high/low level converters

Hello all,

A lot of car manufacturers are making it a lot harder for us to install in.  Factory head units are harder to remove and often they are not din size. My question: is there is a product i can use to boost preout level if i am to use the factory head unit with high-to-low level converter?  Any advice would be appreciated.

ummm, ok  - do you mean, you're using a speaker level to input signal level converter (i.e. takes stereo speaker output wires, and converts to RCA outputs for amps)?  if that's the case, you shouldn't need to boost the signal anymore than you're already getting...... having said that, i'm going to for a moment assume your factory deck only has 9 watts output, and the level converter is designed for a stereo that normally has 20 watts output.  open the converter up, and you should find a small capacitor inline going from the speaker input, to the rca output, with a resistor on the cap's rca side, going to ground.  there's two possible ways to go to increase the output:

1: increase the size of the resistor (i.e. if it's currently a 220 ohm, change it to a 500 ohm or whatever suits your taste)

2: increase the size of the capicacitor (i.e. if it's currently a 10 mfd 50v, change it to a 20 mfd 50v, or until you're satisfied with the level).

going too high will increase motor noise when the engine is running, so you may have to experiment with which works best in what combination for your particular application.  reguardless of how much you get out of it though, it's been my experience that the factory head units have inferior sound quality when compared to a good aftermarket deck..... many people will argue their factory unit sounds good, but that's because they're listening to it at factory levels on factory speakers.... put 500 watts on that factory deck with some good speakers, and it usually sounds flat and noisy, so beware.