Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000 23:05:01 -0800 From: Chris Baisley Subject: Re: e30 Radio Search - The Saga Continues At 12:15 AM 17/11/00 -0500, Henry H Kim wrote: >1) BY-PASS THE FACTORY AMP? >The Kenwood comes with normal speaker outs and RCA pre-outs. Do I use the >normal speaker outs and by-pass the factory amp? Or do I use the pre-outs >to go directly to the amp? What have listers tried? Bypass the booster amp, it's a piece of crap. Your Kenwood likely is a high power unit that will sound much better than the stock booster amp. Plus, the booster amp is designed to take line-level inputs, not low-level input as what you'll get from the pre-outs on your head unit. >2) SOUNDGATE PWR1 ADAPTER? >When I go to Crutchfield, they want me to buy a Soundgate PWR1 adapter. To >quote Crutchfield, "The Soundgate PWR1 adapter is designed to match the >output level (speaker >outputs) of most high-power aftermarket receivers to the input levels of >many factory amplifiers." >Can I assume that if I use my pre-outs, I don't need the PWR1? No. See above. They are probably right that you DO need the adaptor if you're going to run your speaker outputs into the booster amp - but that pretty much defeats the purpose of buying a high power head unit. >3) FLOATING GROUND ADAPTER? >Crutchfield also recommends a the Soundgate FLT1 floating ground adapter. >"This adapter lets you connect most high-power (8-wire) aftermarket >receivers to most common ground (5-wire) car harnesses, keeping the >high-power output from the receiver. This adapter maintains a full 20-20k Hz >frequency range. You also get a 3 dB bass boost below 85 Hz for beefier >bass. It does not work with Bose systems or in cars with speakers that >ground to the chassis." I avoided the problem by running new wires from the head unit to the trunk, avoiding the common ground issue (it is true that the factory wiring uses a common ground between the head unit and the booster amp - after the booster amp, all channels are separately grounded). So if you run new wires, you don' t need this thing. Plus the factory wires between head unit and trunk are pretty puny and crappy, so you'd do better with beefier wires. I too found the install to be more complex than I expected, but it's not rocket science - perservere!