Shaker pre-amp signal measurements

[RevvdMedia]

I thought this car's stereo did all its processing before the amp, and you would still need a cleansweep or the like to level the outputs before running through an independent system? is this not the case?

This is likely the case. I don't want to run a cleansweep myself, so I plan to use a 7 band EQ instead.

Sponsored

 

[h65]

Regarding these Molex connectors, they appear to have pins on the back as connectors. Are they designed to have the wires soldered to them?

I'd like a plug and play solution, plus that allows me to do some fabbing without permanently splicing and being stuck if something didn't work.

The MOLEX connectors are made to be soldered in to printed circuit boards. However, I just soldered RCA cables directly to the pins and isolated/secured everything with good ol' heat shrink and zip ties.

 

[Twenty15]

Is there any way just to get the bass to hit a bit harder?

 

[Cream Puff]

I checked the pre-amp signals of my 400a system and found them to be in range of RCA line level. This is just confirming what we expected.

The range is 0.04 volts at 20% volume to 1.53 volts at 80% volume (and 3.1 volts at max volume) with a CD audio source.

I used a female Molex 34690-0160 plug to connect to the harness that feeds into the amp.
http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?R=34690-0160

I took my measurements from the #7 and #8 pins, which represent the front left signal.

These voltages are on the weak side so I'll be using an Audio Control Matrix Plus up front to boost their strength before a cable run to the trunk area. It's going to take about a week for the Matrix Plus to get here. I'll let you know how it goes.

In the mean time I'm feeding my system by summing the factory amp signals. Here are my components:

Front speakers: Focal PS 165 F3
Rear deck: Focal PC 165
Sub: JBL CS-110LGTW
Amp: Alpine PDX V9
DSP: Audio Control DQ-61

The DQ-61 is adding some hiss at low volumes. I'll be eliminating it from the system along with the factory amp. I think I'll want another DSP or at least an equalizer to replace it, but I'll tackle that after I hear whether I get a clean sound from the Matrix Plus.

Just ordered the last bit of my gear (an audio control dq-61 in fact lol)

did you need to sum the front stage signals if pulling the signal after the amp? or did you sum the left-front/left rear pre amp together to get a stronger signal?

 

[neozeric]

Anybody know if you run pins 7 & 8 to RCA cables (positive wire), what do you do with the negative wire on the RCA cable? Ground? Tape off?

 

[RevvdMedia]

Anybody know if you run pins 7 & 8 to RCA cables (positive wire), what do you do with the negative wire on the RCA cable? Ground? Tape off?

Per the wiring diagram, Pin 7 is Front Left Negative, Pin 8 is Front Left Positive. By that notion, you would want to wire the RCA as follows:

Shielded inner wire that runs from the center pin to pin 8 on the Molex. Outer wire that runs from the outer ring to pin 7 to the Molex.

Feel free to correct me if I am wrong, OP. I'm actually going to be doing some soldering this weekend, all my gear (except the actual equalizer I want to add) is here finally.

 

[neozeric]

Ok, starting to make more sense. Then i can use pins 3 and 4 for the RF channel

 

[RevvdMedia]

Correct. Hopefully I'll be able to verify this myself soon.

 

[neozeric]

This worked great. Ran pins 3,4 and 7,8 to rca cables to the rear. Got 3.2v at max volume. Ms-8 sees it and calibrated just fine with this method

 

[Bryman]

This worked great. Ran pins 3,4 and 7,8 to rca cables to the rear. Got 3.2v at max volume. Ms-8 sees it and calibrated just fine with this method

Please show us how you hooked up your MS8 when you have a chance! I am tempted to sell mine because I'm scared to mess with anything and jack up the audio system. :doh:

 

[Alloy]

Have any of you removed your factory Shaker sub/sub amp for a better setup? If so, are you willing to part with it?

 

[neozeric]

Please show us how you hooked up your MS8 when you have a chance! I am tempted to sell mine because I'm scared to mess with anything and jack up the audio system. :doh:

Anything in particular?

 

[Bryman]

Anything in particular?

Well, pics of where and how you mounted the MS8, the wires you ran and routes you used, and connections would all be helpful

 

[rambunctious]

male/female connector pairs

H65:
thanks for the connector info
could you possibly post the male/female connector pairs for each of these three please. I tried to find this info on Mouser but was unsuccessful.

and are the connector pairs also known for the standard radio?

THANKS!!
Ramb

 

[RevvdMedia]

From the wiring diagrams that Heinocerous posted at http://www.mustang6g.com/forums/showpost.php?p=404864&postcount=41 there are three plugs labeled C4270, C2385A and C2385B.


C4270 has the RCA-level audio and noise cancellation. Search mouser.com for part number 34690-0160 -
http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?R=34690-0160

C2385A has most of the speaker outputs. Use mouser.com #34690-0161- http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?R=34690-0161

C2385B has the other speakers plus 6v Remote, 12V power and ground. Mouser does not stock the 34772-0142 plug so use the 34772-0140 variant - http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?R=34772-0140. To use this you'll need to trim the bumps off the factory end. They come off easily with a boxknife. This is easier than trimming the inside of the new connector. It won't affect its ability to lock in place with the amp or the new connector.


Molex has drawings that show the pin numbers:
http://www.molex.com/elqNow/elqRedir.htm?ref=http://www.molex.com/pdm_docs/sd/346900161_sd.pdf and http://www.molex.com/elqNow/elqRedir.htm?ref=http://www.molex.com/pdm_docs/sd/347720142_sd.pdf.

Hey H65

I would like to offer a correction - on my 400A amplifier, C4270 has the RCA level connections on Pins 1-8 as you found, noise cancellation on 9 and 10, but the power and ground are located on that connector (C4270) on pins 15 and 16.

Oddly enough, I mention this because it makes me question how many watts this amp puts out...the wiring on pins 15 and 16 looks like the same diameter as the RCA connecters, but they have 2 wires to each pin. The RCA wires look like 22 or maybe 24 gauge. Even running 2 wires would make the wiring a 20-22 gauge equivalent. If the amp is putting out around 175 watts as I guessed (Shaker pro is 390W advertised - assuming 200+ watts on the sub...) that would mean 175W / 12V = 14.583 amps at full load. 2 - 22 to 24AWG wires should not be pushing that many amps, I have no idea how the wiring doesn't fry. I'm not an electrician but...I am making a "jumper cable" as a I am integrating a 7 band EQ off the RCA's before the amp and running the equalized signal back - think cheap alternative to cleansweep...lol. That being said, I was concerned I was only using 18AWG wire as the power and ground "jumper" between connectors, but since the factory wires for power and ground are only 22 to 24 gauge with 2 wires (equivalent to 20-22AWG), I should be good...

But still, with those tiny wires powering the amp, how much power is it really putting out??

By the way H65 - you don't still have the factory amp, do you? just curious if it notes any specs on the back such as wattage, amperage..etc?


***EDIT***considerations could be: charging system means 13.8 volts while running, not 12 volts, meaning 175W / 13.8V = 12.68 amps - and that is 175W peak, RMS is often half peak, therefore 6.34 to 7.29 amps on those power wires...long story short I feel the factory wiring is insufficient to carry power to the amplifier, and hopefully my choice to use 18AWG as the jumper wire to carry the power and ground doesn't set the car up in flames...lol

Sponsored