What is a preout? - Saxperience

Docsamty · 19th March 2009, 12:04

Hi guys,
Have been looking at this here,
Its an alpine HU with only one Preout. I want to run a Vibe slick sub and amp off of this, so is it possible to plug in the amp to the HU, then the Sub to the amp.

Aswell as having my front and rear speakers plugged in through the headunit, or do the speakers go through the Preout?

Im not sure how it works.

Could someone explain how it all works,
Thanks,
Sam.

TU-Tuning · 19th March 2009, 12:24

Basically mate a set of pre outs consists of two outputs, a white and a red, and you plug a cable into them called an RCA cable. This then plugs into the amp, and then the sub is wired to the amp. So yes you can use one sub and amp with a headunit with one preout

If you want another amp later, most modern amps have an RCA output aswell as input, so you can 'daisy chain' amps

Docsamty · 19th March 2009, 12:28

Ok thanks, is it relatively easy to setup my own sub and amp, HU etc. Or am i better getting someone who knows what there doing to do it?

Rogue_Shadow · 19th March 2009, 12:31

Its not hard to wire up
Its running the cables which is the hardest part.

McBain · 19th March 2009, 12:31

A pre-out is a low voltage signal sent from the rear of your head unit to an external amplifier like you would have in the boot. You can think of it as a scaled down version of the signal sent to you speakers.

Most of the cheaper HU have only a single pre-out which you can then split using RCA splitters to send your signal to more than one amplifier or daisy chain.

The main purpose of having more than one pre-out is greater flexibility of control at your HU.

For example if you have two pre-outs and two amps (one for speakers, one for sub) you can control each amp seperatley from the HU (depending on the HU) adjusting things like filtering, gain and time alignment etc.

If you have a single pre out send you a “full” signal to your amplifier(s) and make your adjustments using the amplifiers various controls.

Hope this makes sense.

McBain · 19th March 2009, 12:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Docsamty

Ok thanks, is it relatively easy to setup my own sub and amp, HU etc. Or am i better getting someone who knows what there doing to do it?

Easy, get stuck in.

Rogue_Shadow · 19th March 2009, 12:37

Avoid this headunit
Its a brilliant headunit, but its just not made to work with AMPs

Just a lil help :-)

Also for the wiring, its often bets to buy a "AMP wiring Kit" they contain everything you need to wire up your amp and a SUB

Docsamty · 19th March 2009, 12:38

Thanks boys, possibly gonna buy the HU later, then get the other stuff in a few weeks. Just worried that everything is going to rattle with the sub lol.

Rogue_Shadow · 19th March 2009, 12:55

there are plenty of ways to hold the sub and amp to the boot
Extremes like bolts or easy things like velcrotape

Always someone aroudn to help you on these forums it seems :-)

Stickyjam · 19th March 2009, 14:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rogue_Shadow

Avoid this headunit
Its a brilliant headunit, but its just not made to work with AMPs

Just a lil help :-)

Also for the wiring, its often bets to buy a "AMP wiring Kit" they contain everything you need to wire up your amp and a SUB

its got a single preout its fine to work with amps : /