Does the base 2011 Muustang GT factory stereo have preamp outputs?

 

The short answer is no. Unfortunately the factory amps that are installed by the factory use low level signals from the radio to send signal to the amplifiers. These are sent by wires from the head unit. You need to convert the signals being sent to the front or/and rear speakers into RCA type cables. You will need to purchase and install a hi/low level converter. PAC and Scosche are 2 manufacturers of the converters you need. They have 2 and 4 channel versions you can purchase depending on how many amplifiers you want to run.

Hope this helps!

 

Has anyone tried to hook RCAs directly to say the low level outs from the radio to the sub amp? Just curious. I will probably go with the PAC 4 channel converter to retain factory fade control.

Is the speaker out to the 5x7s full range? (IE can I tap a sub signal off of them) or do I need to go to the door sub signal for the sub?

 

I tapped into the rear signal for my subs and they sound awesome. Most subwoofer amplifiers have a crossover in them. Its not quite as good as a dedicated crossover but it will work pretty well. I have hooked up 2 different amplifiers to my setup and they both sound awesome when the crossover is enabled on the amp. I heard on another thread that the rear speakers are on a different frequency than the fronts but i also have a 2 channel amp pushing my 2 6x9's and im getting more Highs and Mids out of those than my front 2 which are on the stock head unit.

Now if you mean actually splicing the RCA wires to the speaker wires i would avoid that at all costs. Its not the same type of signal. It has to be converted. BUt if you are talking about using a high/low level converter box to convert the signals then yes you can "tap" into the rear speaker wires. I ordered this PAC AOEM-FRD24. Gonna run that so i can expand the system in the future. Ill post here when its done and let you know how it works out. It plugs into the back of your radio and then you plug the harnesses in the unit and voila you have rca outputs behind the radio for front and rear channels.

 

I had a sub and amp installed this weekend. Audio shop spliced a SQLOC2 on the factory door amp input.

 

This is exactly what I did on my older vehicle that had the Mach460, just slightly in reverse. I wanted to retain the factory amps of the Mach 460, while using an aftermarket head unit. I hooked up the pre-amp outputs in the aftermarket head unit to the "speaker wires" that were routed to the factory amps. The amps were set up to accept line-level input, so this setup worked quite well. It sounded a ton better than it ever did with the factory H/U because it no longer attenuated the bass input to the speakers as I turned up the volume.

I mention this because you could (in theory) use this same scenario to find line-level outputs to hook to an aftermarket amplifier. You would have to come off the back of the factory head unit and splice in some RCA connectors before they hit the factory amps for the Shaker 500. Those signals should feed nicely to your amplifiers. You will have to trace the wiring diagrams to find out which signals are going to the amp for the subs vs. the signals that go to the amp for the full-range speakers. I don't know if the cross-over is done in the amps or if its done upstream of that.