I'll keep it short. Well as short as I can. I'm looking to upgrade my car's stereo to the next level. A friend has an '08 M3, and the sound system in that thing blows me away. It has the sound stage, the depth and detail, and the warmth to the music I've been trying to get in my Mustang. Sure, the stock subs have all the bass I want, and the Infinity Reference component speakers give me all of the clear highs, but it's everything else I just mentioned I want.

So I dropped Crutchfield a line and they got back to me saying what I want is an amp. They said that what I'm lacking is a common complaint often fixed by amping the speakers. I thought it was a little strange, thinking my stereo (Pioneer FH 8000BT) had plenty of power, but when I checked the specs again, I saw it only has 13W RMS per channel. They recommended the Rockford Fosgate R300-4, which has 50W RMS per channel. It's definitely a big step up in power. But I'm wondering how much of a difference it's going to make. This is my setup:

Head Unit - Pioneer FH-8000BT
Front speakers - Infinity Reference Component speakers (6x8 single cone woofer, external crossover, 1" silk tweeter)
Rear Speakers - Pioneer TS series 4-way speakers (coaxial)
Subs - Stock shaker 500 door subs and amps <<<I have no desire to change these. I have to turn my sub output on the HU to -14 so I can see out the sideview mirrors.

Sound deadening:
-Dynamat'd under the rear seat and rear quarters, both doors, will do the transmission well this summer
-Boom mats installed behind each speaker (had the least improvement overall, but still made some difference)


So has anyone thrown an amp into a similar setup? What kind of difference did it make? Recommendations on brand/model?

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And now, assuming I get one, where is the best place to mount an amp on the Mustangs? I've seen a lot of setups with the amp being mounted on the back of the rear seats but I actually fold mine down a lot to put my bike in the trunk (it's kind of like tetris).

I don't know of a much better place, but I'd like to see other options out there. I could strategically place the amp all the way to the right aligned vertically since the bike usually goes in back first with the wheel to the driver's side, leaving the right side pretty open.

 

I mounted mine beside the inertia switch vertically. Keeps it out of the way

 

what inertia switch?

 

Mines a 2000 and the inertia switch is n the drivers side in trunk. I mounted mine beside it

 

Are you talking about a corner of the trunk like this?



What did you physically mount it to?

 

Bump

 

Seriously? No one else?

What about under the dash behind the glove compartment

 

The inertia switch in the 05-09 is on the lefthand side of the driver footwell, however I would not mount it there. I would say just mount it to the back of one of the rear seat tops that folds down. This is where most sound shops mount them and can e convenient if you decide to add another amp for subs later because the power wire will already be run the length of the car.

 

Can't. I throw my bike in the trunk quite often, which requires I fold the seats down and pass the back half of the bike through. The amp and wires would snag the bike and probably get damaged. I was thinking either in the very back of the trunk in that recess behind the wheel well, or behind the glove compartment under the dash. A buddy tells me thats where the instructions told him to mount his Shelby Amp

 

Do you still have your spare tire in the trunk? If not mount it in that space.

Another idea would be to mount it to the underside of the rear deck like they did with the Mach 460 and 1000 amps in the sn95s.

If all of that still doesn't work then try underneath the passenger seat, assuming that it is not power.

 

I like the rear deck idea, between the rear speakers. It's in the trunk, so it won't be adding any heat inside the cabin, but it's still out of the way. I'm going to look into mounting it there.

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Anyone have a reco for a good model of amp?

 

I also have the infinity reference 6x8" speakers and I'm using an mb quart onx4.80 so far I love it! It's 80 watts rms per channel so it will give those speakers plenty of power.