QuestionHi, I looked at the web sight for the L-Pad's and am wondering which one I would need. thanks again for the help..
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Hi, so if I use a L-Pad, do I still need the amp? thanks again for the help..
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Hi, ok, the speakers I want to run off of are just a pair of 6x9's for the rear of the jeep or can I just run new wires off the stereo back to the headphone jacks?, I think the stereo is 120. I think I understand what your saying to do, but I do have a couple of questions, first, is there a device to put between the amp and the headphone jacks to control volume so I could mount it on the end of the speaker box (not a subwoofer box)so just the knob is showing to control the volume instead of having headphone with volume control on them ?... second, (sorry I am not a stereo guy here)do I run separate wires from the stereo to the amp and then to the headphone jacks?.. thanks again for the help..
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I would like to add headphone jacks to my speaker box for the rear of my jeep for summer time listening, I need all the help I can get as I know nothing about it at all... I would also like to have a volume control for the headphone jacks as well and when the headphones are plugged in the speakers will remain on... thanks for all the help..
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interesting project! headphones typically are in the 1/4 to 1 watt range so running them off your "speaker box" which could be anywhere from 50-5000 watts (you didn't give me any details) wouldn't be a good idea. in addition the "speaker box" I'm assuming is a subwoofer box (you didnt give me any details) which if you did put headphone jacks on that would just pump muddy bass into the headphones just before blowing them up and makeing your ears bleed.
I would say that the right way to do this is to get the smallest amp you can find like this one here:
http://www.cardomain.com/item/POWPS2120
its only $29 !! and its rated for 35 watts into 2 channels which is still too much but you can just turn the gain knob down on the amp.
Anyway, what I would do is jut put Y connectors on the RCA cables that go to your current amp (assuming the RCA's are providing full range sound not lowpass'd sound) so that the sound goes to both amps. you can run power wire as light as 12 or even 14 guage wire for this small amplifier. the nice thing about having a separate amp for the head phones is that you can put switches on your dash to turn this amp on or off when you need it and your existing amp could have a switch as well to turn the "speaker box" off when listening to headphones if you want to (switches go on the remote wires and can be purchased at radioshack or any auto shop)
Then you can get some heaphone jacks at radioshack and just connect them to the speaker outputs on this small amp and there you go! you can use the Gain knob on the small amp to balance the volume between what you hear in the headphones and what's coming from the speaker box. once that's balanced you can just use the volume control on the head unit to controll how loud the headphones are. when adjusting the gain on the headphone amp for the first time start with it all the way down and work your way up slowly. 35 watts into headphones can EASLY cause you permantent hearing damage and blow the headphones so you need to turn it up slowly to a reasonable level.
Good luck! Please let me know how it goes and if you need any more details or help. This is an interesting project so keep me in the loop ok?
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I guess about the simplest thing you can do is to hook up something called an "L-Pad" which is essentially a volume knob that handels speaker level signals.
this would alow you to to take the existing speaker lines going to the 6x9s and give you volume control to the headphone jacks. you can see various types of lpads here:
http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage.cfm?&DID=7&WebPage_ID=3
this would eliminate the need for the amp and stuff. partsexpress is a great resource for all kinds of stuff like this. you can get the headphone jacks there too.
good luck and feel free to ask any more quesions.
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right you wouldnt need the extra amp
Answerthis one should be good for a headphone level:
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=260-251
there is 6 connections on th Lpad (you'll need to solder)
you can either use your cd player's rear or front speaker outputs, if the 6x9s are where you want this then just tap the speaker wires on them
connect your wires to the Lpad like this:
HPS
LS- HPLP LSP
| | |
| | |
RS- HPRP RSP
HPS
Legend:
LSP = left speaker posative
HPLP = headphone left posative
HPS = heaphone shield (ground)
LS- = Left speaker negative
RSP = Right speaker posative
HPRP = headphone Right posative
RS- = Right speaker negative
the heaphone shield and the left and right negatives basically all connect to eachother on the left 2 terminals of the l pad and all posative wires go on their own conenectors (speaker posatives on the right and headphone posatives in the middle)
Good luck and let me know how it goes!
