I have kenwood KDC-138, I believe. It has power, to power the speakers. I want to hook up an amp. What are those circuits that cut out the power and only allow the signal to go to the amp? I hope that this description is good.
Easy car stereo question,powered stereo to amp...
- Thread starter daves66nova
- Start date
RCA's usually, They send a low current signal to the Amplifier. Are you going to run a Subwoofer?
Line level
RCA cables from the stereo are ideal but you can get a line level converter to use the speaker wires as the signal if you need to.
Ok, that's what I needed thanks. yes, Ill be running a sub
JHZR2
Staff member
Some amps have a line level input. Less wiring at least... I’d look for that route.
I'm not a professional audio guy, But I dabble with it on my own vehicles.
Most younger folks run a Amp to drive a Sub or Subs & drive the other 4 speakers with the internal Amp in the head unit....It sounds horrible & that's putting it nicely. But they're after hard hitting bass on the outside of the vehicle & don't care about good sounding full range inside the vehicle.
I wouldn't use that head unit, I would find a head unit with 6 Preamp Outputs that doesn't "clip" at maximum volume.
Then run a 5 Channel Amplifier or a 4 Channel to drive the front & rear speakers plus a 1 Channel to drive a Sub. Or a 2 Channel if you're driving 2 Subs. Wattage will depend on how loud you want it & how much your speakers will handle. Of course the alternator, battery, & cables need to be able to support the audio system along with the rest of the vehicle.
Good Component Speakers with Crossovers in the Front makes a BIG difference in my opinion. I'm running some JL C3's in my Camaro & I'm amazed how clear they are at high volumes (@60 watts RMS each)
60 watts RMS x 4 + 400 watts RMS x 1 at 4 ohms makes for a pretty good system in general, 150 amp Alternator & 4ga cable will run it.
this is just for my '87 Toyota truck, daily driver. I don't really want to put in a good system in this truck, as it's very easy to break in to.
Head unit itself should put out enough power for a decent pair of coaxial speakers. If you have the space in the cab you can install an under seat powered sub or mount to rear wall of cab. Most have high-low line converters build in you can run the rear speaker leads to the sub. Or shop Walmart and get 6x9 speaker boxes For the rears
That's called a line-level preamp output. I've never wired up a car stereo before. I've had a some home audio receivers that had a preamp output but there was no way to completely turn off the amp itself. There were jumpers from pre-out to main-in.
For this one I don't see any way to access a line level. Yours only has amplified outputs meant to go directly to speakers. It comes with a specific port with a wiring harness. The diagram is on page 16.
There are aftermarket wiring harnesses. There might be different ways to do it. At least in some powered home subwoofer setups, they can take a speaker level output. It does introduce a bit of noise and distortion compared to true line-level. The harness looks like this:
For this one I don't see any way to access a line level. Yours only has amplified outputs meant to go directly to speakers. It comes with a specific port with a wiring harness. The diagram is on page 16.
There are aftermarket wiring harnesses. There might be different ways to do it. At least in some powered home subwoofer setups, they can take a speaker level output. It does introduce a bit of noise and distortion compared to true line-level. The harness looks like this:
That deck has a front and rear line-level pre-output. There is no need to use a line-out converter. The pre-outputs are a "cleaner" audio source for the amplifier anyways.
I missed that earlier. See it now with jacks for the rear pre. I'm still not sure what's done with a sub. There's also nothing for the front pre with the KDC-138.
I found this, which shows it doesn't have a front pre output.
Kenwood KDC-138 Car Stereo (KDC138) - Sonic Electronix
Kenwood KDC-138 • AM/FM CD Player Car Stereo In-dash AM/FM CD player • Dot matrix display • 50W x 4 chan. Max • 22W x 4 chan. RMS • Playback of CD CD-R and CD-RW • 1 set of 2V preamp outputs rear/subwoofer • Clean Reception System Circuit
www.sonicelectronix.com
