Thread: Brand new to the carputer scene

First of all, welcome to to the forums. Second, most people just plug the audio outputs on the computer directly into amps. Some people run them through a head unit and then to amps or just use the amp in a head unit. Some that are big audiophiles like to run them to processors first using either the analog or digital outputs on the computer. If your just a person that wants some sound then I would recommend just plugging the computer directly into the amps and then adjust the gains on the amps correctly. I would also recommend using a 3.5mm male jack to female RCA adapters then run quality RCA cables from there. It's still pretty inexpensive and will usually have less interference because most automotive RCA cables are shielded and pickup less interference. If you need any more help I'll be glad to help. There's many people on here that can provide you with pretty much any information you may need. Be happy if Soundman98 sees this post. He's a pretty reputable source of information regarding car audio.

I just used a 3.5mm jack to hook my speaker output of the computer to the aux in of my head unit, works a treat for me as I haven't a clue about audio wiring...
That and my car is a heap of s**t and I'll be transferring my rig when I get a new one.. :-)

aw shucks :blush:

welcome to the forum!

mocoso, or mobile computing solutions is a very reputable seller(mo-co-so.com)-- i have dealt with him a little for a screen that i had bought and had a problem with, and really have not seen any bad reviews of the company.

with that said, i am a huge fan of building the pc yourself.

i don't know how new you are to computers in general, but i always prefer to build the pc so i know what all the parts are, where they're plugged in, and what they do. this is both for my own learning and for troubleshooting purposes--because you eventually will have problems, and will need to fix it.

the other thing is to not expect it to 'just work' 100% of the time. can a pc be built to work 99.99% of the time? yes. carpc's are for tinker-ers, so many of the installs reflect that-- there is usually always something changing or updating-- both on a hardware and software side. i'm not gonna lie-- they are a lot more work then a standard hu.

you really need to look at the reasons that you want to install a carpc--and 'cool-factor is a added bonus, not a reason -- for me, it is the audio manipulation(like what a sound processor can do) and music storage.


for connecting to amps-- the easiest way is exactly like how kolton5543 described-- 3.5mm-to-rca adapter connected to some rca cables, and then adjust the amps for be sound.

there are many other more technical ways to connect to amps that give you different setup options, but that is the only method that i can guarantee with nearly every pc+amp.