How to get RCA preouts from a factory deck

[arandall850]

Bear with me as I get this from another forum that I posted it at.

Posted: Nov 16 2002, 06:43 PM
Well, I am in the process now of making some line out's using the SC-811's amp DIN connector. Just got back from Radio Shack with some parts. I found out what pins do what by using a multimeter. I will have pics and such later tonight, but for righ now just thought I would let you all know the configuration.

As you look at the DIN socket you will see 6 connectors. 3 on bottom that are vertical. 1 horizontal one in the center. And two semi-horizontal angled ones on the top. The middle horozontal is 12V control wire. The top left one is the rear left speaker. The top right one is the Front Left speaker. On the bottom the left vertical connector is ground. The middle one is Rear Right. and the bottom right one is Front Right.

I will have pics and diagrams to follow. Right now as I speak I am in the process of sodering.

Posted: Nov 16 2002, 10:25 PM
Well, I got it working fine, and it is crisper and deeper bass, the only downsides so far is $5 in radio shack parts :P and you can kind of here the engine thru the sub. Kinda like a louder exhaust. Only really noticable when changing tracks. But it does work however. I will have pics later tonight.

Posted: Nov 17 2002, 12:28 AM
I fixed the engine noise and ran the cables the right, clean way now. So now it looks all nice and tidy. The engine noise was one of two things.
I found that when the plug wasn't pushed in all the way it would be really loud engine noise. (I had to modify an 8pin DIN to fit in a Volvo 6pin DIN so it doesn't exactly fit nicely the first few times)
Second there is a third ground wire on my RCA cables that I hooked into the ground on the DIN and there is a ground screw (seperate from the main power ground) that I hooked the other end to.

So now it works wonderfully. No extra noise and a nice crisp deep bass (I see what you meant by better sounding bass, mrmandmman) It is alot better now compared to the high-level inputs.

BTW, Charles. Do you want me to make a nice write-up and stuff to put in the "modifications" section? I've got pictures, and diagrams, and everything. Let me know what you want me to do.
Also I will have those pics up later tonight yet (it is a friends digital camera and he has all the cables and software for it and he works till 1am)

EDIT: Even though I only hooked up 2 RCA cables (Rear Right and Rear Left) there are all four outputs coming out of that DIN (RR, RL, FR, FL) so you could hook up your own seperate amps I guess if you really wanted to, but I only needed two for now.

Posted: Nov 17 2002, 03:56 AM
Some pictures finally.

First thing I did was test to see what connector did what with a multi-meter.
http://www.stickypix.com/data/500/20me-testing.jpg

Here is a shot of the back of the deck for those who may not have seen it already. The DIN I am talking about is on the bottom left (And yes that is Volvospeed on the computer, and yes that product placement was intentional :P )
http://www.stickypix.com/data/500/20deck-back.jpg

Here is a picture with labels for what I found each connector to be.
http://www.stickypix.com/data/500/20diagram-pic.jpg

Next was to head on over to the local radio shack and pick up some parts. I got an 8pin DIN that I later modified to the 6pin config that was required. (BTW: for the RCA connections I just used some 15AWG wire that I had laying around. Although in hind-sight it would have been alot easier to use a much thinner wire)
http://www.stickypix.com/data/500/20radio_shack_parts.jpg

[arandall850]

Next I started to connect the 15AWG wires to the din (I just pushed them on and clamped the wires in place.) I also reallized that I suck at sodering. This is the early stages of assembly.
http://www.stickypix.com/data/500/20din-connector-early.jpg

This is what the DIN ended up looking like. I had to cut off two of the pins and bend two more over a little bit so they would line up better.
http://www.stickypix.com/data/500/20modified_8pin_to_6pin_din.jpg

A picture of the DIN side completed.
http://www.stickypix.com/data/500/20middle_din.jpg

And the pretty much final assembly (with the RCA female ends on) Also FYI the extra wires that aren't attached to anything are the ground wires that I stripped the ends off and spliced them together using one of those little electrical cap things. (There are 3 loose wires) Also As you can see I only hooked up two RCA ends for myself (Right Rear and Left Rear) although you can hook up 4 RCA's for all four channels if you wish.
http://www.stickypix.com/data/500/20final_din.jpg

EDIT: One more thing. It doesn't fit all the way tight into the socket due the bent pins. You just have to make sure you push it on as tight as it will go or you WILL here your engine thru the sub. and it won't be quiet either. I also used (as mentioned earlier) the third ground wire on my RCA cables and connected it to the ground on the DIN connector and to the RCA Ground screw (but not the main power ground) of the amp. Now it is a truly distortion-free, clean signal with no engine noises whatsoever.

[arandall850]

And finally two pics of my sub and amp install where everything is nice and clean and neat.
http://www.stickypix.com/data/500/20amp-clean.jpg

http://www.stickypix.com/data/500/20trunk-clean.jpg

[Hank Scorpio]

This is a great post that I'm going to stick!

Thanks arandall!