Rockbox car audio with iPod connected directly to amp

[drpeeb 10+ year member]

I'm waiting to hear the explanation of this one, too //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Yeah, me too ... and for the record, I do not think I know it all, by any means ... I do think I'm logicial, and I do have some experience with musical equipment. My experience is that 100% gain settings, as well as volume levels, aren't good, lead to clipping, distortion, excessive power usage for nothing, etc, so I've set it at about 85% and notice nothing bad so far. Set on the high side, but seems fine.

Man, I'm just looking for logic to try to understand!! ... not bashings and "You moron, you're an idiot for not doing it just because we said so." ... Actually, when people put their opinion that way, it pretty much makes me figure they must not actually know why themselves, and they just do it because someone else told them to ... Like they're either not smart enough, or too lazy, or whatever, to try to actually understand themselves.

I guess it's easier & faster to type "You bleepin' moron, you're an idiot for not just doing it" than it is to type an explanation of why.

Or they're just some internet bozo that has nothing better to do than to try to mis-lead people. But, nah that wouldn't happen here.

 

[drpeeb 10+ year member]

yes, but if you're happy with how you've got it, **** it! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/tongue.gif.6130eb82179565f6db8d26d6001dcd24.gif

OK ... Since I do not know everything, and since several people (or a bunch??) think I need either a HU or a line driver, and since I'm game for an experiment, and since I like to think I'm not closed-minded, and since it was only $25, I went ahead and ordered a PAC line driver.

Now, I hope this one will do what you all had in mind: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350172809561

I'll report back on the results ASAP.

If it's reasonable I'm going to wire it in on a switch so I can go back-and-forth between with-it and without-it to try to hear the difference ... hoping all the while I can avoid over-driving the amp when the line driver is on.

This of course isn't going to change the "ghetto" look someone accused my setup of having, but maybe it will sound better .. I dunno, I still doubt it. We'll see.

 

[flaboy 10+ year member]

where in florida do you live?

 

[sappyswami]

drpeeb you ****ing moron. seriously.
Go ahead turn your gains up to 100% then. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

****ing newbs think they know it all.

Awesome, thanks for being a little *****. That was super helpful to me and my post!

Wow.

Drpeeb: I'm interested in if there is any difference after that line driver. But honestly all I see it doing is letting you turn down your gain, and I don't see why that is important as long as there's no distortion.

And here I thought you were mostly kidding when you said people flip out when you go against the status quo on these forums, haha.

 

[drpeeb 10+ year member]

Awesome, thanks for being a little *****. That was super helpful to me and my post!
Wow.

Drpeeb: I'm interested in if there is any difference after that line driver. But honestly all I see it doing is letting you turn down your gain, and I don't see why that is important as long as there's no distortion.

And here I thought you were mostly kidding when you said people flip out when you go against the status quo on these forums, haha.

Ha-ha! I always feel like I gotta defend myself to those dudes; I need to learn to just ignore 'em.

I agree: Seems like it's just going to let me turn down the amp's gain, and since I'm not hearing any distortion right now, I'm not sure how that's gonna help. It's probably just going to introduce another source for alternator whine!

I see the line driver has now arrived at my local USPS - Will respond back as soon as I can get it and give it a with-and-without listen.

 

[drpeeb 10+ year member]

OK ... the PAC TURBO 1 Line Driver came in ... So far NOT GOOD

Granted I was in a hurry as it was my lunch time.

It has only 2 wires; A power wire (with a 3A in-line fuse holder) and a ground wire that it says to use only if you get no sound.

I connected the PAC's power wire to my amp's remote power-on wire (which comes off a switched circuit on my truck's fuse panel), plugged the RCA's from my iPod in to the PAC's input L & R, then connected the PAC's RCA L & R outputs to my amp's inputs. Since instructions said to use ground only if I get no sound, I didn't connect it.

Turned down the PAC's L & R gain levels all the way.

Turned down my amp's gain to the middle level, zero gain I guess it is.

Turned the PAC on, and Look out: Massive hiss/ squeal/ popping, and even an alternator-like whine, etc. .. and the engine wasn't even running (key was in the ACC position)!!

I turned it off as quick as I could possibly reach the key ... sounded like it was going to damage my speakers.

I unhooked it and went back to no line driver for the ride back to work.

I will re-connect tonight, including the ground wire, try it again ... but it doesn't seem good right now.

Stay tuned for the next (possibly final) chapter in my attempt at using a line driver ...

 

[drpeeb 10+ year member]

... I'm interested in if there is any difference after that line driver. But honestly all I see it doing is letting you turn down your gain, and I don't see why that is important as long as there's no distortion ...

UPDATE on the PAC TURBO 1 line driver, mostly good news:

First, I discovered that the cause of all the noise/ popping/ hissing was due to the iPod's 12V charger being plugged in at the same time as the PAC. They do not get along. As soon as I unplugged the 12V charger, the PAC worked fine.

Recall that the PAC's instructions say "do not use the ground wire ... unless you get no sound" ... Well, I found that I must have the ground wire connected for the PAC to work at all.

How well it works: While I would say the PAC is not necessary for my iPod-straight-into-amp setup, it does seem to help some with the overall "fullness" of the sound. I don't have any better way to put it than that since I have no way to measure the signal quality (does anyone??) I would equate the PAC to driving two cars at 100 mph: If you're in a car that goes 105 mph max, you get the feeling that you're just about maxxing the car out. But when you're doing 100 in a car that tops out at say 160, 100 mph is nothing for it. Again, not necessary, but kind of nice. A more powerful feeling.

I settled on an amp gain setting of zero with the PAC's levels set at about 85%. This makes the "normal listening volume range" match up with approximately the middle of iPod's volume controller range, instead of its far upper limits. Previously I couldn't over-drive my speakers; It would get loud but no speaker distortion. Now I have the capacity to over-drive the speakers. While this isn't something you want to do, it's good to have that headroom when you listen to an old song, or a quietly recorded song.

The end, for now anyway. (Guess I gotta go add the PAC to my signature)

 

[flaboy 10+ year member]

where in florida do you stay....i'll show you the difference of running "ghetto" ipod-amp and the correct way ipod-h/u-amps......and show you the SQ difference

 

[drpeeb 10+ year member]

where in florida do you stay....i'll show you the difference of running "ghetto" ipod-amp and the correct way ipod-h/u-amps......and show you the SQ difference

I appreciate the offer, but I'm kind of enjoying learning how/ why as I go.

I'll post some pics as soon as my sub box dries (d@mn FL rain) so you can see that my setup isn't very ghetto.

I have no idea why it took me so long to realized this: In my Kawasaki Mule I have a $100 2008 Sony HU with an aux input on the front. The HU has an aux level controller/ booster ... and while it sounds great, it doesn't sound any better than my iPod-straight-into-amp setup.