amp to amp or split RCA's?

[chronicblazen 10+ year member]

gotta question, ya me always with the dumb questions.

i got two amplifiers, one to power subs, and one to power inside speakers.

my subs amplifier, (tsunami gxa1000) has a preamp output for RCA's.

i am currently not using this because

1. my previous POS amp, did not have this

2. my other amp is powered by split RCA's

what do i mean by split RCA's?

my HU only has one pair of rca cables, the right and left. i took and added a "Y" RCA to the left, and another one to the right. now i had two rights and two lefts, which i hooked up to two set of RCA's that i now have to the two amplifiers.

im sure people have thought of this before, but i know they're not doing it because by doing this, it HAS to be losing some power by splitting it, if not a lot of power. (or signal, whatever).

so now that i have this amp, i am about to just run one set of rca's, input to the "bass amp", then output to the "highs amp".

all of this boring information, just to ask this question... if i have the built in crossover on the "bass amp" set to lows only, will the RCA signal that comes from its output, going to carry only lows to the "high amp"? and also, would this be a better way than what im currently set up with?

keep in mind the tsunami (bass amp) is monoblock class d, i dunno if this is right, but arent these made specially for bass, and nothing but bass?

thanks for all your help people

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[birsling 10+ year member]

Alright, here we go:

1st of all, when it is in your budget, get a HU with at least 2 if not 3 sets of preamp outputs. By using a Y adapter you are splitting (and losing) signal. You are also taking a 2 channel output, and making it a 4 channel output. Giving you no control of the sound between front and rear. Understand?

2nd, and to answer your question. I am not sure about your amplifier, but most amps with an RCA output are completely pass through. Meaning, the crossover in your amp will have no bearing on the signal output of the RCA's. Therefore, you can use the setup the way you want to use it. Not ideal, but it will work.

Hope this helps

 

[chronicblazen 10+ year member]

ya, i was in idiot buying this head unit, goin for looks and not function... still have one question though, when an amplifier uses the RCA signal, does it amplify it before sending it to its output? because if it does, which i imagine it does, this way it will be better than what i currently have...

 

[birsling 10+ year member]

No, it doesn't amplify signal in any way. For that you need what is conveniently called a line amplifier. It raises the inline voltage. It is purely a pass through for signal. In other words, another set of jacks for somebody that needs them. In this case, you.

 

[chronicblazen 10+ year member]

ohh gotcha, so to save me the trouble ill jus leave it how its set up now... thanks, ill keep that in mind nex time buyin a head unit..

anybody wanna buy a jvc kameleon?

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

Alright, here we go:By using a Y adapter you are splitting (and losing) signal.

Not true. The voltage loss using y-cable a 1 to 2 split is negligible. The current demand on the HU is doubled, but still FAR below it's limitations.

I'm pretty sure that using the line outs on the amp would electrically be exactly the same as using y calbes, but I'm not certain.

I do know though that using y-cables does not degrade the signal in any way.

 

[pavengmike6 10+ year member]

Not true. The voltage loss using y-cable a 1 to 2 split is negligible. The current demand on the HU is doubled, but still FAR below it's limitations.
I'm pretty sure that using the line outs on the amp would electrically be exactly the same as using y calbes, but I'm not certain.

Well let me give you a little informtion about HU. Most head units you buy in the big retailers (Kenwood, Jensen and so on) put out about 2+ volts of signal from there RCA's. A good HU (eclipse and so on) put out 5+ volts from it's RCA's. Which means this. With the cheaper head unit starts putting out the volts to make an amp work at its full potential it is gettin into the distortion range of the cheap HU. The better head units are putting the constant volts out earlier so the amp will produce a cleaner more powerful sound at an earlier stage.

So you can see that by degrading your volt output you will DERGRADE the amps potential. Which will induce distortion at an earlier volume, which will cause wear on your speakers which will cause you to buy more speakers.

Yes the pull from the Y cable is below the limitations of the HU, but again you are making the HU work HARDER NOT SMARTER.

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

Well let me give you a little informtion about HU. Most head units you buy in the big retailers (Kenwood, Jensen and so on) put out about 2+ volts of signal from there RCA's. A good HU (eclipse and so on) put out 5+ volts from it's RCA's. Which means this. With the cheaper head unit starts putting out the volts to make an amp work at its full potential it is gettin into the distortion range of the cheap HU. The better head units are putting the constant volts out earlier so the amp will produce a cleaner more powerful sound at an earlier stage.

So you can see that by degrading your volt output you will DERGRADE the amps potential. Which will induce distortion at an earlier volume, which will cause wear on your speakers which will cause you to buy more speakers.

Yes the pull from the Y cable is below the limitations of the HU, but again you are making the HU work HARDER NOT SMARTER.

Instead of all that babbling you could have just said -

Remember to adjust your gains correctly. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/idea.gif.5acb6a39a9b92425414c316dda202bad.gif

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/rolleyes.gif.c1fef805e9d1464d377451cd5bc18bfb.gif

 

[chronicblazen 10+ year member]

coo coo, thanks

 

[Logikalliquid 10+ year member]

Instead of all that babbling you could have just said -
Remember to adjust your gains correctly. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/idea.gif.5acb6a39a9b92425414c316dda202bad.gif

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/rolleyes.gif.c1fef805e9d1464d377451cd5bc18bfb.gif

or invest in a good line driver?

 

[sumone 10+ year member]

hmm...would this work (highly doubt it though):

- 1 set of preamps from HU

- 4 channel amp with a line out

run the rcas from the HU to inputs for 1&2.

hook up rcas from the line out to the input of 3&4.

this makes me wonder if you had a 4 channel amp, is the line out a comibination of all 4 channels? So it does modify the signal in some way...right??