DIY amp intergration.... NO MORE RCA'S!

[hockeymutt]

hey hows it goin i just did an install on my 08 si coupe.

here it what you need:
metra harness and wire tap

heres what you do just take your after market head unit harness and wire it directly to the metra harness L+ TO L+ AND SO ON.

then on the small factory plug tap the amp turn on wire from you head unit to pin 15 of the factory side harness. metrra's directions say its sixteen but the harness on the back says 15 so i went with what honda said cause there is no wire in pin 16.

then connect harness to harness and enjoy the better sound!


http://documents.victorytechnologies...oduct/2250.pdf

i will get pics up tommorow cause i have to redue my d1 bypass....cause it said just hook it up to the + of the parking brake so i thought i could just wire it up to the acc and it would work...but it didnt.

so pics will be up soon....
hopes this saves some one 20 bucks or so on rca's enjoy!

[jlannoo]

wow thats easy, there is no problem with the fact that the signal is already using the after market head units amp and the honda factory amp? Anyway to maintain control over the factory sub?

[djdisturbed]

Originally Posted by jlannoo

wow thats easy, there is no problem with the fact that the signal is already using the after market head units amp and the honda factory amp? Anyway to maintain control over the factory sub?

yeah.... how did you bypass the amp that came in your Si? thats the reason you use the RCA outs on the aftermarket headunit b/c the Si already has an amp in it and its easier to bypass the headunit amp then it is to bypass the Si's amp

[hockeymutt]

its the same thing has hooking up rca's.... the will work just fine and no you do not have sub control..... i talked to my local installer and he said he does the same thing that i did and rca were not needed

[thedamaja]

Line Level and speaker level are not the same thing.

[hockeymutt]

this is true.... but if two companies(metra and the local guy) have told me to do this way i'm gonna go with what they say... i dont think metra would put time and effort into researching something and putting the directions in the harness if there was a better way.. but any way when you do it white rice's way your using a twisted pair not true rca's. twisted pairs are speaker wire with rca's solder at the end while, rca are one positive wire runing through it and shielded braid wrapping around the poistive side wire for noise interferance...

[djdisturbed]

Originally Posted by hockeymutt

this is true.... but if two companies(metra and the local guy) have told me to do this way i'm gonna go with what they say... i dont think metra would put time and effort into researching something and putting the directions in the harness if there was a better way.. but any way when you do it white rice's way your using a twisted pair not true rca's. twisted pairs are speaker wire with rca's solder at the end while, rca are one positive wire runing through it and shielded braid wrapping around the poistive side wire for noise interferance...

yes... but you also have to remember... there are several diff radios offered to civic owners, some of wich dont use external amps like the Si's do. In those instances the way you did it is the proper way, but if you civic uses an external amp, this method might work for a (short) while, but you MIGHT burn your OEM civic amp out causing speakers to stop working.

+ no sub control = worse then OEM radio.

and I find the local guys dont know SHIT about how sound systems really work (unless its a well known install company in the car audio world and even then, most of their installers are idiots), they just know how to run wires and read instructions. I went to college studying theatrical sound and lighting system design and currently design club sound systems, and i used to own a Bass competition vehicle (pushing 151.7bd of bass) so i know a thing or 2 about car audio systems.

[hockeymutt]

lol yea i understand that......i have an 08 si with the external amp..... and yes it does suck that this doesnt have sub control but it will soon be disconnected once i go back home to pick up my sub from my rsx.... but i've seen many people do this with stock amplifiers on my friends 02 mustang with mach audio system and he had no problem with 5 years of use on it.

[joon joon]

so where the pics at??

[hockeymutt]

lol yea sorry about that i'm leaving wed for 2 months for work and my roommate has stolen my camera.... so when i get back i'm putting in the cb100II so i will get pic then sorry about...

[thedamaja]

Originally Posted by hockeymutt

but i've seen many people do this with stock amplifiers on my friends 02 mustang with mach audio system and he had no problem with 5 years of use on it.

I'll agree that running speaker level to the amp will work but it all depends on your deck how well.

If you bought a new amp to go with your system are you going to feed it speaker level inputs? I know I wouldn't. It's no more work to wire RCA connectors than splice the harness together. So why not do it?

Line Level will always give you cleaner output than speaker level.

[djdisturbed]

Originally Posted by thedamaja

I'll agree that running speaker level to the amp will work but it all depends on your deck how well.

If you bought a new amp to go with your system are you going to feed it speaker level inputs? I know I wouldn't. It's no more work to wire RCA connectors than splice the harness together. So why not do it?

Line Level will always give you cleaner output than speaker level.

[hockeymutt]

well i just did it to save some money.....

[gr3yEX1]

For my setup I did it this way: FRONT output = RCAs splitted and wired to front channels, REAR output = Subwoofers (2 12's), and since the Pioneer 4000 only has 2 outputs front+rear I went ahead and wired the rears directly to the Pioneer head unit. Now everything runs clear and loud this way with a little bit of tweaking the fader. Also using the built-in HPF (high pass filter).

Will this setup with my rears being directly wired to the headunit's rear speaker wires lead to my factory amp burning out soon? Or will it take years..

[djdisturbed]

it could do it soon, or could take years, its hard to tell, more than likely it will run fine for a while and then you will start to hear the rear speakers start to cut out, or pop, squeal and make funny noises. Its better to do it right the first time and not have to worry about an even more exp fix later, get a speaker level to line level converter for the rear speakers, then you can use the speaker level output on you headunit and run it to the factory amp without issues, those converter only cost like $10-$20... a cheep investment compared to having to re-amp everything in the future.

[gr3yEX1]

Yeah I have a feeling it will break the amp in the future. I'm somebody who likes to take things apart anyways so if after a few years it happens its all good to me. I will just figure out another way to send signal to those rears =). Actually without the rears it sounds fine to me with just the fronts and subwoofers running. Having a subwoofer system really makes a big difference to me in sound. It's barely been a week since I installed my pioneer 4000 head unit and amp+subs.

You know what I actually have the amp bypass harness I bought from Crutchfield. I was thinking of calling them up today to request for a RMA, but now that you brought it up about breaking the amp in the future I might just keep it so if the amp goes out i'll just do it this way. Just my $0.02 =p

Also, in the future when I got money again I'm gonna change out all my factory speakers in the car etc.

You know

[djdisturbed]

well you can also run all 4 speakers from the front output, then you would your your F/R fade to adjust your sub level

[gr3yEX1]

Oh I see what you mean so everything will be equally balanced. I don't even think it would matter if your rears weren't connected to the rear wires because its basically the same sound coming out of the fronts. All it is really is signals to make the speakers work. Well on my particular head unit you can't adjust fade for the subs. Once I enable subwoofer on my deck the fader only applies for front and rear speakers. The only thing I can adjust for my subwoofer output is phase like normal or reverse, frequency, and bass boost.

You have a good point though and that could work also. But since I spent $30 on an amp bypass from crutchfield I might as well make use of it in the future. I'm tired of spending money on extra things like a LOC. Even the ipod adapter is $40 eh.

[gr3yEX1]

Originally Posted by djdisturbed

it could do it soon, or could take years, its hard to tell, more than likely it will run fine for a while and then you will start to hear the rear speakers start to cut out, or pop, squeal and make funny noises. Its better to do it right the first time and not have to worry about an even more exp fix later, get a speaker level to line level converter for the rear speakers, then you can use the speaker level output on you headunit and run it to the factory amp without issues, those converter only cost like $10-$20... a cheep investment compared to having to re-amp everything in the future.

One more thing since I'm saying alot here. Is this speaker level to line level converter something like this:
Parts Express:Audioplex SPKCNV Speaker Level To Line Level Converter

^That is pretty expensive, but looks really simple to use. I assume you meant for me to run that rca output directly to my front output on my head unit with the front and rear connected to those speaker level clips on the other side.

I researched that line level isn't as strong as speaker level so this way it shouldn't really blow out my factory amp correct?

[djdisturbed]

Well, Speaker level is a higher voltage signal then line level, Line level is what the head unit puts out to external amps, Its a lower BUT CLEANER SIGNAL and can run longer distances without signal loss (with a shielded wire) but is more prone to interfearance from power wires crossing over the wire (why you should use shielded wires), the output from the amp is speaker level, its alot stronger of a signal, but is prone to signal loss b/c resistance in the wire, but b/c its a stronger signal is not prone to external Interfearance.

One more thing since I'm saying alot here. Is this speaker level to line level converter something like this:
Parts Express:Audioplex SPKCNV Speaker Level To Line Level Converter

Thats kinda what i was talking about, the one I used to use was from Radio shack and only cost like $20 and was made for car audio, It had 4 wires commeing out of one end (the speaker level input) and 2 sets os RCA's comming out of the live level output side.
Scosche SLC4 Four-channel line output converter at Crutchfield.com