90's LTD Wagon Amp location

[9t3lightning]

Group
trying to find the stereo Amp in my 90 wagon,
Looked on the right rear area by the spare tire well, that i saw posted and nothing there?
SOmewhere else to look? Changed headunits and the amp is distorting everything.
Non Premium Sound system too..

[sly]

can also be behind the rear glove box.

[WagonMan]

If you have a "non premium sound system" there is no amp! WagonMan

[DerekTheGreat]

Could be potential blown speaker issue. Use fader controls to isolate which one it is.

[9t3lightning]

Lol
Ok then that's weird
I thought all fords used an amp

[9t3lightning]

Can't be changed door speakers and added new 6x9s in the back

[9t3lightning]

Ok let me check that
Guess I need to find a wiring diagram for 1990

[86VickyLX]

If you have non premium sound, you don't have an amp. If it's distorted now and wasn't before, it's because your new headunit is not capable of driving speakers without an amp.

[gadget73]

Or your head unit is dying. Not 100%, but its possible there is some common ground crap going on, modern stereos are not compatible with that. Confirmate with the wiring diagram.

[sly]

The door speakers can be changed. Just need the right size.

[DerekTheGreat]

If you have non premium sound, you don't have an amp. If it's distorted now and wasn't before, it's because your new headunit is not capable of driving speakers without an amp.

Annnd most aren't capable of driving speakers without an external amp, despite what the sticker on the box says. With aftermarket speakers but no external amp you might as well implement a high pass filter for stuff under 120hz or so to keep from overdriving the amp and blowing speaks.

Or your head unit is dying. Not 100%, but its possible there is some common ground crap going on, modern stereos are not compatible with that. Confirmate with the wiring diagram.

This too, although I thought they got rid of that starting in '87 or '86?

The door speakers can be changed. Just need the right size.

As a resident JBL hoarder I have what you need if needed. I don't have many JBL door speakers but I have loads of premium ones. I have old tape decks too, the ones with the square type connectors.

[9t3lightning]

Not sure what happened on my post
Dam spell check
But should be I changed my door speakers and added 6x9s in the back
It distorts at high volume and anything with bass in it . Rock music that is not rap. 😄

[DerekTheGreat]

Rock music is where it's at.

Now, rock or not, bass is what requires the most power to drive so for the time being, see if your radio has a high pass filter. If it does, enable it. If it has multiple settings you can play around until you find the setting which lets you have the maximum bass response without the distortion. I recommended 120hz as a starting point, numbers lower than that correspond to deeper bass. 120-400hz is kinda the buzzy range as I like to call it, bass guitar & tube hum stuff. If your stereo has an equalizer you could also decrease the response for those frequencies.

[sly]

Ah... if it's distorting at high volume, that's one of 2 things... the head unit doesn't have enough punch to drive the speakers or the wire is too small to handle the power the amp is wanting to deliver. I've had no issues with 50Wx4 head units (RMS is typically around 22-23W) until high volume and it's usually the head unit's internal amp that's crap. If you have a higher power head unit, the restriction will be the wires and you'll have to run new wires. I've had no issues with my old Kenwood eXcelon head unit. It's nice and clean up to my pain threshold (which is lower than most bass heads). The speakers rattling the car on the other hand... looks like I need to put some sound deadener on my rear deck in the beater. Seems the stock grill likes to bounce on the deck.