Hooking up system with factory radio?

[Angelboy863 21]

So my girlfriend's older sister (30?) hears the system I put in my girlfriends car and now what's me to do one for her.

She drives a 2000 Toyota Sienna Minivan and she doesn't want me to replace the factory radio (she says she likes it)

I told her yeah this is possible but honestly I'm not to sure what to do.

Factory radios don't have RCAs do they? What must I do? Line out converter? How do those work?

I'm thinkin simple 12" kenwood kfc. 400rms. And Ill her get a sundown audio sax 1200 at 4 ohm (380?rms) had to rep sundown

But yeah what must I do to complete this project. There's no rush. I'm not in a hurry but really don't want to mess up on my gf's sister's ride. She has a red optima battery under the hood and I'll do the big 3. Stock alt is like 90-120amps I'm not sure but I think thats good enough electrical for about 400rms of power.

Thanks everyone in advance and I will have vids of my system as soon as I get a goooood camera. My phone just doesn't cut it.

[Tirefryr 1,742]

Line out converter or amp/processor with speaker level inputs. Personally, I would use a processor as most all factory units have some sort of processing built-in and most of it is to attenuate the bass as the volume is raised to save the cheap stock speakers from death. How much money do you have to spend?

[djjdnap 78]

http://www.scosche.com/car-audio/amplifier-add-on

[Dangrebel 89]

for the line out converter just splice the rear speaker wires run them to the converter and the speakers so its a Y. then run your rcas to the amp and adjust gain accordingly. yes they work i used one for about 2 yrs. and yea that electrical should be fine. Goodluck!!!!

[Angelboy863 21]

Line out converter or amp/processor with speaker level inputs. Personally, I would use a processor as most all factory units have some sort of processing built-in and most of it is to attenuate the bass as the volume is raised to save the cheap stock speakers from death. How much money do you have to spend?

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_18563_Hifonics-Maxxsonics-MX-4.html.

Would that work?

Budget around $400-500 don't want to go too crazy, it's a minivan lol.

[Angelboy863 21]

for the line out converter just splice the rear speaker wires run them to the converter and the speakers so its a Y. then run your rcas to the amp and adjust gain accordingly. yes they work i used one for about 2 yrs. and yea that electrical should be fine. Goodluck!!!!

Does it matter which side? Left or right?

And will the sound not be as good as if I had a aftermarket headunit? Thanks for the help guys.

[holley2346 6]

for the line out converter just splice the rear speaker wires run them to the converter and the speakers so its a Y. then run your rcas to the amp and adjust gain accordingly. yes they work i used one for about 2 yrs. and yea that electrical should be fine. Goodluck!!!!

Does it matter which side? Left or right?

And will the sound not be as good as if I had a aftermarket headunit? Thanks for the help guys.

A plain old Line Out converter under 100 bucks will do you fine, you will accomplish your goal although an aftermarket radio would offer more eq and input options, and would likely sound a little better. I ran a line out converter for a bass amp for over 6 months and was content. It'll be your temporary fix until you can purchase an aftermarket head unit.

[Angelboy863 21]

for the line out converter just splice the rear speaker wires run them to the converter and the speakers so its a Y. then run your rcas to the amp and adjust gain accordingly. yes they work i used one for about 2 yrs. and yea that electrical should be fine. Goodluck!!!!

Does it matter which side? Left or right?

And will the sound not be as good as if I had a aftermarket headunit? Thanks for the help guys.

A plain old Line Out converter under 100 bucks will do you fine, you will accomplish your goal although an aftermarket radio would offer more eq and input options, and would likely sound a little better. I ran a line out converter for a bass amp for over 6 months and was content. It'll be your temporary fix until you can purchase an aftermarket head unit.

Cool. Good to know. Thanks

[Dan208 23]

I've been running a $20 LOC for about a year and a half now. It does the job, but I'd like to upgrade to some type of processor in the future.

[Angelboy863 21]

I've been running a $20 LOC for about a year and a half now. It does the job, but I'd like to upgrade to some type of processor in the future.

Yeah I'm hopin she changes her mind and we can buy an aftermarket headunit to make it easier but if she insists at least I know what to do.

[Angelboy863 21]

i just watched that video and it confused me a bit. that LOC is exactly what im going to buy.

um, where should i put the LOC? next to the dash or in the back with the amp and stuff? the way he explained it made it seem like it should be next to the dash but ive watched vids where its in the back.. and how many wires and what wires do i exactly need? and do any wires besides rcas go into the amplifier ex. 12v ground remote? im sorry for the weird questions but i just want to make sure before i look like a fool installing this..

[Tirefryr 1,742]

You can mount it wherever you want. You should have 4 wires for a stereo signal, 2 left and 2 right. IT looks like the unit requires power as well. Personally, I would buy a Navone converter.

[Angelboy863 21]

You can mount it wherever you want. You should have 4 wires for a stereo signal, 2 left and 2 right. IT looks like the unit requires power as well. Personally, I would buy a Navone converter.

so what you're saying is that the LOC itself requires power as in 12v ground n remote, AND the amplifier too? ill look into those. thanks

[Impious 1,476]

I'm thinkin simple 12" kenwood kfc. 400rms. And Ill her get a sundown audio sax 1200 at 4 ohm (380?rms) had to rep sundown

Seems like a gigantic waste of money to get a Sundown SAX-1200 for that system.

You can find amps that will supply 400w for under $150 and would do the job just as well as the Sundown.

[Angelboy863 21]

I'm thinkin simple 12" kenwood kfc. 400rms. And Ill her get a sundown audio sax 1200 at 4 ohm (380?rms) had to rep sundown

Seems like a gigantic waste of money to get a Sundown SAX-1200 for that system.

You can find amps that will supply 400w for under $150 and would do the job just as well as the Sundown.

true. well i wanted to get it because i wanted her to rep sundown and incase she wants to upgrade later. turns out we are replacing the headunit lol. but thanks for the help anyways, because at least i know what to do if this type of installation is wanted. *it would be nice if sundown actually released their smaller line of amps. but the 1200 will do. it only costs $220 where i found it.

[Notorious97200 339]

A 90-120 amps alt should handle a 1200 watts amp easily.

I'd rather get better speakers and sub than a very good amplifier. But If you can have the Sundown amp for cheap, go for it !

Another idea : Get her a little (Sundown SA for example) sub, and a 4 ch amp : so you'll have 2 ch for the speakers, so you could use the high pass filter on them, and 2 ch bridged for a sub (using the LPF).

[Angelboy863 21]

A 90-120 amps alt should handle a 1200 watts amp easily.

I'd rather get better speakers and sub than a very good amplifier. But If you can have the Sundown amp for cheap, go for it !

Another idea : Get her a little (Sundown SA for example) sub, and a 4 ch amp : so you'll have 2 ch for the speakers, so you could use the high pass filter on them, and 2 ch bridged for a sub (using the LPF).

That was my original idea. Whoa we think alike lol. I was thinkin sa8 on like a sundown 200.4. But she already has aftermarket speakers powered by the headunit which really didn't sound bad just was missing the hard bass. Now we're looking into some double din eclipse or pioneer headunits since the budget is now higher still going to run speakers thru the headunit but it's ok cause she wants bass over clarity. Maybe future I'll get a second amp and some components

The sax 1200 is a for sure though but debating on sub and what ohm load we want.

She says she wants it to sound like my gf's which is 1 ohm load at 500rms.

I might do the 2ohm load on the sax1200 which is about 800rms and get a sa10. I'd have to pitch in on money though because it would be over her budget but I'm willing to for the future in law

She's not going to reallyyy crank **** but she can get some bump. I'll have gains down and stuff. Custom enclosure, new headunit, aw man it's going to be great. All sundown just the way I like it.

[swagger_wagon468 53]

Or you could get a small audiopipe amp for only $80ish... you have $500 max to soend and almost half will be the amp... Buy a,cheaper one and out the money to use elsewhere in the system.

My 2¢

[Angelboy863 21]

We ended up getting her a eclipse double din headunit from sonicelectronix.com. She loves it! Wayyy better than the stock radio she says. And I got her a sa12 dual 2ohms wired series for 4 ohms on a rf t1000 manufacturer box. Lovely system. Glad to build it for her.