A few things

[2005vzute]

g'day asr, i have a few questions to ask you for future mods (when funds allow pretty much)...i have a vz manual ute, was just wondering with the prices on here for the cluster colour conversion to blue, would that be cheaper at all on the utes because you don't need to do the power window switches or the light for the gear shifter like you would in an auto?

i was reading up about the pcbs etc for the low level outputs, what exactly does this allow..if i understand then this may solve my problem...from what i understand the headunit puts out about 12-15wrms, i bought the soundstream rubicon speakers (2x 6.5 inch door speakers, 2x tweeters, 2x crossovers)..when i bought the amp for it i had no idea what i was doing, so i got the guy to draw up a wiring diagram, no worries, the headunit is power the amp through a line converter to go into rca's ( is the line converter the same thing as the high-low converter you guys had spoken about elsewhere?)...when i had a mate from work tuning my new speakers the tweeters would cut out untill you turn it right down, then they come back within a few seconds, the guy said something like it could be fail safe or protection thing within the amp shutting off the tweeters because i've used a line converter and im allowing 12-15 wrms from the headunit to go into the amp...will the low level output help me with that issue? also the speakers at higher volumes (usually over 60% volume) will distort when there is any bass at all, is this the distorted signal from the headunit being amplified as i've read with the low level outputs thread somewhere?

also, the 4 channels for the ute being unlocked, can i use the extra 2 channels to put 6x9's in my ute later on if i decide to do it?

i may have more questions when i get a reply..or if anyone else could help thatd be awesome, i dunno a hell of a lot about this stuff but i like to do the work myself..i can follow wiring diagrams no worries, just having trouble understand the wattage and signals and distortion side of things

cheers everyone

[2005vzute]

oh 2 more questions, this might sound dumb, but how does dynamat stick to your doors etc, we use our own adhesive or has it got a peel off backing on it to just stick straight down? also, since installing my new speakers, there is a whine that goes with the engine revs..sounds like a supercharger whine...a few people have said in their older vr's etc that it's because the amp has a shitty earth, the earth point is on the chasis, where i just scratched at the paintwork under a trim and screw down the earth cable..could the earth have soething to do with the whine..no matter how loud the speakers are or arent, the volume of the whine stays the same

cheers mate

[2005vzute]

maybe this should be moved to car audio..doh...this happened to me last time too..i keep forgetting theres a car audio section, my badddddd

[wrx884]

The low level outputs allow u 2 hook up an amp or 2 which gives u 2 pairs of RCA plugs, just like a normal after market unit would making it a 2 pre out unit tho (front and rear). So ud do away with the line convertors which id recommend and use Gregs mod if u want everything looking factory then u can use all the amps RMS that it allows 2 power ur speakers which should stop that cutting out ur talkin about, provided they r installed correctly.

Yes u can use the rear channels 4 6x9s later on providing u havent used that channel already with an amp. remeber u only have front and rear channels.

[2005vzute]

ahk yea, well this is how its running atm..from the headunit, the 4 wires that power the original speakers went into a line converter, into rca's and plugged into the amp, the amp then went 2 positive and 2 negative to 2 crossover (1 crossover for each side, left and right), 1 positive 1 negative each crossover, then a positive and negative each for the 6.5 inch door speaker and tweeter...thats how its set up both sides...the amp is connected to the battery and is fused, the amp has an earth cable going to the chasis (which may be causing the supercharger like whine i keep hearing)...there's also a thin wire that i connected to my accessories socket (cigarette lighter socket looking thing) which im assuming is to ensure the amp turns off with the rest of the accessories...i might forget about the 6 by 9's and just put a sub or 2 in...with the set up i've got already...so your saying i should piss off the line converter, do the asr mod within the headunit to get the rca's and this should elimate that cutting out of the tweeters?

what did you mean by allowing the amp to use all its rms? with the set up i have now with the line converter in it isn't working at its full potential? if so could you shed some light as to why..signals etc from the headunit interferring?

[wrx884]

heres a Q&A 4 ya y ur gettin ur distortion. sounds like its set up fine wats ur speakers rms and amps rms? could u have the gains set 2 high? u'll b over powering ur speakers which will create distortion also and cause them 2 cut out 2. Dw bout wat i said bout allowing ur amps 2 use its full potenial i miss read wat u said b4 n relised after LOL

.Q: Why go to this trouble? Why not use a Line Output Converter (LOC, or "hi-to-low converter")?

A: This one's easy! The fact is that the very vast majority of distortion in audio systems comes from the power amplifier. (pretty much the last link in the signal chain before the loudspeaker) The power amps in a car stereo are IC devices (Integrated Circuits or "chips") so as to save space and make assembly easy, but they are limited though in the output voltage (hence power) they can produce, and their distortion figures usually aren't very good. A line output converter simply wires in to the speaker outputs and attenuates (makes smaller - the opposite of amplification) the high level signal voltage back to an acceptably low voltage to feed the external amplifier inputs - complete with the distortion introduced by the on-board power amp chips. Regardless of what quality external components you're using, you're feeding them a distorted signal to start with! The output mod picks up the signals internally after the pre-amps, but before the power amp - clean as a whistle. The signals pass through a "buffer" circuit so that external loading or short circuit which might occur won't cause any faults in the unit or otherwise affect the operation. (which can happen - we don't mean to, but sometimes....) For convenience, the mod also provides a remote trigger for the amp(s), also protected from fault conditions.