JHZR2
Staff member
Hello,
I have a few questions regarding car audio...
First, I will be upgrading the speakers in my 1981 MB 240D. The PO took GREAT care of it, and the car is lik new, except that he took out the original headunit for a CD player. No big deal, I have a nice refurbished Becker headunit (original look) that even has a hidden MP3 playr input. OK, great, so I might as well put in some better speakers and whatnot then. Some of the speaker harnesses are a bit chopped though, so Ill have to do some soldering and adjustment.
I figure I might as well install a 4-channel amp while at it. Long story short, some amps have line output converters installed, others don't. This is a job that I want to "do right", but I dont care to spend $1000 on it either. So... Is there really a big difference in quality between using speaker level inputs into an amp (on a correct, speaker level input) vs. buying a LOC and wiring that in so that I then have line level inputs to the amp? The only differences I can see are perhaps a bit better circuitry and an additional ground. Can it make a very large difference?
Obviously speaker level in is easier. No wire runs are very long. However, I do not want to regret my installation chouce because of a hum, whine, clipping or any other sound quality consideration. Id imagine things would be about the same with either layout, but Id appreciate advice.
Second, if Im not playing loud, not pushing lots of power, and only driving four speakers, either at 4 ohm or 8 ohm, do I need to put a capacitor inline? Is it best practice, even if Im only looking at, say, 40W RMS per channel? Does it help protect the alternator or other electronic circuitry? Does it help the amp to start up faster, I can understand helping with transient loads, but I dont feel that the way I use the radio/amp, that I have anything very severe. Any other good reason to have one?
Thanks in advance,
JMH
I have a few questions regarding car audio...
First, I will be upgrading the speakers in my 1981 MB 240D. The PO took GREAT care of it, and the car is lik new, except that he took out the original headunit for a CD player. No big deal, I have a nice refurbished Becker headunit (original look) that even has a hidden MP3 playr input. OK, great, so I might as well put in some better speakers and whatnot then. Some of the speaker harnesses are a bit chopped though, so Ill have to do some soldering and adjustment.
I figure I might as well install a 4-channel amp while at it. Long story short, some amps have line output converters installed, others don't. This is a job that I want to "do right", but I dont care to spend $1000 on it either. So... Is there really a big difference in quality between using speaker level inputs into an amp (on a correct, speaker level input) vs. buying a LOC and wiring that in so that I then have line level inputs to the amp? The only differences I can see are perhaps a bit better circuitry and an additional ground. Can it make a very large difference?
Obviously speaker level in is easier. No wire runs are very long. However, I do not want to regret my installation chouce because of a hum, whine, clipping or any other sound quality consideration. Id imagine things would be about the same with either layout, but Id appreciate advice.
Second, if Im not playing loud, not pushing lots of power, and only driving four speakers, either at 4 ohm or 8 ohm, do I need to put a capacitor inline? Is it best practice, even if Im only looking at, say, 40W RMS per channel? Does it help protect the alternator or other electronic circuitry? Does it help the amp to start up faster, I can understand helping with transient loads, but I dont feel that the way I use the radio/amp, that I have anything very severe. Any other good reason to have one?
Thanks in advance,
JMH