Frankenradio

[smythe302]

Q:
If i hook up a factory head unit with an amplifier built in... up to a stock ford amp (premium audio) without bypassing it (like tons of you did with your aftermarket HU)... is that gonna fry stuff? my logical brain says yes, but i've heard numerous accounts of people doing this without a problem... and can even dig up a thread of a guy saying exactly that its not a problem... but i'd prefer a strait forward answer i didnt have to infer.


Some nonessential background:
I have a 97 with premium audio. I also have a 6 CD changer in the back that the PO put there. It all worked great till the HU started acting up. So when i went to replace it, the 97 specific was hard to find and my pops got me a fun, cheap, easy to find factory 98-02ish unit (with the handy CD changer buttons) 857362 hours later i have pinouts for both and the connectors to wire together..... which is its own little victory. Now, realizing my old HU had no amp and the new one does, compadibilty issues arise. After all of the work i've done so far, i'd love to just plug it in and use it. i hear bypassing the factory amp is a real mother and i've seen where they put it... so i believe it. not to mention i'd have to buy yet another adapter harness.

 

[Thermo]

Smythe, what you will find out is that as long as you keep the volume down on the radio, all will be fine. You crank up the radio to the point that you start hearing distortion and you are going to hurt something. So, your call.

 

[smythe302]

I can handle that... volume sort of becomes gain...

 

[Thermo]

smythe, you can think of it that way. really, all amplifiers don't have a volume control to them, you are simply changing the strength of the signal going to them. All amplifiers multiply what comes in by a given amount. The volume knob simply changes the amplitude of the signal going to the amplifier. But, in your case of back to back amplifiers, the first amp is already adding in quite a "magnification", so, it makes it that much easier to send too large of a signal to the second amp, leading to it not being able to amplify things properly which will lead to lots of distortion and if you are lucky, simply destroying your speakers. But, it can also hurt the electronic components as you are pushing them to their limits which leads to them getting really hot and their failure.