need explanation of line driver voltage

Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Audio
Forum Discription: Car Stereos, Amplifiers, Crossovers, Processors, Speakers, Subwoofers, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=130952
Printed Date: May 15, 2025 at 9:05 AM

Topic: need explanation of line driver voltage

Posted By: diggyd357
Subject: need explanation of line driver voltage
Date Posted: March 19, 2012 at 6:44 AM

My screen will probably be changed to "I'm a big freekin' idiot" after this one, but I'm tired of not knowing......if I have a 12v alternator and my eq has a 7Volt line driver, how many volts am I feeding to the amp ? I want to know if Im getting atleast the 14.4v rating on the amp's output. Thanks....and an extra thanks to those of you who don't refer to me as "king idiot" lol.

Replies:

Posted By: DYohn
Date Posted: March 19, 2012 at 9:38 AM

Those things have nothing to do with each other. The 11-14.4 volts is the vehicle's power supply range. This is what comes out of the alternator and is what supplies power to the amps, head units and the rest of the car's electronics. It's like the power in the wall outlets of your home when you plug something in. The voltage rating of the device outputs - the 7v in your line driver - is a signal level voltage that comes out of the RCA connections. This voltage is a max level and depends on the volume level of the signal. The devices in your car USE the alternator voltage for power, but they GENERATE the line level signal voltage to send the signal from one place to another along RCA cables.

Make sense?

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Posted By: i am an idiot
Date Posted: March 19, 2012 at 12:34 PM

Screenname is not for sale.

Posted By: diggyd357
Date Posted: March 19, 2012 at 12:38 PM

HAhahaha !!!!! Gotcha.....

Posted By: oldspark
Date Posted: March 19, 2012 at 7:46 PM

Get in line diggyd357 - I'm ahead of you (for i am an idiot!!

And don't worry - those voltage things or specs can be confusing.
In retrospect it may be so obvious and perhaps silly...
But 2 things come to mind - better safe than sorry, and no such thing as a stupid question - just stupid answers.