Can an LOC be used in reverse?

[tooshort_128 10+ year member]

I have a dilemma on my hands and I'm wondering if an loc can be used backwards to turn RCA into speaker level input?

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[dragonrage 10+ year member]

usually not... you'd need a preamplifier/"driver", most likely, if you need to boost the voltage.

 

[pro-rabbit 5,000+ posts]

What kind of problem are you having?

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

No, the LOC provides passive attenuation. This will attenuate in either direction.

What are you trying to do?

 

[dragonrage 10+ year member]

No, the LOC provides passive attenuation. This will attenuate in either direction.

For the record, not all LOCs are passive. Plenty are active. If it has a power wire, it is active.

Actually, I think the LOC that I use (which is active), PAC SOEM-T, will go either way.

 

[tooshort_128 10+ year member]

What I'm trying to accomplish is adding an eq to a factory amplified stereo. I know it's easy when changing the amp for mids/highs, but I want to keep the interior speakers on the factory amp and just add the amp for my sub. The end result is that I want full eq control over the entire system which would consist of the factory amp for the mids/highs and my sub amp for my Q.

 

[Kangaroux 5,000+ posts]

I think your best option is to just get a headunit with 5-7 band EQ'ing, imo

 

[tooshort_128 10+ year member]

But I want to keep the oem look and retain all factory options with nav, satellite, onstar, steering wheel control, etc without having to buy a bunch of modules and interfaces to make it all work. I did all that with my last car and it was a pain.

 

[pro-rabbit 5,000+ posts]

I think the biggest issue you would have to over come would be the factory amps themselves. They have fixed eq/crossovers on them and even altering the signal coming into them you will still get a different signal after the factory amp.

 

[tooshort_128 10+ year member]

Even if it's wired after the amp? I was thinking I could wire in a signal processor/eq after the amp with speaker level inputs in and put loc's in reverse on the output (with male to male adapters) to change the RCA back to speaker level to go to the interior speakers.

 

[SPLaudio 5,000+ posts]

you cant have a eq after the amp unless you just add a filter to the + speaker wire.

and as rabbit said factory will have crossover setting and u tring to boost and cut you will end up with gaps in freq responce.

 

[dragonrage 10+ year member]

No, you can use EQ in the signal if you drop and boost the voltage. It will add to any EQ built into the factory. You can get EQs that have built in line drivers. It's just tough sometimes to know what EQ is built into the factory setup. You might have to measure it to know for sure.

 

[tooshort_128 10+ year member]

So dragon, you think what I have in mind is possible? What if I used an audio control dql8 since it has level matching?

 

[dragonrage 10+ year member]

Okay, let's do a little math here with voltages.

Say your stock head unit has voltages that would drive 4 ohm speakers to power levels of 15 watts RMS (and current capability / power supply to do so). P=V^2 / R, so 15 = V^2/4, so V^2 = 60, so V~=7.75v. Per the spec sheet of the DQL8, the max output voltage is 7.5v. So it can drive the output to about the same level as a head unit capable of 14-15WRMS @ 4 ohms. So yes, it is capable of this.

Just keep in mind that, as others have mentioned, your stock system may already have EQ in it. You can add your own EQ in with the DQL8 to cancel it out, but it can be hard to figure out what exactly to enter in order to do that. You may need a measurement system to do that. But if you just want to EQ in relation to what you already have, the DQL8 looks like one possible solution.

 

[tooshort_128 10+ year member]

This would either be done on a Bose system or a ford audiophile system. I understand I would have to adjust on top ofthe factory eq but I'd be willing to tweak as much as needed. Am I correct in that I have to get active or powered loc's to accomplish this?