Stock Head Unit

[Melvin P Nerdly]

Hello hello,

There's probably a million posts regarding this, but I haven't found any. I took my stereo system of my old car (4 channel amp and 12" boston sub) and I was wondering if there's any easy way to hook it all up to my stock cd player... I haven't figured out how to take it out, but everyone says if it doesn't have RCA connectors (which I'm guessing it doesn't) then I need all these splitters and converters and blah blah blah... and the quality won't be as good, so they say I should just get a new deck..
I asked a car audio place how much it would cost to hook it up with my stock deck and they told me $250!! :'(

 

[Sir Nuke]

Hello Melvin and Welcome to our happy little corner of the net, and to our Club. There are TWO BIG fridge'S in the corner with anything you can think of in them...help yourself...of course only take what you can LEGALLY have. (stash)

make yourself at home on one of the big fluffy couches, kick your shoes off, put your feet up on one of the tables, yes we are allowed to do that, mom don't care....and take it easy.

oh...btw....every once in a while a food fight breaks out...so you may not want to wear nice clothes here.

Welcome!! (stash)

To answer your question...YES you can. I did a complete system upgrade and retained my stock headunit....IF your amp has speaker level inputs you can do it that way.....if not....then you will need to get line level converters and then run the rca's to the amp. the thing is...if you need to use line converters...do NOT get cheap ones or you will most likely be disappointed. IF you use quality components....it sounds just fine. and you are correct in assuming that the stock head unit does NOT have RCA's outputs on its back.

 

[Melvin P Nerdly]

Alright, I know this is pretty ghetto, but its the only way I can take pictures.. I'm afraid I am a big newb when it comes to audio stuff, and I have no idea what a speaker level input is... Soooo... Do you happen to be able to see them in this picture?

Oh.. and how much should I expect to pay for the wires and plugs and everything? Right now I don't have anything.
Thanks for your help!

 

['olzoomer]

Welcome Melvin...To a newbie from another newbie.

I'm in the process of installing an Alpine MRP-F320 with my stock HU. Thanks to 1st MP3, I was informed that I will have to use the Speaker-level input route to connect the amp to the HU (since the stock HU indeed does not have RCA outs). Fortunately, my Alpine model has the Speaker-level inputs.

I found the manual for your amp MRV-F400: http://www.ifb.pl/~mateo/car-audio/manual/Alpine/alpine_amp_MRV-F400-manual.pdf

Looks like it only has RCA-ins.


Sir Nuke, I need your input on installing the Alpine 5ch amp. How/where did you run the speaker and power wires (to/from the amp)?

 

['olzoomer]

The amp in the attachment above is for the 340 model. But it shows the speaker input connector which is typical for Alpine amps (I think). At least it looks the same as what is on the F320 amp.

 

[Melvin P Nerdly]

Wow, thanks for that link! It really helped a lot. I probably should have thought about looking for that earlier... I'm afraid I'm still very confused on where I'm supposed to hook everything up.. How can I plug the 4 speakers AND my sub into the amp? Should I use channel 1 and 2 for the front speakers, channel 3 for the back speakers, and channel 4 for the sub? or can I even do that? I am so excited to actually be able to listen to my songs with real trout.. I mean bass! Thanks again for your help.

 

['olzoomer]

Well if you're going to use that amp without the speaker-level inputs, like what Sir Nuke suggested earlier, you'll need line converters. I believe ch.1/2 = front left/right and ch.3/4 = rear left/right. I don't think you can put both rear speakers on ch.3 and ch.4 for the sub (right?).

The Alpine I bought (MRP-F320) has 5 channels (1/2=front, 3/4=rear, 5=sub) plus the speaker-level inputs for the stock HU.

Sir Nuke has the same amp on his ride (with JLAudio sub box).

 

[1sty]

From reading all of the above, Melvin, I think the easies thing for you to do is to run the Boston sub off of channels 3/4 bridged and run the front speakers off of channels 1/2 in stereo. Keep the rear speakers powered off the stock cd player.

Now you do have some options here.

You could power all the internal speakers in the car off of the channels 1/2 of the amp but you will be splitting the power between 4 speakers instead of using it all to only 2. There are more downsides to this. First you will loose the ability to fade between the front and back speakers. Also the rear speakers are so high in the sedans that with any amp they will drowned out the fronts all but completely.

The sub will need to use to channels of your amp, basicly 3/4. Doing this is refered to as bridging and you will connect the speaker wires for the subs to the terminals marked Bridged + and - on the amplifier. The only other way to power you sub is to get another amp for it.

Now lets talk about line output converters and RCAs.
If you want to keep the most adjustability from the cd player to the amp then you will need 2 Line output converters. These converts change the speaker wires to RCA signals. You can get decent ones for $20 apiece. There are more expensive ones but you will never know the difference. Then once you take the speaker wires coming off the radio to them, run RCA cables back to the amplifier.

A price break down that a decent shop will charge for all of this is as follows:

4 channel amp install $65
8 guage wiring kit $30
2 5 meter RCAs $20 apiece -so $40
2 Line output onverters $20 apiece - So $40
Extra supplies and wires $10

If they need to build a box for the sub aswell then add another $100

 

[Sir Nuke]

Welcome Melvin...To a newbie from another newbie.

I'm in the process of installing an Alpine MRP-F320 with my stock HU.

Sir Nuke, I need your input on installing the Alpine 5ch amp. How/where did you run the speaker and power wires (to/from the amp)?

hey there Ol'Zoomer.....

for starters I mounted my amp under the drivers seat.....so the main power lead came through the fire wall of the car above the clutch pedal and then down the drivers side of the car under the sill plate, then under the carpet and to the amp.....the ground for the amp is attached to the rear outside seat anchor bolt....I hid this cable under the carpet as well....

NOW, the speaker wires to and from the head unit, run up the middle of the car under the console, as well as the amp on/off lead from the head unit. this kept good seperation between the speaker wires and the power for the amp, eliminating any whine input.....

 

['olzoomer]

Sir Nuke, I'm having difficulty taking the front panel off enough to work on the HU. The heater/AC is preventing the panel to come off completely. What to do?

Also, I'm not sure which cable is the antenna. Is the antenna part of the harness or is it a thick cable that's connected to the back of the HU? I can see a thick cable from the under-side. If that is indeed the antenna cable, is it a hardwired connection to the HU? I am putting a FM modulator and it requires the antenna connected to the modulator then another cable connected to the HU.

Thanks...

 

[twilightprotege]

hey

i'm leaving my stock head unit in....1 because i like it and 2 because it's stock (no one will wanna flog it). anyway, the reason i say is because i spoke to a guy at JL and he said just get an awesome hi-lo converter and you'll get very high quality sound even from the stock head unit...just to let you know, i was asking him about getting the 300/4 for my 4 xr-650cs's and a 500/1 for my W7 when i get it soon...

later

 

[1sty]

According to the people I talk to at Jl, you don't need a high to low converter for there amps at all. I will have to rechaeck that.

 

[Sir Nuke]

Sir Nuke, I'm having difficulty taking the front panel off enough to work on the HU. The heater/AC is preventing the panel to come off completely. What to do?

Also, I'm not sure which cable is the antenna. Is the antenna part of the harness or is it a thick cable that's connected to the back of the HU? I can see a thick cable from the under-side. If that is indeed the antenna cable, is it a hardwired connection to the HU? I am putting a FM modulator and it requires the antenna connected to the modulator then another cable connected to the HU.

Thanks...

zoomer....sorry for the long delay...been working nightshift all weekend.....

for starters you don't need to take off the panel that has the a/c, heater controls out/off....just remove the HU by using the removal tools and it comes right out of the front of the dash and you can get to the back of it...

YES the antenna plugs into the back of the HU and it looks like a large piece of coax cable....so no its not hardwired.

I know its been a few days....you probably got this all figured out by now.....if not....there ya go!!

 

['olzoomer]

Hello Sir! Well I got the RF Mod installed. I read another post describing what to do to remove the heater/AC panel. BUt unfortunately, I was not able to remove the HU and work on the back of the HU (OK, another newbie question, what removal tools are you referring to? And exactly how do I remove the HU without removing the panel? ).

The antenna connector was on the right side (far front-side on the passenger wall) so I was able to connect the RF mod there.

So I successfully installed the RF mod. It actually sounds pretty good (or good enough). At least now I can play my MP3s off my Nomad3.

I'm feelin' comfortable workin' on it, considering I've never done the installation before. That is, as long as I have an idea what piece of plastic not to yank and end up breaking.

Thanks again for your (Sir and 1st) very helpful insights!

 

[Sir Nuke]

ZOOMER.....check out this thread...its one I did a long time ago on how to make your own head removal tools and how to use them...

http://forum.protegemp3.com/vbb222/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8338&highlight=TOOLS


also if you will got to this sight it will show you pictures

http://www.astolfo.com/p5/p5.asp

this will allow you to pull the head unit straight out of the dash with out removing the plastic panel that holds the A/C controls.

it is very snug....but that is how it comes out.

 

['olzoomer]

Thanks Sir Nuke. Unfortunately, the site with the pictures is no longer there.

 

[Sir Nuke]

Thanks Sir Nuke. Unfortunately, the site with the pictures is no longer there.

that is really strange...it was taken down between the time I posted and the time you viewed my post....as I went to the site to do a copy and paste of the URL.....hmmmmm oh well....there ya go.