Kicker KISLOC (1 Viewer)

[NCLX450]

Anyone use one of these with the factory radio to use an AMP? I bought one and wasn't sure if it could be connected behind the radio (97 LX450) or if it had to be tapped into the speaker wires elsewhere.

Speaker Wire to RCA Converter - KISLOC | KICKER®

 

[Pascoscout]

I haven't used that brand but I've used line out converters before. I'm not sure it matter where they are tapped in but if your speaker wires are still factory you may want to go as close to the stereo as possible. Factory wires won't have as good of shielding as the RCA cables (assuming you use high quality ones) so sound quality will be better the less factory you use. Finding room in the dash for a couple of those could be tough.

Guessing you probably already own the amp otherwise I'd suggest getting one with a high level input and skipping the converters. Alpine makes a really nice one in a small package that you just splice inline with the speaker wires, gives it a 50 watt per channel boost.

 

[ppc]

If you still have the stock head unit I would suggest that you replace the head unit that already has the RCA outputs. Both the LX450 and LC stock head units do not have speaker level outputs. They both send low level outputs to an old, outdated, low quality and weak amplifier located to the right of the glovebox. It makes no sense to take the speaker level outputs of that amp, pass them into the converters you have indicated into a second amplifier. The resulting sound quality will be less than desired. Today's head units have higher quality, more features like bluetooth, phone interfaces, streaming from memory cards, iPods etc. for inexpensive prices.

 

[NCLX450]

Thanks for the information. I already own a 2 channel amp and speakers. I wanted to power it and just run the amp to two extra 6x9's and leave all the factory speakers and amp alone.

 

[Pascoscout]

Assuming you choose to go forward with this you'd want to tap one of the sets of door speakers for that. The dash and rear roof don't have full range sound. Best bet would be to tap them right at the rear door speakers since I assume you'll be putting those 6x9 in the back of the truck.

PPC is right though, if you want quality sound you are going to have to ditch the factory stuff. It's night and day different with even just some medium quality aftermarket equipment. I think you are going to go through a lot of effort to add those 6x9 and be disappointed with the results. The sound quality from the factory amp is bad to begin with, boosting it from there is only going to add distortion and make it worse.

 

[landcrshr]

Don't listen to the naysayers. I'm using a line-out converter and the sound quality is as good as anything I've owned. Remember, the sound comes from the speakers, NOT the amplifier! I wouldn't recommend using the LOC as you describe though, tapping into the amplifier's output with the factory speakers still connected. That could affect the sound quality.

Also, don't use the rear speaker outputs. Not sure about the LX, but on the LC, the rear outputs are high-pass filtered.