Hi,

Ugh, I've tried posting this twice, but the site seems to keep dying. Anyway...

I tried doing a search on this but couldn't find anything.

My bf is trying to hook up an amp to his factory head unit. From what we understand, one way of doing this is to use a line output converter (LOC).

I thought that the way you wire it is to cut the existing speaker wire and connect the LOC to the head unit. Then, connect the LOC to the amp with the RCA wires, and run speaker wires from the amp to the speakers.

We weren't completely sure, so we went to Best Buy and asked the guys at the installation bay. They said you don't have to cut the wires. Instead, just connect the LOC by splicing into the speaker wire. So we wired everything up, but it seems like we can't adjust the sound. What I mean is that, the amp has the dials to adjust the low, mid, and high range, but when we turn them, it all sounds the same. Is this normal?

Jean

 

Is this amp hooked up to a sub or mids/highs? Did you use a separate LOC or does the amp have one? Which amp, brand & model? Did you tap into front or rear speaker leads?

 

I acutally got the answer to this on another board. We wanted to just hook up a 4-channel amp to a stock head unit, no sub.

I was told to just connect the LOC's by splicing into the factory speaker wires and then running speaker wires to the speakers.

Jean

 

actually ur best way to do this... is to take the rear speaker wires behind the radio ... cut them.... in half. so now u have two sets of speaker wire... the side going to the radio.. and ur going to add two PAC converters or line out converters... which will allow u to convert traditional speaker wires... into RCA cable outputs... now after installing ur output converter.. purchase a set of 4 channel rca cables.. about 17' and run them to the rear of the car....(make sure its not on the same side as the power wire to the amplifier or else ur goin to get engine noise in ur speakers... now take the other half of the wire u cut behind the head unit... and extend those wires about 10'each... and run them to the back... this helps alot and saves a lot of times.. rather then running new speaker lines to each of ur door panels... those are all the wires u need right there

 

Yeah, we did that, but just ran new speaker wire so we didn't have to cut the factory ones. (Just in case he ever puts it back to stock...)

Jean

 

work out good?