Morning

I have a few queries about the stereo systems used in x types. Firstly I have an amp powering some sub woofers in the boot. Amp is connected to speaker wire inputs, I think it will perform better if connected to RCA inputs (I can use a converter). However I need to use a remote turn on, how can I wire this in to the standard stereo (non touch screen)?

The other thing is relating to the fibre optic lead, I believe rightly or wrongly that this was connected to the alpine amp in the premium sound system, why? Can the d2b cable be used in any retro fit installation to do anything useful e.g. supply signal or turn on an amp?

Your help would be much appreciated.

 

AndyT, can you do what you are after? Sure. Going to talk a lot of rewiring though. I would argue the converter aspect for 2 reasons: 1) using line inputs gives you the highest possible S/N ratio that as long as you have a clean amp, it will give you the least amount of final static, and 2) you are still pulling the signal from the line level outputs and then running them through another device to lower them down to RCA level just to then amplify them back up. Any noise that the line level had, you are going to make just that much worse. The only advantage I can see to doing the converter bit is to get rid of the factory amp (and possibly the sub) to then upgrade to something bigger and better.

As for a remote turn on, the easy answer is to simply wire the remote input to a switchable 12 VDC source in the car. This will allow you to have the amp off when the car is off but have power when it is on. Otherwise, you will have to find a circuit that would output a high when it senses any voltage on say your speaker leads. The factory radio does not have a switchable lead like you are after. Granted, what year car are we talking about here? That may possibly change things. I was looking at drawings for cars up to the early 2004 MY.

As for the D2B cable, that is what the system is using for the remote turn on of the amp. the sub amp is wired to the battery and this line is used to turn the amp on and off. What else you can use that line for, I would not have an idea.