Amp to Factory Head unit
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I've thought about doing that myself. I've already replaced the factory speakers with some Boston Acoustics and still want more. However, hooking an amp up to the factory head unit...do you really want to amplify the signal coming from that? Will it sound like crap? And what about that factory sub? Is it worth hooking up to an amp also?
So many questions.
So many questions.
to add an AMp to a factory head unit and accually have it sound better, there are two methods..
The old school method (which would be best IMHO) is to also buy a 3 way cross over, wire you front and rear spreaker wires from the back of the reciever to the crossover in proper phase, this will give you the ability to convert your signal into # different levels of Htz 100 and up Your "Highs", 30-90 "Mids" and 0-30 "Lows" This also will convertthe signal to a RCA style out put so that it can be wired into the Amp with a lot less RF interference.
Down side is that this method is a little pricey.
The second would be to use Low Pass Converters, they are cheap and effective, but do not seperate the different levels of sound, that are also very linier sounding and do not allow your to fine tune your music. they will also allow some RF interference. these are the type of converter that gets tapped into the speaker wires behind the radio and have two RCA outputs on the other side.
Most amps do not have line level inputs anymore (just attaching speaker wire) the older amps that did have these were not that great cause of the amount of RF interference that they allowed.
The old school method (which would be best IMHO) is to also buy a 3 way cross over, wire you front and rear spreaker wires from the back of the reciever to the crossover in proper phase, this will give you the ability to convert your signal into # different levels of Htz 100 and up Your "Highs", 30-90 "Mids" and 0-30 "Lows" This also will convertthe signal to a RCA style out put so that it can be wired into the Amp with a lot less RF interference.
Down side is that this method is a little pricey.
The second would be to use Low Pass Converters, they are cheap and effective, but do not seperate the different levels of sound, that are also very linier sounding and do not allow your to fine tune your music. they will also allow some RF interference. these are the type of converter that gets tapped into the speaker wires behind the radio and have two RCA outputs on the other side.
Most amps do not have line level inputs anymore (just attaching speaker wire) the older amps that did have these were not that great cause of the amount of RF interference that they allowed.
TwistedCU
New member
jps4jeep said:
Right-o.
1. If the amp has a gain control, turn it down. Same goes for that line level adapter you used to hook up the amp.
2. When it sounds like the speakers are not handling the power, it is actually the amp "clipping". It is distorting the signal sent to the speakers because you are trying to get more power out of it than it is capable of. What it is doing at this point is putting DC voltage through the voice coils of your speakers. This is why your sub(s) are fried.
3. The amp you have doesn't put out 1000 watts. I'd be surprised it if put out 100 watts clean if it is a cheap one.
Your factory radio probably puts out a distorted signal when you try to play the system loud. This only makes matters worse.
I've never been a fan of trying to make factory head units into "systems". That is the first thing that should go when you want to improve your stereo.
