howdy all..

im wanting to add an amplifier to the stock 380GT headunit.
just want to improve the system , without removing the integrated stereo system.

does anyone know if there is some form of remote amp turn on wire from the stock headunit ?


if anyone has any wiring diagrams , or information that might help , i'd appreciate it.

cheers.
Brad.

Is the diagram in the service manual?

Audio is not my thing though

Hey Brad.

I'm looking to do the exact same thing that you are doing (because I know the "Com Error" on the dash would bug me after a while if I turfed the stock head unit and upset my poor car).

Essentially what you are looking at it a Line Output Converter (LOC) which takes your speaker outputs and does a voltage conversion back to line (pre-out) level voltages. See this link (http://seatbealt.blogspot.com/2009/06/car-stereo-line-output-converter.html) and have a bit of a look around Google for much better explanations that I could ever give.
Also this (http://www.ehow.com/how_5076523_connect-stereo-line-out-converter.html) gives a brief explanation as to the installation of a LOC.

I'm lucky enough to have "acquired" from by Brother in law (read: taken from him as a rent payment, as he has lived with us for months while his house is being built) a Soundstream 4 channel reference amplifier with an integrated LOC, which will make my life easier.

There are plenty of audio gurus on these forums which I'm sure will be able to give you more info (and may/will have already done a similar thing).

i understand about the hi/low level converters , im more concerned about turning the amps ON & OFF when turning on the stock head unit..

im not a real fan of just wiring the remote amp wire directly to the ACC so that the amps are ON when the accesories is ON , i was just seeing if there is any other options to this , with the stock head unit..

that com error would shit me to tears..

Ah ok. Sorry I misunderstood mate.

If you only want your amp powered up while the stereo is actually functioning, then I'm not exactly sure. I'll have to do some digging. The screen in the GT which displays the channel etc is aware of when the stereo is in operation, and shows Audio System Off when not in use, so I'm wondering whether this could be utilised to operate a relay to power up your amp.

To be honest I'm not too sure about how the lcd display receives it's signal that the stereo is on and off, but it may be a possibility.
I've honestly never thought about it much, because I'm just going to get the amp powered up with the accessories because there is rarely a time that I'm in the car without the stereo on anyway. But if you dont use the head unit all the time then I can understand only wanting to power up the amp when needed.