carpc to aux in not loud enough

**soundman98** · 01-14-2010, 01:21 PM

Originally Posted by kuo

the output voltage for the phoenix unit says 8V where as the pac turbo 1 says 4V. is it possible that the max output voltage makes a difference? at this point i'm not sure what caused the problem but i'm pretty sure it is installed correctly. power wires are good. i double checked. the audio connections are right.

from what i can tell i smoked the line driver because of one of the following:
1. gains on the line driver were turned up too high
2. volume on pc was turned up too high
3. volume on head unit was turned up too high
4. a combination of 1 and 2

does changing the volume on the pc or head unit change the voltage of the audio signal going into the line driver? i wouldn't think the head unit's volume has anything to do with it. maybe maxing out the pc volume controls increased the voltage of the signal to the point where the phoenix line driver couldn't handle it? i tried measuring the voltage at the rca cable with a multimeter but got nothing.

the voltage should change when you turn it up, or down on the computer.

to measure the voltage of the outputs of the sound card, you need a steady single frequency. try using winisd-- it is a free sub box setup program, but also includes a tone generator mode. set it up for about 60hz, and measure the output in the a/c setting on the multimeter.

http://www.linearteam.dk/default.aspx?pageid=winisdpro

the car radio volume should not affect the pre amp at all.

i also thought at first that maybe the the computer had such a high output, that is what caused it, but pheonix piece that i had was pretty hardy-- i was running a headunit with 2 volt rcas into it, and it never had a problem-- i could make it so loud that the speakers protested

.

the only other thing i can think of is that, at 100% volume, the computer sent a distorted audio signal to the preamp that it didn't like, or the the signal level went over the 4 volt max for the pac adapter, and the pac adapter rejected it, somehow releasing the magic smoke on the phoenix...

you could try to get another one, assuming that this one was defective, or you could try a pac unit that might be better matched to the adapter.

**kuo** · 01-15-2010, 12:53 PM

thanks for the tip on measuring the output. i installed winisdpro and used the tone generator. when you said set it to 60hz i wasn't sure if i was supposed to put in 60 or 60,000, but i tried 60,000 and it seemed to work so i measured it and came up with 1.28V on the left rca and 1.32V on the right.

i messed around with the damaged line driver last night. it works somewhat but even at very a very low gain the sound is distorted. i found that if i turned up the volume to 100% on the computer and then started increasing the gain on the line driver, when i got to a certain level, the led on the line driver would flash and the audio would cut out. i'm assuming if it weren't already smoked, it would have started smoking at that point. to get it to work again i'd have to pull the power plug out and plug it back in.

i will be sending the phoenix gold units back for replacements since the place i purchased from charges a 15% restocking fee for returns for refunds. should i just install the line driver and turn the gain up very slightly? i'm concerned that it might still burn up under the dash if a song with a lot of base comes on. maybe i'd be better off either taking the 15% restocking fee or selling them on ebay.

**soundman98** · 01-15-2010, 01:53 PM

being that there is the restocking fee, i think it might be better/cheaper to just get a replacement unit-- if the second unit does the same thing, then you can move on to other line drivers.

**piku** · 02-10-2011, 11:02 AM

I have mac mini -> splitter -> one mini to rca adapter to my sub amp, the other side of the splitter goes to mini to rca adapter to a phoenix gold TLD22. The output of the Phoenix Gold TLD22 then goes to the inputs (it expects 5v balanced inputs I think) on the factory harman kardon amp. Worked great during testing. Drove to work once and all was well. On the way home it stopped working and let out the magic smoke.

I'm not sure if my install is wrong or not but in general I don't think it should smoke itself any way around it. I bought it from an ebay seller so I'm not even sure how I woudl go about getting warranty service. We'll see.

Just to be clear, I drove this amp using the highs from head units for yeeeeaars with no problem.