I am considering upgrading my Pioneer HU to an Eclipse HU with 8V preouts.

I've heard from some people that my amps also need to be able to "accept" such high voltage preouts or else it won't be good. Is there any truth to this?

I am currently using the older (silver/black) Rockford Fosgate 400a4 & 500a2 amps.

 

true mang....you look at input sensitivity on the amplifer itself. It will work if you have a HU with 8volt MAX output..and your amp only takes in 4... It just means that you wont get the maximum potential.

 

It will work fine. You just won't need to turn the gain up as far. The 8v out is the "max". Just don't turn it up that far and there will not be a problem.

 

Agreed, I have never had a problem with mine....

--Don

 

I won't get maximum potential...so 8V is overkill if I used my amps? Barring Eclipse's renowned circuitry, an 8V deck will sound the same as a 4V deck?

I mean, let's say there was a generic deck that came in both 8V and 4V options...the only thing different is the wattage...the deck would sound the same?

 

High voltage outputs are used to transmit a signal with as low an amount of noise as possible. Once upon a time headunits did not have RCA outputs. Then when they did the good headunits had 0.5 volt outputs. The drawback was that a .05 volt induced noise in the RCA's was 10% of the signal. Therefore high noise level. Now we have decks with 2.0 up to 8.0 volts. The higher the voltage the theoretically cleaner the signal the amps will get.

 

you'll get awesome sound with 4 or 8 volt....I personally would go with the 8volt. Since mabey in the future you want upgrade amps you might be able to take advantage of the 8v Max output. the voltage isnt constantly 8volts at all times. It does fluctuate. At low volume it could be 1 volt..2 volt ect.. so you will be fine using a 8V output stereo. and you'll be even better off when you upgrade you amps later.

 

But James your forgetting the few that have 16volts....


BTW...you will hear a noticable difference (volume/loudness)between a 4volt and a 8volt deck.

--Don