ChiTown 350Z

Can anyone tell me if there is a way that I can keep the stock HU and add a new amp for my door speakers. I'd like to keep the stock look, but the Diamond Hex speakers need more power than what the stock unit can give them. Has this been done before?

Seth

aproy

sure you can. you either need an amp with "Line Level Inputs" or you can add one to an existing amp. what it does is splices into your speaker wire, grabbing a signal, then sending that signal to the amp, then back to the speaker.

2003z

iTrader: (7)

to add to that, I don't recommend using line level inputs to the amp. I tried that 1st and had lots of alternator noise. When I used a line level converter it really cleaned up all the noise.

Mikestro

I just ran the rear speaker inputs into my Alpine 2 Ch amp and I am getting a lot of noise too

Can you recommend a good line level converter and tell me what specs are important? Got a part number?

Can you point me to a site that has a brief description of one please? I've never used one.

Is it just an impedance transformer?

2003z

iTrader: (7)

I just went to circuit city and said I wanted one, and they gave it to me. Its got line level in, and rca out, with a set of power wires also. I dont think there are any specs as such.

Also, make sure your amp is grounded directly to the chassis, and scrape the paint away from the connection point.

Mikestro

cool, off to Circuit City at lunch I guess

ChiTown 350Z

Thanks for the info. Do you remember how much it was?

2003z

iTrader: (7)

under $20, i think

aproy

thats exactly what we used for my friends wrangler. its a nice little piece, and it does work well.

ChiTown 350Z

So, the RCAs go to the amp, but what goes from the HU to the line level converter? Can you explain more on how it gets put in the system. Sorry, I'm used to having a new HU instead of the stock one.

Seth

ChiTown 350Z

Also, I have a 4 channel amp, do I need 2 line level converters or just run two sets of wires to it and then use 4 sets out from the amp?

2003z

iTrader: (7)

the speaker wires from the headunit are the input to the converter, the rca are the output. On my system, (before I got a new headunit) I configured it like this:

front output from headunit to line converter, rca out split into 2 signals for 4 channel amp, one set of signals for front speakers running off of amp, and one set of signals for the subwoofer, which I bridged off of the other 2 amp channels.

Rear speakers run off of stock headunit source. Factory rear speakers are 32ohm, aftermarket are 8 ohm, and will not require amplification.

So, I had
Stock HU
4x75 profile amp
front 6.75" Blaupunkt overdrive components driven by 2 channels of amp
rear infinity 6.5CSi coax speakers off of head unit
10" infinity sub in stock location driven at 150w by bridged amp connection.

Now I have a Clarion am/fm/mp3 player in place of the headunit.

ChiTown 350Z

Could you answer one other thing. How does the amp get a remote wire to it from the stock HU?

bastard

You'd have to connect a remote line from the "ignition hot" going to the stereo, or find some wire that's hot only when the ignition is on.

2003z

iTrader: (7)

I used the cigarette lighter wire in the back. Turns the amp on when the ignition is on. Another way is a "Low Voltage Trigger" from Peripheral electronics. You could branch the speaker input in to the line converter and also send a signal to this converter, then when the head unit sent a signal over the speaker wire it would turn the amp on. I had this setup in my Saab and it worked great, but only used it because the factroy radio was wired to play with the key out for up to 1 hour.

vfr350

I tapped the cigerette lighter for line power. As for getting altenator noise, did anyone try using various grounds? Sometimes it takes time to find the sweet spot, or you could run both power and ground wires to the battery, but spin them together, Ex: equal lengths of wire, put one end of the wires in a vise, and take the other ends, put them in a drill, spin them together, this is suppose to cancel noise between the two.