Amplifier RCA cable Questions

Joined: 08 Apr 2003 Location: Camden, Sydney

I just got a new 1000 watt 4 channel amplifier ( thanks spazbot ) and it sounds sweet as.

Unfortunatly it needs an RCA cable for channels 1 and 2, and then a sperate RCA cable for channels 3 and 4.

My headunit only has one RCA cable output. I have heard that u can get an adapter of some sort that will turn the normal speaker cables ( as in the 4 cables for the front 2 speakers off the headunit ) into RCA cables so i can run another set??

Does anyone know anything about this?
any help would great.

cheers

Screwy

Joined: 15 Nov 2002 Location: Driving my GU in Melbourne

auto electrical section

Joined: 05 Dec 2003 Location: Brisbane Australia

Screwy_ScrewBall wrote:

I just got a new 1000 watt 4 channel amplifier ( thanks spazbot ) and it sounds sweet as.

Unfortunatly it needs an RCA cable for channels 1 and 2, and then a sperate RCA cable for channels 3 and 4.

My headunit only has one RCA cable output. I have heard that u can get an adapter of some sort that will turn the normal speaker cables ( as in the 4 cables for the front 2 speakers off the headunit ) into RCA cables so i can run another set??

Does anyone know anything about this?
any help would great.

cheers

Screwy

yeh ya can get thse from autobarn brisbane carsound or jaycar etc

however, your amp may have high level inputs, which means you plug the speaker outputs from the head deck straight into it.

also you could just get some rca splitters and feed the front channel into both channels of the amp, or there may be a witch on the amp to swap between 2 channel input and 4 channel input.

all you will really gain from having the split channels, is fading between channels, which you should be able to do with the gains on the amp (if theyre seperate).

Joined: 25 May 2003 Location: Redbank Plains, QLD

pair of rca splitters maybe ....

Joined: 22 Oct 2002 Location: On a mission...

Shadow wrote:

Screwy_ScrewBall wrote:

I just got a new 1000 watt 4 channel amplifier ( thanks spazbot ) and it sounds sweet as.

Unfortunatly it needs an RCA cable for channels 1 and 2, and then a sperate RCA cable for channels 3 and 4.

My headunit only has one RCA cable output. I have heard that u can get an adapter of some sort that will turn the normal speaker cables ( as in the 4 cables for the front 2 speakers off the headunit ) into RCA cables so i can run another set??

Does anyone know anything about this?
any help would great.

cheers

Screwy

yeh ya can get thse from autobarn brisbane carsound or jaycar etc

however, your amp may have high level inputs, which means you plug the speaker outputs from the head deck straight into it.

also you could just get some rca splitters and feed the front channel into both channels of the amp, or there may be a witch on the amp to swap between 2 channel input and 4 channel input.

all you will really gain from having the split channels, is fading between channels, which you should be able to do with the gains on the amp (if theyre seperate).

Can also use a multi channel active crossover. Coustic do a decent one.

Joined: 25 Oct 2003 Location: Melbourne Australia

Shadow wrote:

there may be a witch on the amp to swap between 2 channel input and 4 channel input.

I'd be surprised if this isn't the case (it'll be a switch though, not a witch).

Take a good look.

Jason

Joined: 08 Nov 2002 Location: Sydney

there is no switch, i was running rca splitters on it with my headunit that only had 2 channel out, there is also a smaller high level input for wiring the speakers up directly but i lost the cable for this.

Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Location: Melbourne

it is a line level coverter available from Jaycar....

but most good amps should have these inputs

http://www1.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=AA0480&CATID=24&keywords=&SPECIAL=&form=CAT&ProdCodeOnly=&Keyword1=&Keyword2=&pageNumber=&priceMin=&priceMax=&SUBCATID=619

Joined: 22 Jan 2004 Location: eastern melbourne

I had to run spliters with my old system worked fine were about $15 each from JB HIFI.

Joined: 24 Feb 2003 Location: Melbourne

moved topic to auto elec section.. Cool

Joined: 30 Dec 2002 Location: Adelaide

The best sound quality would be gained by using the RCA splitters, and then setting the front to rear fade by the amp gains. It just means you won't be able to adjust the front to rear fade from the headunit.

Using the high level head unit outputs and then a line level convertor to reduce the level again will introduce more noise, distortion etc.

Two of these will do the job:
http://www1.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=PA3560&CATID=35&keywords=&SPECIAL=&form=CAT&ProdCodeOnly=&Keyword1=&Keyword2=&pageNumber=&priceMin=&priceMax=&SUBCATID=597

Joined: 08 Apr 2003 Location: Camden, Sydney

so RCA splitters allow 1 pair of speaker wires to turn into an rca cable so u need 2 in total for the 4 wires of the front headunit speakers? then these just plug into the amp as normal????

screwy

Joined: 30 Dec 2002 Location: Adelaide

Going by your original post you've one pair of RCA outputs on your headunit? These are line level (or low level) outputs before the signal is amplified by your headunit's internal amplifier. Your speaker outputs are the same signal after amplification (ie are a much higher level to drive the speakers.)

The one pair of RCA's can be split using the above adaptors (two are needed as you said) to give two pairs of RCA output for your four channel amp. The only problem with doing it this way is you'll have to set the front to rear fade by using the input level adjustments on your amplifier (there should be two on the amp). Once it's set though you shouldn't need to adjust it again anyway.

If you use the convertors mentioned earlier they hook up to your amplified speaker outputs and then convert the signal back to a low level output again to feed into your amplifier. So in effect the signal is getting amplified, reduced and then amplified again- this will cause distortion, unwanted noise etc. The convertor will also cost more and you'll have to mount it somewhere on your dash. The advantage is you'd have fader control readily on it for the front to rear.

There is another type of convertor I just found that will work on your single pair of RCA outputs (rather than the speaker output). It goes on your dash and gives you fader control- it would be a good option if you want to adjust the fader control regularly:

http://www1.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=AA0485&CATID=&keywords=fader&SPECIAL=&form=KEYWORD&ProdCodeOnly=&Keyword1=&Keyword2=&pageNumber=&priceMin=&priceMax=&SUBCATID=

Joined: 08 Apr 2003 Location: Camden, Sydney

interesting......
im gonna have to have a bit more of a look into this. thanks for the advice guys Smile