Turning up the gain on the stock amplifier (with an aftermarket deck)
 

Ello all, I guess I never introduced myself. I'm a new owner of a 97 with 85,000 on her. Seems to be in really great shape, and definitely a set up from the Miatas that I'm used to driving around :)

I put a new deck in her, a Pioneer DEH-5800MP and I noticed that I have to turn the volume up a lot more on this pioneer to get to a comfortable listening volume. The normal volume that I've had pioneers on in my other cars is about 20 (out of 50), in this car I have to turn it up to about 40 before it gets to "normal" sound levels.

I'm running the amplifier outputs (line-level) directly to the input wires for the amp, and I know that the pioneer is not outputting abnormally low power levels, so, is there way to adjust the gain on the amplifier side? Or should I put in one of those high-level to line-level adapters that allow you to plug in the speaker wires from the deck to the line level for the amp? That would give me individual gain control for each channel.

If anyone has any insite, I'd appreciate it!

Thanks guys!

~Aaron

I put a cd player in mine too, and you have to install this http://www.crutchfield.com/S-EGSBDoiSoZV/cgi-bin/prodview.asp?I=127OEM2

You will be able to adjust the gain so it is normal and interfaces with the amp.

Right, I got one of those with the deck, I just figured that I would be able to use direct line level.. I guess not :) Thanks Jonathan!