HOW TO: Get sound from PC to Car Stereo / Amp

**ombastic** · 01-25-2005, 09:44 PM

Originally Posted by miztahsparklez

take a digital multimeter and measure the end of the rca cord using AC voltage setting. heres a hint when measuring, turn up volume at least 75% of full volume to take an accurate measurement. most headunits dont even put up near the rated vrms power until the last few clicks of the volume, but by then the signal has already gone way into clipping and lots of distortion and whatnot can be heard. i think theres only a select few headunits that actually didnt go into clipping when turned all the way up, but i dont remember which.

ombastic... do you happen to have an rsx by chance?? or visit clubrsx? i think ive seen the same screen name on there.

yeah. haha i have an rsx and i'm on crsx.

**miztahsparklez** · 01-26-2005, 02:05 AM

is there preouts on the headunit? if so you can get one of those rca to 3.5mm stereo plug adapters shown on page one. this wold go from the preout on the radio.. to the input on the sound card. then take the another cable like the one u used before and go from the speaker out from the soundcard to the amp.

**DubiousOne** · 01-29-2005, 10:19 PM

This external sound card should do the trick. It has two sets of rca output connectors.

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_u...hile-main.html

Can be purchased here for $170:

http://www.americanmusical.com/item-...-FWAP2496.html

**Mattlocked** · 01-30-2005, 01:38 PM

Hi everybody... My first post here, but have been snooping a while here and there for info... so not so newbie...

I'm in the final stages for getting a toshiba PIII laptop into the trunk of my 2004 Audi A3 S-Line, packed with whatever you may imagine...: wi-fi, bluetooth, 120 GB external HD, GPS, Gamepads... and a new black 7" lilliput nicely fitted under my A/C panel...

The problem I'm stuck with is I bought an aux line-in adapter for use with Audi/VW factory fitted stereos (including my Concert II radio CD- by matsu****a)

Here's a link to the aforementioned adapter....
http://cgi.ebay.es/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=LanguageToggle

As my german is not that good, when I bought it I didn't notice that this adapter required that the factory unit had a source button, which concert II does not have... so the point is that even I have connected this adapter to the cd-changer jack at the back of my concert, and I'm sending sound from my laptop, I have no way to switch sources, and this purchase of an adapter has been a complete bluff...

Anyone out there with an Audi, who had to set an auxiliary input for his CARpc, has found any way around to solve this inconvenience?... The other option I have is to go for a Connects2 interface which is quite expensive.

Any thoughts most welcome....

Regards...

Mattlocked

**jbraddoc** · 02-20-2005, 03:52 AM

Okay, this is going to sound far fetched, etc, especially from a newbie, but.. If you want to keep your radio, cant you do this.. For a normal 4 channel head unit, the wires going to the radio, take the Right front pos and neg and left front pos and neg, and put rca jacks on them, right rear pos and neg, and left rear pos and neg, put rca jacks on those, and then use a converter to convert from rca to headphone, and get a sound card that has 2 inputs, I guess, and then output using the speakers? This may not make sense now, but I will clarify it tomorrow..

**miztahsparklez** · 02-20-2005, 06:28 PM

uh, no.. how would yoru speakers be powered?

**jbraddoc** · 02-21-2005, 04:07 PM

Through the amp.. I thought that would be self explanatory... :-\

**Arathranar** · 02-21-2005, 04:26 PM

Only if you have an external amp. I don't for example, so your approach doesn't work for me.

**miztahsparklez** · 02-21-2005, 04:38 PM

what would be the point of hooking your pc to the speaker wires? that wont do anything. you will be lucky if you get any sound at all. first of all, speakers need quite a bit of power. on top of that the ohm load probably wouldnt be very good for your soundcard.

**jbraddoc** · 02-21-2005, 11:56 PM

Okay let me clarify this... You listen to FM radio all the time, and cannot find a good USB FM radio antenna, so You want to hook the car's original HU to your computer, so you can still have sounds from your computer, for mp3's and what not, and when you are not listening to those, you listen to the stock radio. Okay, that Or, say you have a navigation system with voice guidance, and you want it to 'lower' the volume on the stock system. You take the outputs from the stock HU (the ones to FR FL RR RL speakers, and hook those onto a headphone jack, and plug that into line in, and take the line out, and hook it to an amp, then to the factory wires, so that the FR, FL, RR, RL speakers get powered, and then you can have both worlds..