Kinda new and not too knowledgeable about stereos. I am installing my new JVC AR560 and I wanted to know.

Can I get my head unit to play some speakers through the stock plug in and feed an amp throught the rca line out to run some more speakers? I think the head unit would give enough power to the stock speakers I have and the amp could power a little kicker box that I want under the seat. Does the power going out the stock plug reduce if you plug in the rca out?

Hopefully you get what I'm talking about.
Thanks in advance!

 

couple o' questions:

1) how many channels is that amp youre planning to install?
2) how many subs are you planning to power w/ the amp?
3) how many front speakers are you running?

bob

 

I am planning on running 4 stock speakers off the head unit.
The amp is comming with two boxes that house a sub and I think a mid and a tweeter.
The setup worked well on my friends truck and I am brining the whole setup over to mine.
As for the channels, I will get back to you on that.

 

chris,

i am definitely not the stereo expert here...most of what i learned is from the guys here, but man, i'm curious to see what this looks like. so is the amp a mono amp? or a multi channel amp? and is the sub is in one box? and the mid and tweeters are in another? or all in the same box? do you have a pic of this? and did your friend wire up his system this way too?

so what it sounds like is this:

headunit ----> powering 4 stock speakers

if mono amp ---> powering single sub + mid + tweet

if multichannel amp ---> bridged someway to separately power sub as well as mdi + tweet

really, the only way to know what to do here is to know the specs of your equipment, headunit, etc as well as knowing what your friend did.

hopefully experts like cebby, davida, nizasnmonk, etc will chime in too

bob

 

if you search other forums, here is my recommendation. and this hasnt changed.

1. get the biggest and baddest speakers for the front doors.

2. then buy the biggest and baddest amp to power said front speakers.

3. forget rear speakers. ANY rear speakers.

4. get the biggest and baddest subwoofer(s) you can afford and find a space for.

5. buy the biggest and baddest amp to power said subwoofer.



look, in the car audio world, STEREO is still king. sure, you have DVDs and SOME multichannel procs out there.

now when you start to add speakers behind the driver, it tends to drag the IMAGE.

heck even the subwoofer can drag the image when you set the crossover point TOO high.

if you can, mount ALL speakers in front of the driver. after all, when was the last time you went to a live musical event and then turned around to face the back wall?????

as for the passengers, unless you carry passengers ALL THE TIMe, then MAYBE installing something back there.

when i competed in car audio contests back in the 90s, the in thing, when i left, was still 2 channels.

when i had my system installed, i had them install the top of the line (then) MB QUARTS 218s in all 4 doors. it was an insurance job... :evil smiley:

after a few years, it never made sense. plus i barely ever carried rear passengers so i cut out the rear speakers all together.

now back to the original poster.

if the amp is a 2-channel amp, i suggest hooking up the front speakers with amp. that way, you get the best sound.

now unless you want just a lot of BOOM, stick with the amp powering the sub, but loos the mid and tweets from it.

after all, i assume the sub box will be placed in the rear area cargo. you dont want the mids and highs being heard from the rear.

then buy a cheap amp to still power the front speakers. i dont care what numbers the manufacturers put on head units.

you just cant get enough watts from something that small!

 

To answer that question..no. You don't have much power to begin with anyways from any headunit. backing up what ldivinag said, your headunit will never put out more than 12-15 watts EVER. Doesn't matter what they advertise.

I would also work on the front stage (front speaker setup) first and formost. Bass is the most forgiving part of a system, so you can be a bit cheap on that if you want. Rear speakers...I'd try to avoid them if I could. Surround sound is great and all, but too many people have the misconception that more is better. If you have all of these speakers, but you don't have the proper channels, equalization, or even speaker placement then you just wasted your money.

 

I hope he/she didn't give you a home speaker cabinet?

 

they are 2 diff things.

the rca outputs are what generally called LOW level outputs.

speaker outs are HIGH LEVEL.

now the amplifier section (if you even really wanna call it that) of the head unit doesnt affect or isnt affected if you use the RCAs. and neither is the power going to the speaker outs.

if you think about it, all the source is coming from one place. now think about being able to remove the mini amp from the head unit. the source is split off between the RCA outs and the input to the mini amp.

make sense?

now, what is bad, is if you use the speaker outs and connect what's called a LINE LEVEL OUTPUT CONVERTER (LOC) to them and then connect them to a real outboard amp.

cause now, whatever noise or just is being outputter by the head unit's mini amp, will now be converted to a low level output, which then the real outboard amp will amplify.

now, some head units, mostly OEM ones dont have any RCA outs. and of course, if you need to add an outboard amp, your only choice is to use a LOC...

i'll tell you this, for the past 20 or so years, all the head units i bought didnt have a cheapie onboard amp. i figured back then, why spend for something i will never use. plus, the designers can add more cool things to the head unit (the sony heads i've been getting were the top ES models and they tend to have really better specs to boot).

an added bonus? no heat generated. especially in the cramp space where the head unit resides. and you know the biggest killer for electronics is heat...

 

Why oh why did sony not continue making the fantastic ES line.

 

because ... well you know what? i dont really know. i guess when they had that great ALL IN ONE PACKAGE that cost like ten grand (from head unit, processor, changer, amps and speaker) that may not have sold that well, their change in the silly XPLOD line was their solution.

guess quantity over QUALITY won out...

trust me, i have been going to CES since 1991. and since the mobile ES line disappeared, every year, i would ask their car audio dudes and get the same response.

that why, almost every week, i'm scouring ebay for a redundant/replacement unit for my XR-C900... sigh...

 

looking for a Denon Z1?

 

no i got 2 vehicles with the same electronics, except amp and speakers.

sony xrc-900
sony xdp-210
sony cdx-a91
sony xt-xm1

so i kinda locked myself into that - the sony unlink bus system... lol...

so far, besides the xm and sirius, which can be transported between cars, it's been livable.

no need for video.

got a gps + laptop for nav if i have to.

right now, what i would like passive head unit with a single CD with tons of digital signal procs.

or i spotted a cool set of zapco (remember them) digital amps with DSP built into it. you plug a computer via USB and control and set the stuff that way. or a half DIN control panel... kinda neat.

i saw the clarion one, but the faceplate is soooooo busy.

i wan a techie head. not much more for the CD playback but rather the features.

 

Sounds like you might like a Nakamichi cd-700

 

holy <expletive deleted>!

that's a sweet unit. i've always a sweet spot for naks. even back when they had the 1200 casette player...

analog volume button...

[homer] ahhhhhhhhhh [/homer]

 

Yeah, it's a pretty sweet unit. I have an older Nakamichi cd-30 in my 4runner, and I think it's great. I love the simplicity of the display and buttons.