Factory stereo have preouts?

[mike wood 3]

Hey guys, first off, just want to say hi. I got my sport trac in July and have loved it. I'm a ford guy, my last 3 rigs were a 87 f-150, 85 ranger, and then last was a 94 ranger. I just needed something with more room and loved it when I drove it. Next off, I've been cruising these boards since about August and just haven't needed to post anything, but have seen lots of people that are very helpful and know this vehicle in and out. Last off, if anyone is in NW Florida and would like to do meet, you can count me it. I'm Stationed at Eglin AFB, but live closer to Hurlburt Field.



OK, so here is the question.



I've been looking at aftermarket audio stuff. (subs and amps) What I want to know is whether or not my stock deck as amp pre-outs or not so that I could buy my stuff in pieces. I want to get the box and amp and be able to use it first, then to get the deck i want later on next year as it is just a lil to pricey for my right now. (what i want is the new pioneer indash 6-disk dvd player)

So does anyone know whether or not the hookups are there? or do i need to buy the deck first? Also forgot to mention that I have the stock baseline model, '02 w/ 5speed tranny.

 

[Jacob Dryer]

It does not have preouts however you can use a Line level converter (they go by a few names) which turns speaker wire into RCA's basicly. They are about $15. Typically people use the two rear speakers as the signal for the sub amp.

 

[mike wood 3]

cool, my friend from back home has a ST too and owns a radioshack. he didn't know whether or not it did or not and said i should look into one of those, i had never heard of them though.



Thanks though JD

 

[Jacob Dryer]

If you get a good one it will have an adjustable gain nob so that you can adjust it to the proper level so that it isn't overpowering. So it might be worth spending $20 instead of $10 or whatever when you decide what you are doing.

 

[Adam Smith 2]

My advice is to save your money and wait to do it right. Get the head unit first, then add the amp and sub. I wouldn't waste time with the converters, or base your amp purchase on finding one with speaker level input. Even when the converters are used the right way (which they often are not***) the line level signal you get from them has all the noise and undesirable frequency response of the crappy factory head-unit amp added to it. If you want awesome bass, you need a good head unit with high-voltage clean pre-amp outs.



***With speaker-to-line level converters, or amps that have them built in (speaker level inputs) you can't tap off an amp channel that is also driving a speaker!!! I've seen this done in many ghetto installs, and it always sounds terrible because the speaker's back E.M.F. gives you a huge resonant voltage peak at the Fs of the speaker (mid-bass range for a 6x9). Speaker-to-line level converters and speaker-level inputs are meant to get clean output from a head unit amp channel directly, one that is NOT DRIVING A SPEAKER.