Stock headunit with amp???

Stock headunit with amp???

I wanted to keep my stock headunit to keep my dash stock/clean looking.....Is it possible to add an amp to power the new speakers i will be putting in with the stock headunit...Or is this a bad idea and i should just go out and buy a new headunit.... Also would it be much easier to just replace the stock headunit with a better one??? thinking of an alpine with a 45w x 4 to give a lil power bump to the new speakers or should i just go and buy/install the amp, which would sound better???.....I really wanna change the audio setup in the car.....So far I have replaced the rear speakers with 6 x 9 three way Jensens.........

I just finished installing 2 amps (30Wx4 and 37.5Wx2 bridged to 150Wx1), 2 tweeters, 1 6X9, and 1 10" sub this past Sunday. Everything is running fine, so it works.

I don't know how everyone else think, but for speaker other than sub, the power of after market headunit is enough. It will have a lot cleaner sound, and move of the lower and the higher end frequencies too. I would recommend to get after market head unit. The only reason I got 30Wx4 amp is because the previous car I had had the head unit built in the dash, which I couldn't change.

keeping stock ?

I would really like to keep my HU stock, but it only plays 1 cd and no changer or plays MP3s. Now if I was to replace the head unit, would the face plate fit correctly or cleanly ? The top of the original HU sort've curves. Thinking of a SonyCDXMP70 or Pioneer 8500, has anyone have these installed and looking like factory ?

thanxs, Harvey.

Re: Stock headunit with amp???

YES-- but only if

1. Your amplifier has "Speaker Level Inputs" These are NOT the RCA inputs!!
2. If you amp doesn't have one, you can get a Line In converter.

Get a new headunit of course! more flexibility-- and it's not "stock"

And this question has been discussed many many times-- "Do I really Need an amplifier to drive my speakers??" NO you don't but it is WAY better if you do. (more dynamics, headroom, and clarity)

couldnt you just get a high low converted and just run a line to your trunk, and throw in an amp and a sub, because the stock speakers are pretty damn loud, just dont throw out enough bass

what's a "high low converter"? Did you mean Line In converter or Crossover.? :?:

he meant a line - RCA converter, then just run the RCA's into the amp in the trunk.

And yes you can do that.

I say to just get a FM modulated cd changer with MP3 and run it into your stock HU. Thats what I have now and it works fine. I got 10 full mp3 cd's in the changer, now I can drive across the US 2 times and never listen to the same song twice. Unless of course I accidentaly put the same song on 2 different cd's. And with over 100 songs on each cd Im sure its possible!

Got mine at :gasp: Wal-Mart, for $200 CDN.

I’m interested in the CD changer thing, since I’ve never heard of it.

What is “FM modulated CD changer”? Is it something that connects to the radio plug behind the stock HU?

If the changer is connected via the radio plug, how’s the sound quality since everything is connected via simply ONE plug?

Is the changer controled by the HU? Or does the changer have its own buttons?

Just like AznMenace, I too wanted to keep the Apperance of the stock HU, so i ran out and bought these line converters from a local autoshop for about $10 CDN.

So i will be spliting this connection with my fronts using marrets to the line converter, this way my subs will be in sync with my fronts, rather than my rears.


I also will be replacing the fronts soon with my 6 1/2" CDT's and powering them with a small PPI 200watt amp. Anyways that's another story for some of you that are still wondering what i'm talking about, i took the time to snap a few quick shots and scan in the cardboard packaging.

UMMMMMMMM Okay I havent really gotten to the back of the stock HU or even touched or removed anything from the doors or dash........So Im guessing u use this thing ^^^ to connect a power line to go to the amp ???? or this like a power upgrade??? ANother thing im worried about, or I dont like about this Stock HU is that it sometimes gets MEssed up Itll sometims play my cds all distorted, so thats a problem im tyring to decide, if I should waste my time working with this stock HU :cry:

Hehehe....basically this will convert your speaker wire into a proper RCA wire so that you can run it to an amplifier if you want, or to an equilizer (which is what i'm doing).

Do u know if ill have any trouble if I use it to connect an amp.......Do I need a bunch of em or do I just need one for the HU.....did u say ur gunna run subs with the stock HU with this thing ???

yes...i will be running subs off the stock HU.

i don't think it will be that hard to connect everything together considering one of the members posted the schematic of the stock wires.

and you'll most likely only need one, if your just going to run to your amp.

You could also just use regular speaker wire to connect your HU to your amp. Most Amplifiers have an option for their input/outputs so the decision is up to you.


The main reason why i bought this was so that i could connect the stock headunit to a signal processor, such as an equilizer (for my setup i would like to have more control over the bass, trebel and sub level)

if your still confused about this whole thing, then just forget about the line converter and and your regular speaker wire to the amp...it should be fine.

FYI, this is how I hooked up mine.