HU wiring question

[TurboPants]

I have an 03 F350 with the stock CASSETTE deck...as funny as that is heh. Its hard to believe they still use them. Anyway I wanted to put some front door speakers in since I already have a spare set of kenwoods. I also wanted to throw an amp on them since I happen to have a decent 2 channel jensen amp. That being said, I've never amped interior speakers from a head unit. As for the stereo deck it doesnt have to be much because I just want something mp3 capable. But do I need to get a head unit that has preamped outputs? I wont be doing anything with subs, just interior speakers. Ive seen HUs with preamp outputs but usually its for subwoofer use. So Im just trying to find out how I need to go about wiring up the front speakers with whatever HU I go with. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks! ~Dan

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[bamorris2]

It's BEST to get a HU that has pre-amp outputs. That will get you the cleanest, unamplified (by HU) signal to the exteral amp. But do you HAVE TO have pre-outs on a HU in order to use an amp? No. There's always the option of using line output converters (hi/low converters). Those take the speaker-level output wires, and convert them to low-level (RCA) outputs, that you can then run to your amp. The draw-back is that the signal isn't as clean if you use a hi-low converter. Main reason is because the speaker-level outputs from HU's are already amplified from the HU's interal amp. Amplifing an amplified signal creates unwanted noise... But many people do it, and many are happy with it. It all depends on what level of sound quality you're looking for.

PS, if you do decide to go with a line output converter, do yourself a favor and get the one from David Navone (www.davidnavone.com). He makes, hands-down, the best LOC in the industry.