So heres what i have done already. I have removed all the stock speakers, the stock amp and subwoofer assembly and began the install that I will later hate. The speakers I have reinstalled Kappa Perfect Comps in the doors with the crossover in the door as well sealed up nicely and the tweeter in the stock location. The rear doors are Eu700's for some mid bass and the rear will be Kappa Perfect 10's 3 of them. The amps are a ED 9.4 and a ED 9.1. I tapped the stock wires off the headunit and spliced them into RCA low inputs which was cake from all the STICKY'S up top and the wiring wasnt too bad either. The car just does not like to be apart is all. Well its all in and done and I notice something the inputs have almost no power to them. I tried to adjust the gains as ED reccomends and even at full power on the gains the output is less then half of what Im looking for. I know theres power, the amps are great, the wiring is flawless. So my only trace is the headunit puts out less then 1v on the preouts!!! So my question is do you guys have any experience with Line Drivers. Im planning a a 6 channel unit that has a few crossovers built in that will drive the power up to 8 volts allowing me a ton of adjustability at the amps. I want to know if anyone one else has experience with them.
Bose System adding a line driver
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It's weird that you aren't getting much signal from the stock outputs though--I have my memphis MC3004 hooked up directly to the stock BOSE radio outputs, and have plenty of signal, I have the gains at almost the minimum. Are you just not getting enough volume, or is there some other issue? I've never used a line driver for anything other than a sub amp, but I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work.
Im trying to setup like the ED setup tells me to and I just cant get the voltages Im looking for. The sound is great no matter the volume on the headunit its crystal clear its just not as loud as it should be. So the solution would be in my mind to wake up the power on the rcas and get the power I want so I can tune it correctly.
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This is exactly why many people champion setting your gains by ear other than any other method. The "problem" is that you have not set the gains to clip. The human ear can tolerate clipping to an extent, and by setting the signal so that it won't clip, you've limited the potential of your system.
Adding a line driver is not going to change anything. If you've set your system up using a multimeter or oscope, it's going to be the same volume no matter what is happening before the amplifier. You could have a discman plugged directly into your amplifier, and if you're setting the gain using a multimeter it will be the exact same level as your head unit with a 4 volt signal (assuming your amplifier has a sensitivity range that includes both of those levels ie .5v-5v).
If you want it to be louder there is one simple solution. Set your gains by ear. There are many many tutorials on this available. Set up your headunit correctly to be sending clean signal, then simply turn them up until it's either A) loud enough or B audibly clipping/distorting. back them off a tiny bit, and you're set. It's that easy
For further understanding see these links
http://www.bcae1.com/gaincon2.htm
http://www.bcae1.com/settinggainswithscope.htm
Adding a line driver is not going to change anything. If you've set your system up using a multimeter or oscope, it's going to be the same volume no matter what is happening before the amplifier. You could have a discman plugged directly into your amplifier, and if you're setting the gain using a multimeter it will be the exact same level as your head unit with a 4 volt signal (assuming your amplifier has a sensitivity range that includes both of those levels ie .5v-5v).
If you want it to be louder there is one simple solution. Set your gains by ear. There are many many tutorials on this available. Set up your headunit correctly to be sending clean signal, then simply turn them up until it's either A) loud enough or B audibly clipping/distorting. back them off a tiny bit, and you're set. It's that easy
For further understanding see these links
http://www.bcae1.com/gaincon2.htm
http://www.bcae1.com/settinggainswithscope.htm
I have been using this to setup the amps in fact
http://www.icixsound.com/vb/showthread.php?t=27819
But I cant the the voltages right unless I have the gains all the way maxed out and the volume at a rediculous level. I assume the voltage coming off the headunit is so low that the amps gains are having to overcome a huge amount of power. So more power from the preamps should mean lower gain setting to get to the voltages I want from the system correct.
Thats what I thought. On the subs I was looking for about 42volts which would be 1000 on the subs at 1.67 ohm and on the front speakers about 24v or 150w at 4ohms on those. Even with the volume all the way up and gains maxed out for example on the sub amp which is more the capable of 50v rms on my sony headunit which is in my old car im only getting to 36v. Now this is no brush off of power in terms of max to these subs but its not what Im aiming for. As well the 4 channel same cases in gains im only able to get to 18v. So my assumption would only lead to the preout just not having the power Im looking for or the amps cant get a good hold of power off a half volt preout? Line driver up to 6v and Bam I have all the tuning I want is the hope. If not like you said more power never hurts unless the amp cant handle it.That is correct. I didn't realize that you weren't able to get the correct voltage. If that is the case, a line driver should solve your problemsthere is never any harm in having a stronger signal.[/b]
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