Ford Premium Audio Question

Scott D

Registered User
In '97, were the cd players, tape decks, and whatnot the same among all of Ford's vehicles? Did the Ford Probe come with the same Premium CD player the Thunderbird did? Did the Mustang share the same cd player?
 
Only in 94 was the tape deck offered with CD Control in the SC. In 95, CD only. If you had the tape deck without CD, it was standard, if you had the CD CH, it was premium. If you had the 95 CD, more than likely premium. As for changeability, its either standard or premium, and yes, they are interchangeable. The 94-97 mustangs, probes and the taurus pre 96 were the same systems, either premium or standard. In 98 the mustangs got the amp under the radio, which sucked to bypass, but only if it was the mach system. And the 96+ taurus speaks for itself with the seperate tuner box and football shaped radio.
 
There are some problems with the info above. The CD head unit was always premium sound. It wasn't available standard as it had to have the amp. The tape head units were available for either standard or premium sound systems. If the system is premium sound, you can interchange between the CD and the premium tape head unit, but you cannot use any standard sound head unit. The sole difference between the standard and premium systems is the use of an external amp (and slightly more powerful speakers) in the premium systems. Standard systems power the speakers directly from the head unit. Also, Mustangs with the Mach 460 sound system got the premium tape deck with a standalone slave CD player. This head unit is the same as the premium tape deck offered in the MN12 and can also be used with the slave CD player.
 
Thanks for the info, guys. I'm looking for a factory cd player for the '97 LX I have (just go with me on this one) with the Premium Sound tape deck, and was wondering what other vehicles I could look at in the junk yards that used the same cd player as the '97 T-birds.

You guys've helped me out, thanks, again!
 
with 12 years of car audio installs under my belt, there's nothing wrong with the info I gave. If you have premium sound it's obvious there is a factory amplifier. If you have premium and want to go standard, adapter harnesses will do the trick. If you have standard and wanna go premium, it's a matter of grabbing the right cables from a donor car and wiring it up accordingly.

As for finding the units in question, good luck at the junkyard. eBay is probably your better friend in this case.
 
Here's a somewhat related question I've been wondering...

My car has factory JBL with the changer controlled by the Cassette head. From what I've seen, the connector slot for the slave/10 disc is there on both the Cassette and CD Premium heads, but can the CD head control the changer like the stock Cassette head?
 
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