H/U's internal amp OFF?

[marcopolo 10+ year member]

Hi!

Is there any (simple or a little less simple) way to turn the internal amp of the head unit OFF, so it wouldn't get so hot? All of my speakers are externaly amplified and the head unit does not have a Built-in function to turn the amps off.

Thanx for your time!

BYE!

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[Wonderbread 5,000+ posts]

if your speakers are externally amplified, then you are not running them off the amplified speaker outs,,, only the preouts...

right?

so then, the amp is being bypassed and is not working...

so your internal amp is not running, and something else is causing the heating...

mine is doing the same **** thing...

any ideas on how to remedy the heat issues??

 

[marcopolo 10+ year member]

Are you saying that my Alpine somehow "auto-detects" if the speakers are connected to the internal amp??? It sure is bypassed, like you said, but I don't think in is turned off.

My h/u doesnt get as hot to be problematic, but I think it must be the internal amps still working (although not being used), otherwise the unit would be cold (or ta room temperature, if you like it). I dont think that a CD mechanism can cause that kind of heat, if any.

What do you think?

 

[Wonderbread 5,000+ posts]

well, hook up an amp.....

a regular old 4 channle or whatever amp...

run teh power wire, etc, but dont connect it to any speakers...

it wont get warm as it is not completing a circuit and not doing any work...

if the amp is not connected, it should not be what is getting warm...

do yuou ahve any idea how fast CD's spin?

thaty can get them very very warm....

im not an expert on the elctronics, but how old is teh deck?

also, certain instrallations are not good for decks... sometimes, the way it is placed ni teh dash can not promote airflow and will cause it to keep excess heat rather tahn dispersing it...

did you install it yourself?

 

[marcopolo 10+ year member]

Yeah, maybe you're right. The internal amp is probably off if you don't use it, but why do some newer units have an extra switch to turn them off, in case if you might wanna power speakers externaly??

If the spinning of the CD itself would cause so much heat, then I suppose it would be the same with Discman, but as you know they dont get that hot. I dont think the mechanism causes heat anyway.

My h/u is Alpine CDE 7854R and it is about 4 years old. I installed myself and I made sure to keep enough room around it for the air to circulate. I should probably say it again: the unit doesnt get as hot to be problematic (when I used internal amp it got 5 times hotter for sure), but I'm still curious what is causing the heat that is there.

Maybe it's just the way it is. I suppose you can't blame the preouts??

 

[Wonderbread 5,000+ posts]

i doubt you can blame it on the preouts, or even teh spinning...

older units, tend to get hotter as tehy get worn out and such not...

plus warm weather doesnt help, lol.

if its only getting warm, then its usually nothing to worry about, but if your disks start to melt, start looking at new ones, lol.

which units have these switches, i ahve never heard of/seen those switches...

 

[marcopolo 10+ year member]

There is for example the Kenwood KDC-MP919 MP3 receiver that has a switch to turn the internal amp down.

Here is a part of the product info:

"... With the KDC-919 you get a powerful 50 watts x 4 (max), three sets of 4.5 volt pre-outs, and a switchable muting circuit for the built-in amp to maximize audio performance when using external amps."

I guess that muting circuit is for turning the internal amp down when you dont need it, right? But why would you need one, if the int. amp would not work anyway if it wasn't used? I think that if you switch it off, you eliminate all the electro-static or whatever noises coming out of internal amp (even if not working), kinda like those face plates that can be turned off (I think Clarion has that) to gain the clearest signal possible.

 

[Wonderbread 5,000+ posts]

hrm, couldnt tell ya, its hte first i ahve seen about that...