Help with Install

Hi,

I'm new to this BBS and to the Empeg world. I just ordered a 30 gig unit and hope to have it soon. My question is where to install it, and if I can route my existing head preamp out through the Empeg.

I have a 99 F-150. It only has one DIN slot, and my existing head is in there. I'd like to keep the head - due to the lack of tuner availability I need the radio functionality. So the question is where do I put the thing? Is there a 3rd party mount for elsewhere in the truck? Any ideas? Also, because I'd like to keep the head, can I connect the head through the Empeg and then out to a power amp? Is this a silly question? I'm not all that audio proficient so I'd appreciate a dumbed down answer. Thanks.

Joe

Here's the simplest answer: YES. :)

And really, it's that simple. You can actually go old-HU to empeg or empeg to old-HU. In the first case you need pre-outs on the HU and in the second case you need AUX-in on the HU.

If you are going to do HU to empeg, then I suggest mounting the empeg in your dash and hide the old head unit - or mount it in an alternate location. The more important display will be the empeg, so you don't want it hidden. People have all sorts of creative ways of mounting additional heads, so I'm sure you'll get some feedback with specifics. Your local car audio shop would more than likely also have some ideas.

Bruno

with the Stock HU, you're proabably not going to have RCA pre amp out's, so you'd have to get a line level converter..

Something like this..

This will take the speaker level outputs on the stock HU and convert them to RCA, which you can then plug into the Rio..

Thanks Nester, but my head isn't the stock unit - I have an older Sony that does have preamp RCA outs. I assume these will be adequate, although interestingly the Sony also has an input for TV. I played with the idea of using that input for the empeg - does that make sense? What I/O power issues might I have with that - it seems like the audio out on most TV's would be a preamp level, so it should be pretty safe no? But then I have a preamp going into a preamp, won't that double noise and confound the volume controls? Do I leave the EQ on one flat and adjust with the other? Do I risk overdriving the HU with the preamp on the Empeg and creating distortion - like a guitar amp - I wan't it to rock, but.... :-)

Joe

All this stuff is covered in the installaiton section of the FAQ. Give that a whirl and see if you still have more questions after that.

Regarding the TV input, I don't know how that is set up on that brand of stereo. Perhaps its owner's manual describes the input details.

Just in case some specific aren't covered in the FAQ...

Pre-amp to pre-amp is fine as long as you're not boosting with both of them. One of them will be kept flat and you can make your adjustments on the other (the one right before the power amps). In my case, I keep all empeg levels flat and the volume locked at 0db. My head unit then has a sensetivity adjustment for AUX-in which I set to "low" - the empeg outputs at a decent voltage.

You may be able to the the TV connections on your SONY. Can you switch to them even without a TV plugged into the bus connector? If so then you won't have a problem testing. If not, then you may need some kind of adapter to fool the head unit into thinking some supported device is connected (so it allows you to switch to that input stage). There already a thread going about a SONY head unit with this requirement. If there's no sensetivity adjustment (likely) then it will be tuned to a specific voltage range - such as 0-1v or 0-2v. You may need to set the empeg's volume below 0db to avoid clipping the signal on the SONY.

Bruno