Can an LOC be used in reverse?

[dragonrage 10+ year member]

HU -> DQL8 -> Factory amp -> speakers should work fine with no additional LOCs or drivers. The DQL8 has high-level inputs and can drive up to 7.5v out. If the DQL8 is what you want to use, I would try it like that. If you need to add a pre-amp/line driver between the SQL8 and amp later, you can, but I don't think you'll need to.

If you don't actually want to use the DQL8 then let me know. Or if I am misunderstanding the chain then let me know.

The factory amp should not pull more than a few milliamps from whatever input it uses, so that shouldn't be an issue.

 

[tooshort_128 10+ year member]

The dql8 has high level in but low level out so wouldn't I need to change back to high level going into the factory amp?

 

[maylar 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.

If you're intending to run speakers off this reversed LOC, then no it won't work. You need power to run speakers and LOC devices are just signal level converters.

 

[pro-rabbit 5,000+ posts]

I think SPL and I pretty much covered this topic for you. I hate to say it, but it is not worth the trouble of what you are trying to go through.

 

[tooshort_128 10+ year member]

Or would something like the rf 3sixty after the amp work better since it flattens the factory eq curve then allows adjustments afterward?

 

[tooshort_128 10+ year member]

@maylar, no the speakers wouldn't be run off the loc. it would just switch the signal back to high level after the signal processor.

 

[dragonrage 10+ year member]

There is no such thing as "high level" and "low level". There is only voltage and current. The DQL8 does 7.5v and that is plenty. Again, it is equal to a HU that does 15WRMS @ 4 ohms. pro-rabbit is just incorrect. The EQ will stack with stock, and if he figures out stock EQ, he could even cancel it out.

 

[tooshort_128 10+ year member]

Ok so I can cut into factory wiring after the stock hu and connect to speaker level inputs on dql8, but how do I connect the RCA outputs back into speaker level which goes into the factory amp?

 

[trumpet 5,000+ posts]

I don't think there's a product on the market to do what you're asking. The reason all of the processors that integrate with factory head units have RCA outputs is because people who buy them also buy amplifiers.

 

[tooshort_128 10+ year member]

I have been doing some research and it looks like the JBL MS-8 could work. It says it is designed to work with factory stereo systems and it has speaker level inputs as well as speaker level ouputs.

 

[daboyfrumdabx 10+ year member]

I have been doing some research and it looks like the JBL MS-8 could work. It says it is designed to work with factory stereo systems and it has speaker level inputs as well as speaker level ouputs.

Does it say factory premium/amplified systems?

 

[dragonrage 10+ year member]

Ok so I can cut into factory wiring after the stock hu and connect to speaker level inputs on dql8, but how do I connect the RCA outputs back into speaker level which goes into the factory amp?

Take an RCA cable, cut it in half.

Line level just means low voltage and speaker level just means typically higher voltage, but that doesn't mean there is no overlap! H/Us are low wattage and the DQL8 (as well as plenty of other similar devices) have high enough output voltage to match head units. They wouldn't match the voltage of higher power amplifiers but they don't need to.

 

[maylar 10+ year member]

Take an RCA cable, cut it in half.
Line level just means low voltage and speaker level just means typically higher voltage, but that doesn't mean there is no overlap! H/Us are low wattage and the DQL8 (as well as plenty of other similar devices) have high enough output voltage to match head units. They wouldn't match the voltage of higher power amplifiers but they don't need to.

There's more to it than that. HU speaker outputs are bridged and have a DC offset (1/2 battery voltage). Factory amps usually sense this offset voltage as their "remote" signal. An RCA output is ground referenced and won't have this offset.

tooshort you should ask a Ford forum how the factory amp gets its turn-on signal. On my Buick it was the left rear channel that gets sensed. If you use something other than a real speaker output the amp may not turn on.

 

[dragonrage 10+ year member]

There's more to it than that. HU speaker outputs are bridged and have a DC offset (1/2 battery voltage). Factory amps usually sense this offset voltage as their "remote" signal. An RCA output is ground referenced and won't have this offset.

No, they do not. That would make them Class A which would be incredibly inefficient and if they were to drive speakers directly, the HU would be providing 36/Z (Z is impedance) watts of continuous power to each speaker which would make them handle less musical power (since they would be using up a good amount of their thermal capacity on this stupid DC offset) and also give them a horrendous coil offset.

Head units are essentially bridged internally, yes, but there is no DC offset involved.

 

[Ronny 10+ year member]

A good OEM Integrator with a EQ to go along with?

Or a cheaper route would be just to get the Audiocontrol LC2i, then a nice EQ of your choice.

I use the LC8i, which feeds directly into sweet 20 band parametric EQ I designed, then the lovely EQ'ed preouts to my active amplifier setup.