Author Topic: Pics inside (need a little help with connecting sony h/u to boot build)  (Read 2663 times)

Offline dan832

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hello
just purchased a new sony cd player for my car, it comes with 2 rca out put at the back of the head unit, but i have 5 amplifier wires and when i pulled my old one out i dont really know where they go? can someone help?

ive been told i need RCA splitters for them but if anyone can advise me on how to link them up i would appreciate it.






Offline russ-vdub

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When you say 2 RCAs you mean 2 pairs yeah?

To only have 5 connectors at the HU end is not right, you are missing one somewhere surely. 2 pairs for the front and back speakers and 1 pair for the sub woofer.

If you're HU doesnt have an output for a woofer then imo you should buy one, no point in starving your amplifers of signal power when you could get things balanced a lot better.

To solve your problem you need splitters yes :)

Offline jv

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You sure you can only find 5 rca's at the head unit end? Looks like you have 3 pairs appearing at the amps. Need to trace which ones are which really, if you want to be able to fade the output with the headunit. You could use y leads or see if any of the amps have a signal pass through option. :)
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Offline dan832

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im wondering if the longest wire is powering the sub?

and the other two pairs powering front and back, but even if i get Y splitters i only have 2 female RCA output in the rear of my new sony cd head unit. The bottom RCA output says sub rear out... i could get 2 female to 1 male X2 but where would i connect the 5th lead up to?

when i pulled it out of the car it had the 4 2 pairs of wires connected to the only head unit and im guessing the 5th longest one was never connected, does this mean the subs werent on? how would i connect all 5?


Offline S11EPS

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im wondering if the longest wire is powering the sub?

The longest one in that picture is powering the sub; if you look at it, it has two wires going into a single connectore, whereas the others use only one wire per connector each.

It would appear that the sub has been powered via a mono output in the past. Simplet solution is to either chop that one connector off and solder on two new ones (giving yourself a third full set of RCA's) or replace that set if you aren't comfortable with soldering.

There are options for connecting a multi RCA set up with only a single set of outputs, however, thet are very difficult to set up as the qualistation and gains are adjusted through pots on a crossover network and they will be set at fixed parameters, not easily adjustable per track/music type/vehicle passenger loads etc.

Far easier, as other have suggested, will be to trade your headunit for something with three sets of RCA outputs - typically a front set, a rear set and a non fading (sub) out.

This will allow you to connect each amplifier correctly, and give you full fading functionality from your headunit.

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Offline russ-vdub

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^^ Good spot, didnt see there was 2 wires into the longer one! But yeah splitting one pair of RCAs to three sets of cables is never good.

Plus remember the HU is the source of all your music, if you have a sh!t one then it don't matter what you have in the boot, the output will always be the same ;) Decent HU first is the place to start, no point in stretching a sh!te one over all those amps. Makes no sence imo.

Offline dan832

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ive just got the Sony xplod cdx gt444u.... it has 2 pre output... one for dedicated sub.. but i toook it to cartech in sheffield... someone at the top said are you sure there isnt an extra male wire attactched to the 5th one, lol there was..

So in all theres 3 amps in the boot, 1 amp powering the 2 subs, 1 amp powering the rear 6x9s and the other powering the front. They gave me the option of splitters and either linking sub and rear up or sub and front up, thats all i can do with that head unit unless i have a 3 pre out put... i should have done my research into headunits and what would have been ideal for my sound system but like an idiot i jumped straight in and got the 1st one i saw that looked good.

So what would you suggest i go for Subs and rear 6x9s??? theyre fitting it tomorrow at £40

Offline russ-vdub

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Why don't you split all the components from say the front RCAs on your HU and then use the Rear pair for the sub, don't share the fronts or rears with the sub, thats just silly lol :P

Hope that makes sence? You will DEFFO need 2 splitters to run all your gear, end of. And yes you are an idiot for "jumped straight in and got the 1st one i saw that looked good."

:laugh: