My empeg will soon be going back to base for a small repair so I thought I'd look at using my amp for directly powering something else like my portable mini-disc. It's an old 2 channel 35 watt amp. Current connections are:

red from amp - to yellow (memory) on empeg
blue from amp - to blue (aerial) on empeg

I was thinking of moving the blue wire from the amp to the orange (ign sense) on the empeg. Is this a bad idea or do I risk doing some damage somewhere?

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Steve - 18GB Mk II Blue

That connection sounds strange. There should be no wires coming "from" the amp to the empeg's power wires.

The blue wire is how the Empeg tells the amplifier to turn on. From your description, you have this one connected correctly.

But for power, the amp should be powered via a wire coming directly from the car battery (through a fuse block).

The empeg itself should have both the Memory and the Ign Sense wires connected to the correct wires on your car's radio harness. There should be the correct corresponding wires there.

If you don't have it hooked up this way, you'll get strange problems, such as amplifier pops when you start the car.

I would suggest having a professional installer re-do your wiring for you when you get the unit back.

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Tony Fabris

I intend to get a full overhaul of my less-than-professional install when I get a decent amp and speakers. That is, when I take the plunge to decide which I want and when I can actually afford it all. I've been quite pleased with the sound using my 2x35 amp powering 4 x 10watt speakers. I can imagine the collective gasp of pain out there as you read that. I guess I've just got used to it and as I don't hear anything better than I'm quite happy. Blissful in my ignorance I think is the term.

In the meantime, I'll put in a line to the battery to power the amp. Powering from the empeg lead was one of those interim solutions that just never got rectified. I've taken the opportunity today to put the diode in-line on the ign-sense so hopefully I'll have no more 'negative spike' issues. I've also connected the telephone mute which I had trouble getting to work in my last car. Hopefully I'll have better success this time.

Still need to know if the blue lead from the amp can be connected elsewhere if there is no empeg in situ.

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Steve - 18GB Mk II Blue

I'd be very wary of this install personally. Please don't assume that there is some standard wiring code to which all mauracturers adhere for their wiring colours. What does the blue from the amp do? If you have it going to the blue on the empegyou could have al sorts of problems. is it a speaker output is it the remote sense and if it is, why dont you have the proper cable going to it?

I wouldn't wait untill you get a professional install before you redo your wiring. Ignorance may be blishh but repairing an empeg can be ver expensive.

Murray 06000047
I don't think, therefore I am not.

If I were to guess the "blue" from the amp is a remote turn-on sense lead to power up the amp. Does the amp power on when this lead is not attached to anything?

In reply to:

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If I were to guess the "blue" from the amp is a remote turn-on sense lead to power up the amp

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Yes, that's what the blue wire is for. I spoke to someone at work who reckoned my minidisc wouldn't supply enough power to the amp to be able to hear anything. I thought that this would be the same as the empeg, then. He also suggested that I would need something with a powered line out like some discmans have. My empeg is currently being repaired so if I don't get it back before the weekend i.e. tomorrow, then I may have another play.

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Steve - 18GB Mk II Blue

I spoke to someone at work who reckoned my minidisc wouldn't supply enough power to the amp to be able to hear anything. I thought that this would be the same as the empeg, then.

Depends on your definition of "power".

If you mean electricity going down the main 12-volt power line that feeds the amplifier, uh, yeah. You should be powering the amplifier straight from the car's battery as I said in my first reply.

If you mean voltage on the audio outputs, it's likely to be just the opposite of what your co-worker said...

See, the audio outputs for car stereos and car amplifiers is meant to be something called LINE LEVEL OUTPUTS, meaning there is little or no actual amplification on the audio outputs. The head unit doesn't supply any power to drive speakers, that's the job of the amplifier.

If you've got a hand-held portable Minidisc, it probably just has some HEADPHONE OUTPUTS which are actually amplified. They aren't amplified very much, as they're only intended to drive a tiny pair of headphone speakers, but it's still more than line level. Usually, headphone outputs plugged into a line-level input are distorted because they are supplying too much signal.

In some cases, you can simply turn down the volume on the headphone output and get an acceptable sound, so that might be an option for you. The only problem is that your portable minidisc doesn't have a remote amp-turn-on lead that you can use to activate your car amplifier.

I'm not sure if it's safe to temporarily wire the blue amp-remote line to a switch connected to a 12v source. I don't know if that's kosher or not. I know the amp remote line isn't intended to carry a any voltage at all. I wouldn't recommend trying that without first talking to an installation expert.

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Tony Fabris

Depends on your definition of "power".

I mean't line feed power. Sorry.

You should be powering the amplifier straight from the car's battery as I said in my first reply.

Panic ye not - it is.

The only problem is that your portable minidisc doesn't have a remote amp-turn-on lead that you can use to activate your car amplifier.

Well, I had a bit of an idea on that score. My car mobile phone kit has a lead to activate for 'antenna motor control' which is used to (and I quote) "control different devices on and off." So, I tried the wiring, put the phone in it's cradle and I did hear a slight sound from the speakers as the amp switched. Plugged in the minidisc but nothing - starting at lowest volume and working up. I'm obvioulsy going to have to go and have a chat with someone who can look at it all - and price me up on some new kit.

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Steve - 18GB Mk II Blue

I've used 12v ignition source in the past when my stereos did not have an antenna turn on lead to connect to my amp remote (blue wire), and they worked fine. However, this does not mean that what I did was "proper" (Maybe I lucked out). All I can offer is that it worked for me.

Seeing as I won't be getting my empeg back until next week (I hope) I decided to see how much effort it would be to install my old stereo. It took less than 10 mins. I'd forgotten that I'd left all the original connectors in there to make it easy to swap over when I sold the car . I can't believe I've been suffering with headphones for the last 4 days when I didn't really have to. This took less time than the messing to try and hook the minidisc up so I've knocked that idea on the head now.

The real rub is that I'm going down to Oxford tomorrow and my route takes me past Cambridge. If only I could pop in and pick up my empeg ...

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Steve - 18GB Mk II Blue

The real rub is that I'm going down to Oxford tomorrow and my route takes me past Cambridge. If only I could pop in and pick up my empeg ...

Have you asked? They're usually pretty good about that sort of thing.

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Tony Fabris

I've had an update from empeg. It still needs a little more testing so I guess I'll just have to wait

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Steve - 18GB Mk II Blue