Well, we are trying to wire up a laptop so that we can play it through a car stereo. It is a panasonic deck w/ mtx amps. All of the speakers run through the 2 amps. One for subs and one for the mids/highs. So, I am not sure if the deck has inputs. I think it has a cd changer input but it is not in rca form or anything usable witout an adapter.

In the past I have tried hooking the headphone jack output from the laptop directly to the rca input on an amp. It seems to work ok, but I do not want to damage anything.

First off will that damage anything(either the laptop, amp, or speakers). Second do you think it would be possible to run the input into the deck directly so that I wouldnt have to branch to both amps? Could I get an adapter from the cd changer to go to my headphone output or even rca cables? Again, I am wondering if this can be done without damaging anything. Is there by chance and adapter or device that will convert the signal to something that the input can read without being damaged?

:lala:

Thanks

Ben

 

i dont think it will hurt anything but im no expert.
I made a wire so I could play a electric giutar in the car (one end had the big headphone type jack and the otherend had two rca jacks).....that i pluged into my cars amp.

So when I got rid of the guitar I still had the wire.......so i cut off the big headphone jack and replaced it with a small one. Now I got it going from the back of this comp. to my big sterio tru the inputs,,,,same idea in a car. I have a JVC deck for sale thats got rca inputs on it.

 

Anyone else have any idea about this? I am not interested in the JVC though.

Ben

 

Depending on your head unit it may have an aux in option. A lot of times its primary purpose is for a cd changer, but can use any line level input. Which brings us to the second part of your question. The output from the headphone jack is different than a line level signal. Now this generally doesn't matter so long as you can keep the volume control on the laptop low. Does your laptop have a cable for A/V out? It looks like a headphone jack/plug but instead of 3 contacts it has 4. That would be the better way of getting the sound into the system otherwise if the volume on the laptop accidently got turned up you'd get bad distortion and possibly damage some equipment. You could get an EQ that way the rca cables from the head unit would go there as well as the ones for the laptop, then from there it would go out to the amps. You could also just get some sort of an A/V switch from somewhere like radioshack.

Why is it that you want to wire the laptop into the stereo? Are you just going to use it to play MP3s or for something else?

 

I don't see it hurting anything. This is essentially how I'm going to set up my in-car PC. (For playing mp3s, movies, etc.)

 

running the headphone output into an RCA input shouldn't cause any damage. The input impedance on most decks is very high, so compared to the 8-32 ohm impedance of most headphones, this will be a very easy load to push. Just make sure that you don't crank the headphone volume and overload the inputs. As long as you level-match it to one of your other inputs, you'll be just fine.

 

Does anyone know where to get the adapter for the cd changer input on the panasonic decks? Also, what kind of connection does it adapt to? Would it be something I could connect this to?

Ben

 

sorry man, i looked all over the major sites i know and couldn't find anything for the adaptor for the cd changer, whats your model number you might have a built aux. plug

 

This is not actually for my car, it is for my friends. I can find out the model number later though. I have a pioneer deck and I know it has an aux input. What kind of outputs do cd changers usually have by the way?

Ben

 

All changers (except maybe RF modulators) output at a line level. Some use RCA connections to the head unit for the audio in and a seperate connector for changer control, cd text, etc. Others have it all in one connector. The advantage to having an RCA input for a cd changer is that it can also be used as an aux. in, for dvd, video games, etc.