Wow... lots of info to sort through here.

Here goes:
99 Contour 2.5L SE, I do not have Premium Sound printed on the speaker grills. I do however have the amp behind my glove box. Yesterday in between reading here I removed my driver side door panel, removed my factory radio and the amp.
I'm now at a point where I don't know what I want to do. Do I want to use wire harnesses, do I want drill new holes for speaker wire, do I want to run RCA's to the trunk for a future sub...etc.

Here's my issue, does the standard sound system have an amp? I do have the factory amp but it does not say "Premium Sound" on the grill. It's a bit conflicting when looking for parts. Any insight? Thanks!

Is there a walkthrough here for when not utilizing a wire harness?

This really depends on what your doing now. Are you coonecting a new radio? IIRC there is a bypass harness for the factory amp. Should be able to get it at a local car audio dealer/installer or online. Would be cleaner and faster to user bybass and factory wire harness adapters for the install of a new head unit.

Try this topic, schematics and a link to a harness are found within
Amp wiring bypass topic

Thanks! I hate to beat the dead horse again and again... but if you go to the first post on the 2nd page of that link, it says out of the three seperate connectors only one is used. From there said connector is cut and the wires are spliced to the new (aftermarket) HU's connector. So is this the only harness that is used for the entire setup?

The reason I ask is I checked the three top "slots" on the larger harness that came out of the factory amp with a voltmeter and it registers one with the ingnition off, when I turn tohe ignition to the on position, shouldn't one more of the three register? If so, they don't.

I do certainly appreciate the help guys.

The 99's did NOT use the "premium sound" verbiage on the door speakers. Your speakers probably say "stereo", right?

I know I have premium sound, but it is not indicated anywhere but on the new car price sticker.

You should order the Metra 70-5605 amplifier bypass harness, the black plug will connect to the large plug from the amp (that is the speaker harness.) Then you connect those wires to the head unit's Speaker wires. The Gray plug provided with the 70-5605 gives you a connection to the "large plug" you mention, for switched power, antenna, dimmer. Attach that to the appropriate wires on the head unit's Power wires. The yellow wire from the head unit should be connected to the battery or maybe the power seat circuit, because the Ford radio wiring is for a low power radio.

The premium sound speakers are much nicer. They have a nice big magnet on them where as the normal speakers look very [censored] and cheap. I just upgraded to premium sound (found some speakers in a Mystique in a salvage yard.) They sound much nicer and cleaner than the other speakers. You could always unscrew the speaker and look on the back of the speaker. If you see a big magnet then you have it. Atleast, i think thats what premium sound is.

Originally posted by GregDawg:

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The premium sound speakers are much nicer. They have a nice big magnet on them where as the normal speakers look very [censored] and cheap. I just upgraded to premium sound (found some speakers in a Mystique in a salvage yard.) They sound much nicer and cleaner than the other speakers. You could always unscrew the speaker and look on the back of the speaker. If you see a big magnet then you have it. Atleast, i think thats what premium sound is.

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My freinds 98 'stang had "premium" speakers in it...couldn't even tell listening to them. Sounded like every other factory speaker out there. In fact we didn't even know it until we had the doors apart to put new speakers in. It was then I noticed that it was stamped premium on the magnet. But my brothers taurus has the mach audio system in it, and I am rather impressed with it. Then again having tweeters up at almost ear level does help a lot.