I'm interested in keeping a mellow profile on the interior of my car. Here's my proposed set-up:

replace the four speakers
power them with a 4-channel amp

Now, my question is: can I do this off the factory head unit?

Pros/cons if possible?

Thanks.

 

It's VERY easy to do. You need to add Line Output Converters (also called step-downs) to the factory head unit to provide RCA outputs to run to the amplifier. Or, if your amplifier has a high-level input you can just run the speaker wires directly into the high-level input on the amp to save a few bucks.

There are no real pros & cons if you are not a HARDCORE stereo junkie. You sacrifice some sound quality by using the stepdowns but very little and you probably wont notice it at all. Obviously the best way to go is with a nice head unit with rca outputs but in this day and age nice head units tend to not stay in your car very long.

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks dude...

 

is your factory h/u a cassette player?
what brand is it?
i would recomend changing it if it's crappy..

 

It has both the OEM cassette head unit with a CD player below it.

 

Like its been said, if you replace your headunit you will gain tons of sq.

 

True but keep in mind....he isnt hardcore ( at least not yet ...the addiction will follow)...plus he may want to keep a "stealth" look to his car.
My advice is to get the adaptor harness and the oem harness ( metra sell both)
oem harness: fits into factory radio but with bare wires on end..use these to feed signal to your line output converters (or the amp if it accepts speaker level inputs)
adaptor harness: plugs into factory wiring ( if you were replacing the factory with an aftermarket deck). The reason for this is to make this as simple as possible without hacking up your original wiring...can be returned to stock VERY EASILY ( easy is good )

Go forth and have fun.

 

I'm going to have to go with an aftermarket headunit. I just bought the car and I discovered that the CD player is toast.

Oh well.