alexulan

Need some advice from the Stereo gurus here.

I have a Ken wood DNX 5140 on order that is replacing my stock head unit.

The OEM Unit Gs400 is wired through 3 sets of RCA with low level converts to a 4 Chanel amp and two Chanel Sub amp

The question is have is utilizing the DNX5140 Preamp.

It only has four.

You have two pairs of 2v Preamp Outs.
Set 1 Front
Set 2 Rear / Non Fading Sub woofer (software switchable)

if I do Front and Rear i need to split the RCA with a Y cable?

If I do Front and Non Fading Sub woofer I will loose my ability to use the front to rear Fade or Zone Control

I want to retain fade control so it sounds like y splitter is the only choice?


Suggestions for hooking up 4 preamp head unit to a 5/6 Chanel amp.



One more note:

This headunit also has AV audio out.

outputs: A/V output; 4-channel preamp outputs (front, rear) — rear output is switchable to subwoofer mode

Can you use this for the SUB Preamp?

alexulan

the y - cable should work I'm just worried about introducing noise.

alexulan

bump.

COme on somebody here knows what is the best way to hook this up.

Big Mack

iTrader: (1)

Patience, grasshoppa. You didn't even give it a full day.

If you use a splitter, you will lose fader control. Why? Because you're still splitting just the front signal to front and rear, so if you fade it, all you'll be doing is reducing the front level since the sub level is not fading.

Let's look at this: if your 4 channel amp has a pass through for signal, you would want to run the full signal to that amp, then output the signal to the 2 channel amp. Assuming each has crossovers, they will handle those duties and allow you to retain fader control.

If you must retain fader control, you may need to look at a different unit if the scenario above is not correct.

Big Mack

alexulan

Big Mack.
Thanks for the response.

I think my solution would work for i was going to split the rear out not the front. (not using the Sub woofer mode)
so fader would still work with the rear doors. Like OEM.

I do like your suggestion however I doubt that my four Chanel has a preamp out.

Both amps do have hi low pass filters though so spiting at the head unit would work it would be a longer run then doing it your way.

In your setup though clean, depending on the amp the preamp out would probably still not be fade-able.

I know I'm starting to regret my head unit choice.
When higher models like DNX7140 out of my reach had 4v 6 Preamp should be standard on this type of unit.

Big Mack

iTrader: (1)

What amps do you have? Have you looked at them to actually make the determination whether or not the 4 channel has outputs, too? If it does, you're set, so don't discount it too fast.

And I have to disagree - 6 preamps are not necessary for many decks now because so many people are using processors downstream. Also, keep in mind that more amps are being built with outputs to increase the flexibility. That being said, if your current amp does not have a set of outputs, you may be able to just upgrade to one that does.

And you're welcome. Update us when you can.

Big Mack

alexulan

Big Mack Thanks for the great sugestion. I don't think neither the installer or I would think of checking for some throughput RCA on the AMP. As chance would have it my amp did have that feature so we ran only two set RCA to the Rear and then split to the second amp.

Now for the pics and then later review.


Statrup Screen


Plugs for IPOD and USB to HU USB these easily tuck out of sight and let you switch the type on input into the head unit USB Media/IPOD


Movies


IPOD and USB Stick

alexulan

Kenwood DNX -5140.

The UPS.

It's the cheaper of the units with a smaller screen, less usb and rca inputs and outputs and no Bluetooth or DIVX.

It has option for a cd mp3 changer for
Kenwood KDC-C669 $100

Bluethooth can always be added for $150
XM, Traffic, HD Stereo all can be added

It has great ipod support and great DVD MP3 Support
Love the folder browsing and generally well behaved and responsive MP3 playback via the cd/dvd slot.

Garmin NAV, Enough said

DVD playback

Infinite color light up mode. match any oem instrumentation lights.

Dual Zone. Play dvd in rear and Play Ipod in front

Create MP3 cd/dvd with own custom JPGs in each folder for a nice slideshow during audio playback.

Overlay audio controls over NAV Screen.


The DOWNS

It's the cheaper of the units with a smaller screen, less usb and rca inputs and outputs and no Bluetooth or DIVX.

The USB inputs is a joke.

The main problem with it is it locks out other functions.
Most importantly VOLUME.
The HU can hang trying to read the USB stick. the more data on the USB stick the more your HU freezes.
I tried three directories with about 20 to 100 songs each full of mp3s and jpegs and that worked fine with a SanDISK 4GB USB stick. Load time about 1 min.
I then tried 10 Directories with 20-100 songs in each.
I don't think it was even 2GB.
The drive would read for 5 minutes and then give up.
I tried to eliminate cable length so i plugged the USB Stick right to the HU, still no go.

The most you can hope for from the USB cable is to load up a few hundred K of Background/startup screens.

DIVX playback in other HU in this price range.
My Philips $40 DVD / DIVX player at home does a better job
@USB and DIVX support.


Garmin Voices on stock HU is weak and very unnatural.
Will have to load some other tts voices.
Will need to have Maps and POI updated. info looks kind of stale.

DVD Playback. No easy way to turn off subtitles.


As you can tell by the pick it does not fill out a double din space like i thought it would.
It came with a plastic surround but that does not work with JDM double din kit so i have a 1/4" gap all around that is somewhat annoying