'04 Cobra Phatbox MP3 Player solution?

[AtomHeart]

For those interested, I may have found the final solution to running the Phatbox MP3 jukebox in an '04 Cobra. The head unit for a 2004 Mercury Marauder has phase II plugs, is CDDJ compatible, and has "sub-out" on the back to route to our rear amps.

I have ordered a head unit and will let everyone know how it turns out. I've only been working for 6 months to figure this one out, and it never occured to me to try swapping out head units. I really hope I can get this thing to work, because it is SO amazing once its up and running. Your car talks to you to help navigate through the 40GB of MP3's, and it turns your changer control number buttons into navigation buttons. Press button 1, and your music fades and a voice says, "The current artist is...Metallica." You can then press the arrow keys to cycle through all songs by metallica on the hard drive. Press button 1 again, and it will cycle through artists alphabetically, "The current artist is...Primus. The current artist is...Soundgarden".

Press Button 2, and your music fades and your car says, "The current genre is...Rock." Press button 2 repeatedly to cycle through genres, or press the up and down arrows to cycle through all rock songs, rap songs, country songs, etc. alphabetically.

Button 3 cycles through playlists, you name yourself, so the music will fade and the geekiest white-guy voice you've ever heard will say, "The current playlist is...pimp daddy tunes." etc.

Its just frickin' amazing. I hooked it up to my last car to test it out before my cobra arrived and just loved it. I have all 450 of my CD's stored in the cartridge right now, and its only a little more than half full.

If I can get the damn thing to work finally, I'll let everyone know and would definitely recommend it to anyone wanting MP3 playback in their car. It also plays .wav files, .ogg files, .au files, .wmf files, etc. and the software that comes with it is the best music management software I've seen on the market. The unit is basically a talking 1000 disc changer with the MP3's ripped at VERY high bitrate.

www.phatnoise.com

Stay tuned...the head unit should be here in a couple days.

 

[AtomHeart]

Almost forgot the best part...the Audiophile system out of the Marauder is made by Alpine, instead of Visteon like our head units. I may sound a bit better.

 

[DNeinstadt]

subscribing...

 

[AtomHeart]

Well...first round of testing is done. GREAT results. Used the almost identical unit out of a 2002 Lincoln Towncar...it even says "ALPINE" across the face of the tape door. Works perfectly for controlling the MP3 player, sound is noticeably better than our stock Visteon unit, and my Mach 1000 increased in bass by 10 fold.

I was literally worried I was going to shake the doors off. Time to install the rest of my dynamat.

Now for the downside. I cant use the Lincoln version of the head unit, because the Lincoln model uses a different lighting circuitry, and is lit using Pulse Width Modulation and LED's. Our cars run on bulbs and rheostats. The stereo works perfectly, but I would be flying blind at night.

This is disappointing, because of how good this system sounded, and knowing the Lincoln version is a 145-watt amp and the Mercury Marauder version is a 100-watt amp with less "clean" specs. I wish there was a way to change the lighting circuit in the face instead of going with the Marauder head unit.

On top of that, the Lincoln Towncar unit is "hard-mount" like ours, and my stock mounting bracket will attach right to the face. The Marauder's Spring Clip mounting might be tricky to get to work.

Anyone out there know if you can swap the LED lighting circuits to the regular bulb lighting in these units?

 

[AtomHeart]

Well, latest news is:

The radio repair guys think that the LED's are 12-volt, or at least will light from a 12-volt source...but they are just routed to a separate pin. THIS means that anyone with an '04 mustang with Mach 460 systems, you can just swap a wire at your plug, and then the Lincoln System is a direct replacement. It will control either a phatbox or any other CDDJ device or CD changer, and sounds a LOT better than the stock Visteon unit. Alpine knows their shit. I may have to replace my stock speakers with some Alpine units, but so far the system sounds WAY better than an OEM system has any right to. Its equal to some of the aftermarket systems I've had by Phoenix Gold. And that was playing MP3's, which is considered a "degraded" source. I rip them all at "archival" quality, and some of them tend to sound better than the original discs. The DSP modes sound a lot better than the Visteon units too, so now I might actually USE something other than "all seats" sometimes.

I'll have it all hooked up in a couple more days, once I get the second Lincoln Town Car head unit back, now that we know how to hook it up.

Part number on this Alpine head unit is: 3W1T-18C868-AH. I believe it retails for $550, but you can find it for less. Radios and More has them for $475 I believe.

I will post pictures once I get the head unit and phatbox installed. I've got a lot of dynamatting to do in the mean time.

 

[TRBO VNM]

nice to hear...I just got an 04!

 

[maoun]

i have the pioneer avic-n1 head unit in mine....takes care of everything for me and i love it....DVD, navigation, XM, it's wonderful

 

[AtomHeart]

Will it run a Phatbox or some other brand of 1000 disc changer? Oh...and does it look ABSOLUTELY stock? If not...:xpl:


I would never put an aftermarket head unit in my car...That's why I've been working for 6 months to achieve aftermarket sound, better than aftermarket functionality (ie. the 40GB phatbox MP3 drive w/ voice prompt navigation) and a look that is completely OEM.

I think stereos should look like they came in the vehicle, not like a spaceship that crashed into the dashboard. I want to give chevy guys a ride, and have them say, "HOLY SHIT! Ford puts some incredible stereos in thier cars!"

 

[AtomHeart]

Finally got the Alpine Head-unit in the car today. Looks pretty damn stock to me. I don't think anyone could tell this stereo didn't come with this car.

Dynamat time! This thing shakes the earth now.

 

[Litespeed]

Glad you got it working :thumbsup: .

If you had an '03 cobra, would it have worked with the stock head unit ? I'm assuming that they changed the head unit and/or harness for '04.

 

[AtomHeart]

Yea, apparently it just plugs right in and works fine with an '03 head unit, and '03 harness. I'm actually glad this happened, though, because this Alpine head unit sounds way better than our stock Visteon units.

 

[BurninOut]

ok..so the verdict is that the town car unit will fit directly into the bay and will hook up and everything will function normaly except for the lighting on the dispay unless you swap a pin to a differnt slot?
Also you can hook up a secondary source and everything is at the correct ohm and voltage so there are no issues there??
Plus there is a rear sub out puts to plug into an amp??
If so is this a plug in play hook up or a RCA style??

Also is there any spec sheets on the head units as far as outputs to what channels so that we know that it wont pop a tweeter. Just to make sure the stock speackers can handle it or if there amps cant handle??
Can you take pics with it illuminated(sp?) with the dash so we can see how it looks??
Sorry for the questions interested minds want to know...
Thanks
Justen

 

[AtomHeart]

The Towncar Unit uses "Phase II" plugs, just like the 2004 Cobras. The 2003 Cobras use worldplug, and so this unit will not work with that car. The display always worked fine, it was only the button lighting that uses LED's. Unfortunately, swapping pins does not fix the problem, and the circuit board behind the buttons has to be swapped out if you want your buttons to light at night. You can hook accessories to this head unit at will, and cycle through them using the CD button. I am not completely sure what you are referring to by "secondary source". There are no RCA hookups here, but you could add some if you needed them.

There is a "sub-out" on this head unit so it powers the rest of the Mach 460 system perfectly. There are no specs available for this head unit as far as I know. Lincolns website just says, "145 watt, audiophile system by Alpine."

The dash will not illuminate the buttons. The display works fine however, and looks just like our stock display with green digital numbers. I can take a picture with the display lit up tonight when I get home.

Again, this is for 2004 cars with Phase II stereo harnesses...not for 2003 cars with Worldplug harnesses.

 

[BurninOut]

Now is there anyway to convert the worldplug harnesses to a Phase II harness??? is use 03 owners can do this???

 

[AtomHeart]

Unfortunately, the only way to change from one protocol to the other is to change the entire harness from head unit to speakers/amps.

The '03 head unit will control a Phatbox MP3 drive anyway, so the only benefit of changing the head units would be improved sound. If I were changing out the head unit on an '03, I would swap in the head unit from the "Tremor" ranger pickup or the high end explorer sport. They are both Pioneer units, and have both "sub-out" and controls a changer/phatbox. It is on the worldplug protocol.

http://www.radiosandmore.com/prod_detail.asp?pn=2L54-18C868-AC

or

http://www.radiosandmore.com/prod_detail.asp?pn=1L2F-18C815-LA

Just remember that with either of these units, you will have to deal with the "spring clip mounting" issue.

 

[BurninOut]

yeah thats what i was concerned with on the town car HU, I will just figure something else out......I want to get rid of the stock amps and speakers anyway.....just looking for something to tie me over with in the mean time and if I have to rewire the whole system Im going to wait and do it with all new higher quilaity wires and new speakers!!!! maybe sometime this year...lol