in the plug you spoke of. But, the voltage is so low that it may be the caus e of your noise. I would look at mine to tell you the exact pinouts, but I really don't wanna take my dash apart again after just putting it back in. If you get the Metra wiring harness for aftermarket adaptation, you'll see exactly where to hook up.
Old 8/7/06, 12:34 AM
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Thanks for the response Infinity.. can you give me a link to the exact Metra wiring harness you installed to solve this problem? i googled and found plenty of products for Ford
Old 8/7/06, 06:21 AM
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http://www.crutchfield.com/S-VpLbJ5d...sp?i=120705521

I don't know what Metra's part # is, because their site hasn't been updated since Reagan.


The 2nd harness, with the 2 RCA jacks is the one in question. I think your issue is that you're trying to get stereo signal, and that isn't happening. Each of those RCA jacks is separate. One is mono to the door woofers, the other is a mono signal for the trunk woofers. The 2 bare wires are the remote-turnon leads (which should be 5v- if you have any problems with thumps on turnon/off, we can fix that, too.) Unfortunately, $20 is the price for this no matter where you find it. Circuit City does carry the Metra harnesses and the dash kit, which is FAR superior to the Scoshe kit.
Old 8/7/06, 08:38 AM
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being all the way in Dubai.. i won't have much luck unless i have the exact part numbers
you gave me hope again, but now i'm pretty stranded as i want the best solution, which apparently is the Metra harness
Old 8/7/06, 06:47 PM
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Ahhhh, lemme see what I can dig up.

Found it. It is the Metra part # 70-5521. That would hook an aftermarket radio to the factory amps. Or, just the 70-5522 for the RCA/remote plug.

The harness kit is backordered everywhere, but maybe you can find a diagram for it?
Old 8/7/06, 08:10 PM
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Has anyone figured out exactly what signal (if any) is going to the wiring harness in the right rear of the trunk on a car with a Shaker 500? Is it preamp signal? Is it even hooked up to the rear of the head unit?
Old 8/8/06, 12:41 AM
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Originally Posted by Infinity
Ahhhh, lemme see what I can dig up.

Found it. It is the Metra part # 70-5521. That would hook an aftermarket radio to the factory amps. Or, just the 70-5522 for the RCA/remote plug.

The harness kit is backordered everywhere, but maybe you can find a diagram for it?
Can't thank you enough for going through the hassle.. but i think we may have got it all wrong

if i understood correctly, the Metra part is the exact opposite of what i need.. as i'm hooking the factory radio/head unit to an additional after market amp to power a subwoofer in the trunk

any ideas about that?

thanks again!
Old 8/8/06, 06:05 AM
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Originally Posted by theedge67
Has anyone figured out exactly what signal (if any) is going to the wiring harness in the right rear of the trunk on a car with a Shaker 500? Is it preamp signal? Is it even hooked up to the rear of the head unit?
i don't even have that harness.. i removed almost all the carpeting in the trunk looking for one to no avail.

my GT is an '06 too with a Shaker 500

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