Will downgrading by 2v of preout make that much of a difference?

[Slamuwell Jaxon 10+ year member]

What's up guys, I'm new to these forums lol. Well anyway, my audio system consists of a Kenwood eXcelon x492 with Pioneer door speakers (mid-line, sorry I can't recall the exact model XD) and 2 MTX 5500 and accompanying amp that I got for free //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif and for the most part, I love my system. The only gripe I have is that the iPod navigation on the x492 is TERRIBLE. I'm thinking about upgrading (?) to the Alpine x100 which I noticed has more output to the speakers but 2v less preout. Do you think I would notice the difference in a bad way? Thanks in advance.

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[BobbyDD 10+ year member]

no

 

[BobbyDD 10+ year member]

You need to adjust your gain properly either way.

 

[revrider1 5,000+ posts]

It will make a differance

 

[funkycasey 10+ year member]

Doesn't it increase line noise when you have lower voltages going through the RCA's? And the potential to loose some of the signal if going through a long RCA wire? And of course you have to turn up the gain more on the amp. Could get a line driver to increase the voltage if you had any problems with the new Head unit, though.

 

[lvjeffro 10+ year member]

Buy the pxa-h100 imprint controller and you get all of the eq features and 4v preouts...

 

[Symon_say 10+ year member]

I noticed a huge diff when I went from a 2v head unit to a 4v. But maybe I kept the gains at the same point?

That or you get a better HU.

 

[AAAAAAA 10+ year member]

Just swaping out an HU with higher voltage will sound different then the other because it will be louder. It's all about setting the gains correctly. Lower HU voltage means more gain at the amp and the oposite is true to.

 

[dipitydoo 10+ year member]

Less voltage means gains will be set higher. That being said, if you don't have audible noise due to the higher gain setting, it will make no other difference. In my experience, with HU with 2V output, I haven't had noise problems caused by lack of output. Any noise present was due to induced noise amplified by a higher gain setting.

 

[eharri3 10+ year member]

I noticed a small decrease in noise level when I went from my cheap, 5 year old Alpine tape deck that probably made 1.5 or so volts per channel to my 2 volt, but I have quite a few selections I play that have background hiss in them. Before it was loud, now it's barely noticable unless I crank the volume.

What I've always wondered, and maybe someone can answer this: My understanding is when a head unit is putting out its max voltage output it's reached its maximum clear undistorted volume level. If you take a 2 volt head unit and compare it to say a 4 volt or higher head unit, wouldn't this mean that the high-voltage head unit probably reaches its maximum output at a higher volume level, meaning that the higher voltage HU can go louder without distortion and is likely to have more clarity and less distortion than the lower-voltage unit at the same volume level? I understand that it won't make one louder than the other but wouldnt it be reasonable to say that if you're looking at two accurately rated head units, if one is 2 volts and the other is say 6, the 6 volt HU will go louder while staying distortion-free?

 

[blazinb2000 10+ year member]

I have not noticed a difference going from a 4v unit to a 2v unit as long as the gains are set correctly and accordingly.

 

[dipitydoo 10+ year member]

I noticed a small decrease in noise level when I went from my cheap, 5 year old Alpine tape deck that probably made 1.5 or so volts per channel to my 2 volt, but I have quite a few selections I play that have background hiss in them. Before it was loud, now it's barely noticable unless I crank the volume.
What I've always wondered, and maybe someone can answer this: My understanding is when a head unit is putting out its max voltage output it's reached its maximum clear undistorted volume level. If you take a 2 volt head unit and compare it to say a 4 volt or higher head unit, wouldn't this mean that the high-voltage head unit probably reaches its maximum output at a higher volume level, meaning that the higher voltage HU can go louder without distortion and is likely to have more clarity and less distortion than the lower-voltage unit at the same volume level? I understand that it won't make one louder than the other but wouldnt it be reasonable to say that if you're looking at two accurately rated head units, if one is 2 volts and the other is say 6, the 6 volt HU will go louder while staying distortion-free?

A higher output voltage from your head unit does not make the sound any clearer or more distortion free. This has to due with your system noise floor, not your distortion level. The only thing it will do is change the amount of noise in the system due to change in gain of the amp. As you should know, when you increase the gain on your amp, so does noise. A higher voltage allows the amp to make full power at a lower gain setting, thereby, minimizing noise.

 

[MrDave 10+ year member]

That was a pretty good explanation.

Higher voltage will make your system "stronger". Often, that is associated with clearer. It really depends on what the rest of your equipment is to be able to judge if a downgrade will affect anything.

 

[ghart999 10+ year member]

Buy the pxa-h100 imprint controller and you get all of the eq features and 4v preouts...

This should be required equipment with the X100. Back to 4V and all the Bass Engine Pro features, plus Imprint.

 

[FoxPro5 5,000+ posts]

Does switching from an amp with 4000 watts peak power to one with 2000 watts peak power make a difference?

Preout voltages are peak measurements.

The answer to your question cannot be answered until you define "that much."