install an amp to facotry H/U - no low level converter

[TXST8tj 10+ year member]

is it ok to install an amp to a facotry h/u without using a low level line converter thing?

my buddy is in the process of hooking up a 4 channel amp in his 08 tahoe, with a non bose factory headunit. he's going to run the RCAs from the amp to the headunit by cutting off the RCA ends at the headunit end and just splicing the speaker wires from the h/u harness to the bare ends of the respective RCAs.

is that an ok way of doing it?

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[budahbuddy803 10+ year member]

why not just buy a low level converter?? i have one ill sell you for like $15 shipped.

 

[MikeyB 5,000+ posts]

Not going to have the voltage at the amp due to the lack of the converter.

At least thats what I would think, I may be wrong.

 

[budahbuddy803 10+ year member]

Not going to have the voltage at the amp due to the lack of the converter.
At least thats what I would think, I may be wrong.

i agree, pm if you want the low level...

 

[TXST8tj 10+ year member]

just curious, but why would there be less voltage at the amp? the converter is not a power booster, it just converts speaker wire to RCAs....right?

 

[Worlddre 5,000+ posts]

you all have it backwards the amplifier will see extremely high input voltage as rca input is a low voltage 1v-8v while speaker level is much higher voltage thus he will very likely have way too much input voltage and thus may see full volume with little to no gain at all...

the LOC converts high voltage speaker level signal to low voltage rca signal //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

 

[MikeyB 5,000+ posts]

you all have it backwards the amplifier will see extremely high input voltage as rca input is a low voltage 1v-8v while speaker level is much higher voltage thus he will very likely have way too much input voltage and thus may see full volume with little to no gain at all...
the LOC converts high voltage speaker level signal to low voltage rca signal //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

Ahhh yes, you are correct. I knew it was one way or the other lol, just didnt take the time to think about it.

 

[Horsemanwill 10+ year member]

some amps will allow you to do it it just matters what amp it is

 

[TXST8tj 10+ year member]

Worlddre...thanks for the info. that's what i was looking for. he ended up hooking it up and thinks one of his speakers is blown. it sounds like it might possibly be getting too much 'volume'. i'll tell him to go ahead and get the LOC.

 

[Tehgregzor 10+ year member]

heh. many amps have speaker HIGH level inputs. I'm gonna go out on a limb here...and say that splicing the RCA into the end of the speaker wire was a horrible idea.

 

[manbeer 10+ year member]

A lot of times if the car has a factory amplifier, you can tap into the leads coming from the H/U before the amplifier and receive a good low level signal

 

[TXST8tj 10+ year member]

going to get the PAC OEM-GM1416 thing. it is a low level converter that plugs right into the factory harness (in-line with the radio and harness). also has the remote wire connection and fixes the door chime issue.

 

[Horsemanwill 10+ year member]

some newer amps, i want to say mtx, you can actually do that and splice the end of rcas into the speaker wire and on the amp there is a switch you can flip and run it that way.

 

[TXST8tj 10+ year member]

yeah, the basic idea works, it's just not the right way to do it i guess.

unfortunately, this amp does not have the low level converter built in like some amps.

the PAC adapter should do the trick...just costs $50.

 

[18inchjeepin 10+ year member]

the pac oem is nice, I use one for my HHR, the adjustable outputs put out a pretty strong signal