I don't know the name... for RCA's

[DarkStars 10+ year member]

I forgot the name of what I'm thinking of... it's for RCA cabales to boost the signal, line something... line boosters? signal boosters? WHat are they called and also if you have those it bumps up the RCA Voltage alot, with those can you run an amp at full gain without cliping (set it high because of the boosted signal voltage) or is it better to set the gain to the head unit output? Thanks, I'd search but again I don't remember what they are called

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[ss3079 5,000+ posts]

Before I go any furthur, just want to make sure I know what you're talking about ... so is it a line driver ? http://www.sounddomain.com/sku/PHOTLD22 for example.

- Steve

 

[DarkStars 10+ year member]

That is exactly what I'm talking about

 

[jemorgan85 10+ year member]

That is exactly what I'm talking about

Is That all?

 

[DarkStars 10+ year member]

well the other part of my question is can you set the gain on the amp as high as you want with out cliping because of the higher voltage, or do you still have to match the head unit's output voltage?

 

[nosaj070 10+ year member]

You will need to set it lower due to the increase in input voltage.

 

[DarkStars 10+ year member]

wouldn't that almost defeat the point then if you need to set your gain lower?

 

[nosaj070 10+ year member]

No, it will allow for a lower signal to noise ratio, and a few other things that i'm not too positive, I have never seen the need for one in my case, but I know many SQ people use them.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

All a line driver does is allow you to make sure you get the maximum power out of your amp. Period. It will usually allow you to make max power at a low gain setting which is the whole reason they are used. It is not some magic box that allows your amps to do more than they would normally be able to do, and if you have a head unit with high voltage preouts (4V is pretty standard these days) they are usually not needed. Many SQ competitors use them to allow gain settings to be minimized (basically taking the input stage of the amp out of the noise equation) to keep the noise floor to a minimum. SPL competitors use them to split one sub channel to multiple amps without signal strength loss.

You still have to match the line driver to the headunit voltage and the amp to the line driver voltage.

 

[maylar 10+ year member]

My system has only 2V preouts, that actually make only 0.4V at the amp unclipped. My gains are set way high, and that annoyed me just on principle. So I put a line driver in there to see what it'd do.

Gain setting dropped to about 1/4 (that's good). No audible improvement in noise level. And the frequency response of the system went to hell at both ends (not good). I took it out.

 

[ssj2xxgotenxx 10+ year member]

My system has only 2V preouts, that actually make only 0.4V at the amp unclipped. My gains are set way high, and that annoyed me just on principle. So I put a line driver in there to see what it'd do.
Gain setting dropped to about 1/4 (that's good). No audible improvement in noise level. And the frequency response of the system went to hell at both ends (not good). I took it out.

So Line driver = bad?