I am putting a coulple of 10's in my GF's 2000 Mitsu Eclipse. It has the infinity sound system which sounds really good, but she wants more bass. I would like to retain the stock head unit. how would I hook an amp to it? I know there is an RCA adapter thing, but I am not sure what it is called. Also, where would I find one? Easy to hook up? Thanks

 

any audio store should have it, it just converts speaker wires to rcas... or, if your amp has speaker wire inputs, you can just run the speaker wires directly do the amp...

 

the converter is called a "line level convertor, or if your amp has "high level inputs" you should be ok. Either way they are just +/- from two channels on your deck, usaually the back. Try that out, hope it helps

 

I'm doing this right now too. When I take two channels off my deck can I still run those speakers in parallel with the amp? How would I wire up the two channels? Does the line converter have inputs for two channels? I guess I'll find out tonight.

BTW the amp is for 2 12s It has RCA low input and speaker wires for high imput. also has active crossover.

 

yes you can still run those in parellel, and the line level does have two inputs also. Good luck

 

do her a favor and talk her into buying a real deck,some people say that stock decks are better.....hogwash! then you have at least a pair of real RCA outputs. pioneers,got a good line of headunits that aren't too expensive. Alpines are good,but i've heard they are going downhill...? take it from me,i ran the line converter in my friends car,you would be better off spending the money on a new head unit and marvel at the amazing all around sound and the friendly 4v pre-outs welcoming that amp!

 

4V? I was told that preouts were way less than that. I'll hook up the 'ole multi meter tonight and find out for sure. I'm doing this in my T-bird which has premium sound, so If I get a new HU then I have to replace everything. That's the project for next spring, along with a head grind and turbo swap. The eclipse I have now has 3 sets of preouts, very nice.

 

depends on how "premium" that stereo is. just don't use a $20 radioshack line converter,parts express has some decent ones. that are actually less than $20,but would be equivelent to a $40-$50 unit you would find in a store.

4 volts is peak,I'm assuming you know enough about the meter to look for AC voltage.....alot of guys look for DC...and that just doesn't belong in a signal path. check it out with an oscilloscope if you have one,I don't have one but I know that a wave would range from 0-4v with the volume turned up. the bottom line is that the amp can "see" what it has to amplify better,therfore producing a cleaner reproduction.

4 volts are offered on the good head units. some are good but still give half a volt which just isn't the same as 4 volts.

 

Yeah, that premium sound package is a misnomer. It should be called the "sounds like $hit hard as hell to work on" sound package. I'm not worried about quality right now. I just want to get it working. When it goes down in the spring virually everything is getting replaced bumper to bumper.