It seems now days even if you buy a top of the line deck it still has only rear amp outs ( 2 channel), and getting one with front and rear outs is as rare as rocking horse s**t. I was prepared to pay the good money for one but could not find any. Well I have bought a Sony (would rather a JVC but got it cheap) mp3 deck and installed it about 3 months ago. Time has come I want to run a 2 channel for the fronts. I have put in a high/low converter on my other car but I was wondering if there is another way to convert the 2 channel out into 4 channels, say like a box that has 2 channel in and then converts into 4 channel stereo out? If so whats it called? I know you can split the 2 channel into 4 with adaptors but then front and rear are pushing out the same sound and most decks put different outputs for front and rear, and I want to keep that.
Next question is I see all the time people putting capacitors in there cars, I think it increases the power to the amp so it runs the output to full capacity? Am I right, are they worth doing? As Pauline once said...."Please explain"

YEAH good decks dont exist at JB hi-fi and autobarn you need to fins specialist dealers i gave a reading after you said sony

I don't know about that. I went to JB Hi-Fi and got myself a Pioneer head unit with front and rear pre-outs and sub out. Running 2 amps, 1 mono block for sub and one 4 channel for speakers. Price was reasonable too. This ain't the top of the range either...so either you're not doing enough research or just don't want to spend a lot.

The model I got was a Pioneer DEHP6900UB.

jeah same here, my entry/hid level pioneer has front out, rear out and sub out, either by coax or by using the loom.





Phongus' model is the release after mine, same features with a slight facelift. I got mine from JB as well, I would be suprised if you spent more than him or me on a h/u as well, sony stuff is somewhat ordinary, not saying pioneer is much better, but it is a bit better for similar money too.

I like your taste .

I think I like your one a little better though for some reason...mine now seems a little bland.

Well in Griffith there is supercheap, a place called rsc and thats it. Went to jb in wagga, autobharn in wagga and ebay and could not find one. I also remember with my magna about 2 years ago jb penrith didnt have any under $600, which for a deck for a family car is a tad excessive. I am actually getting a bit p****d with jb's car audio blokes these days..... they seem to know less about sound systems than my 5 year old. I went in there asking for a 6" with a decent magnet for adding bass and the bloke told me the size and weight of the magnet has nothing to do with bass???!!!! I love jb, its my favourate store but its turning into most auto parts shops now days, young chicks that look hot but couldnt tell you the difference between a bonnet and boot. I dont go to the auto shop or jb's for a perve, I go there to spend cash and if I have a question I would hope the sales team has some kind of expertise. Other departements of Jb are great and have helped me alot but the car audio's have no clue. One even told me the thicker the speaker wire, the better, mate you use to thick.......why am I explaining myself to a pimple faced d**k who is supposed to know what his talking about? Anyways, had my rant.... sorry guys. Back to the quizz, does such a converter exist? not including graphs?

Man you must not have been trying if you couldnt find something with 2 sets of pre outs.
How much did you end up spending?
$250
http://www.ryda.com.au/Pioneer-DEH-4250 ... 4250sd.htm
$350
http://www.ryda.com.au/ProductDetails.a ... ode=CZ509A

Just some examples.......


Anyway, only amp the fronts and run the rears off the head deck, they dont need to be amped.
Dont worry about a cap.

You can buy a signal converter. Basically using the head unit wiring loom with the front wires connected to the converter...it basically just turns your signal cable to an RCA output so you can plug the RCA cables into it. Not sure what they are actually called or cost. One of my friends used to use it in the BA.

Also as krisisdog said, don't worry about a capacitor. Only worry about it once you get your sound system running high wattage and the battery can't cope with the powahh demand.

Yeah I am not as much a fan of the updated model from pioneer I think it actually looks older than the superceeded model. But for what you pay these days the quality of the gear is bloody good, the audio industry is so damn competive now.

Win for consumers.

Signal converter (or line out converter) is what you want - you can take a regular speaker output (which is like 10 volts or so) and convert to a RCA output (which is in the order of around 1 volt) so that you can run it straight into the RCA sockets of your amp. Best thing is, you can make one yourself if you can use a soldering iron, possibly the simplest electronic circuit you could make...hell, I made one and I'm not real good with electronics.. all you'll need are 4 1.2k resistors and 2 RCA sockets - you could get them out of an old stereo or just go to d**k Smith's - I think everything to make mine totalled about 3 bucks...theres a circuit diagram at http://www.epanorama.net/circuits/speaker_to_line.gif but this shows like one channel - you'd need to make two of these..on the left side is the input from your speaker outs (one side only) and on the right side of the circuit is the output to the RCA socket. Mine was a bit of a `retro' type conversion - I had an MP3 type late model head unit which for numerous reasons I ended up hating that ran 4 spkrs and an amp powering the subwoofer - I replaced it with an older Pioneer radio cassette factory type unit that I was going to run the 4 speakers from, and I was about to pull the amp out when I thought to make 2 of the above circuits - now the Pioneer's output goes via these to RCA's which go to the amp, which now powers the 4 speakers - it sounds great!!

Oh, one other thing, don't use the resistor sizes listed in that image, use 1.2 K for all 4 resistors (2 per circuit)

the signal converter you guys are talking about is called a high/ low pass converter..... I was trying to not use one as bought ones have gain controls and they can prove really painful to get the gains between the converter and the amp right so they dont over power the rears too much. I was hopeing there was some kind of a converter from 2 rca to 4 without using a pass converter. Might try making one though, thanks for that. I will not use a cap either guys.... thanks for the low down. Seems there is alot of guys putting them in just to show off. Seen one bloke who had a simple 2 chanel amp with a cap on it and he said it was a must. Actually the deck guys cost me $32 including postage brand new off ebay from some bloke with zero feedback. Got it and it works fine and is brand new. Wish I had known about those ones from the link when I got the deck for the magna though

The thicker the wire the better is the case.....

Anyway. About 2 years ago I got a deck with front rear sub and a bus imput for 270$. Look a little harder.
It is a sony. And is still going strong. Blew the rca ground tho so I get some whine.
Cbf'd fixing it yet.

I was told by a car audio expert years ago that too thick you loose signal. Think about all the output from the deck traveling down a huge cable. If thats the case why then dont we all install 200mm wires to our speakers? If you have a high end home system, check the size of the wires inside the speaker boxes. There is a right size for the output, not the bigger the better. Sorry but all major advances in car audio come from hand me downs from home systems, so check your home system and see how its done.... or go and have a look at a set of B&W speakers and see the size of the wires given

Was thinking more from a amping point of view.
Im not going to run 18gauge wires from my amp to my sub or even from amp to speakers.
From the headunit, sure cos they are what. 15wrms per channel?

And don't be silly.
Obviously bigger the better to the application. Not gonna run 0gauge to my 200wrms amp.

My home audio system has tiny wire. 20gauge I think. But the speakers have s**t all power anyway. Just well matched to the output of the amp.