Overheating!

Hey, I have budget system in my get-me-through-college car, and I'm having problems with the factory head unit overheating. I've added a cheap Pyramid line-level converter to the front outputs of my 1994 Honda Accord OEM cassette deck, which controls an Alpine CHM-S600 changer (with the wire modification done). The converted front channels run to a Soundstream amp which powers one sub. The rear speaker outputs from the head run two 5.25" two-way Infinities. If the fader control is set to allow *any* output through the converted channels, the head unit heat sink gets too hot to touch in five minutes, regardless of system volume. If I fade completely away from those channels, the heating problems vanish. The converted channels sound fine, so I don't think I've got something grounded out, and the gains on the line converter are set to half. The head overheats even when the volume is set to, say, 2/10, so it doesn't appear to be a result of me pushing things too hard. I'm getting desperate here... ANY help will be very much appreciated. Thanks!

If I had to guess, you are using the incorrect LOC for your application... Does the LOC have three wires in, but the HU has four wires out? If so, there is your problem. One POSSIBLE way around this is: use the positive ONLY from the front output of your deck, and run that INTO the positive input of the LOC. Tape off or otherwise insulate the negative output from the deck, and ground the negative input from the LOC to chassis ground. If this does not work, buy a better quality LOC, you get what you pay for... A decent one should still only cost around 15 to 20 bux...It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

Thanks for your help so far. haemphyst: No, the LOC has four input wires, which I've made sure are in the right order. I know that Pyramid is not known for making top-notch stuff, but I figured that a LOC was simple enough for even them. Maybe I was wrong. Has anyone ever had this happen before with a crappy line converter?

Sounds like your LOC is shorting out the amplifier.  Replace it and see if the probelm goes away.   ( HERE's a cheap one that is decent quality.)  Pyramid makes fine quality door stops and paperweights, by the way. Support the12volt.com

I threw away the Pyramid LOC and installed a Stinger one... problem solved. Thanks for everyone's help.