I'm planning to buy an amp to power just my cabin speakers (including dash). My Eclipse HU has three sets of RCAs: front, rear and "non fader out." I guess the return signal just goes back through the amp's negative power terminal.

I assume I'm looking for a 4-channel amp, meaning that's the output. But I don't know what "non fader out" means, how many RCA cables to buy and whether I'll still have fade control from my HU when it's all done.

Also, do I need a highish-powered amp to make aftermarket speakers sound good? I hear low-powered amps cause more distortion at normal listening volume. But any amp is better than just using a HU, right?

Looking to cure my ignorance here.

Thanks,

Dan

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by LudemanDan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'm planning to buy an amp to power just my cabin speakers (including dash). My Eclipse HU has three sets of RCAs: front, rear and "non fader out." I guess the return signal just goes back through the amp's negative power terminal.

I assume I'm looking for a 4-channel amp, meaning that's the output. But I don't know what "non fader out" means, how many RCA cables to buy and whether I'll still have fade control from my HU when it's all done.

Also, do I need a highish-powered amp to make aftermarket speakers sound good? I hear low-powered amps cause more distortion at normal listening volume. But any amp is better than just using a HU, right?

Looking to cure my ignorance here.

Thanks,

Dan</TD></TR></TABLE> The RCA has both the pos. (+) [signal] and the neg. (-) [signal ground].

The "non fade" RCA outputs on your HU are for a "sub" amp, you don't want the sub volume to change if you fade from the front speakers to the rear speakers, [you shouldn't need to fade eather] "non fading= not effected by the fader. Get 3 sets of RCAs if you are going to add a sub to the system at some point, [easier to run the extra RCA now then add later]

The 4ch amp that you will need will depend on the speakers you get/have, if the speakers you have are rated at 50watts rms continues, then you need an amp that is at least 4x50watts rms at 4ohms, a little more power can't hurt 4x75watts, [it's better to be overpowered then underpowered]

As for "any amp is better then just using a HU" depends on what you want, I have an Alpine HU and 4 Eclipse speakers, no amps and no subs, it's all I need, and I'm the install supervisor at a large consumer electronics store. 94

PS Are you cured?

 

Thanks, yes, that clears stuff up! Although now I'm wondering what the pink "cellular phone mute" wire is for.

The reason I'm getting an amp is because I bought this deck off eBay and the description said it only seems to work with an amp. That's strange, since I had an almost identical deck in my last car and it worked perfectly, so first I'm gonna try hooking this one up by itself and see. I tried pulling off plates in the back to look for fuses, but I couldn't get in there.

I just bought this car so I don't even know the speaker specs (they're Kenwood). I'll have to take off the door panels, which is a biznatch. This is my second 4th gen, so at least I know how it all fits together.

Dan

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by LudemanDan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Thanks, yes, that clears stuff up! Although now I'm wondering what the pink "cellular phone mute" wire is for.

The reason I'm getting an amp is because I bought this deck off eBay and the description said it only seems to work with an amp. That's strange, since I had an almost identical deck in my last car and it worked perfectly, so first I'm gonna try hooking this one up by itself and see. I tried pulling off plates in the back to look for fuses, but I couldn't get in there.

I just bought this car so I don't even know the speaker specs (they're Kenwood). I'll have to take off the door panels, which is a biznatch. This is my second 4th gen, so at least I know how it all fits together.

Dan</TD></TR></TABLE> If you ground the pink wire, it will mute the HU, so if you have a car phone, [does anybody have a car phone nowadays] you would hook up the phones neg. (-) horn honk output to the pink wire, phone rings= HU mutes.

Preamp output only HUs are not uncommon, if the HU does not have speaker wires in the harness, then it has no internal amp. 94

 

Oh, this has a built-in amp alright. Speaker wires and all. Like I said, I had one that was almost identical. I'm hoping he just had some installation weirdness. We'll see what happens.

-Dan

 

The head unit amp is dead. You will have to use a 4 channel amp to power the speakers.