iPod to Amp hook up

« **on:** May 11, 2012, 11:47:05 AM »

My head unit I inherited in my boat is tempermental at best, powers up some days not others. It doesn't have a USB hook up to run my ipod anyways so I just got a ipod headphone jack to rca cable and directly plugged it into the inputs on the amp hoping for an easy fix. The light is on on the amp so its getting power, but no sound came out the speakers. I am far from stereo savvy, any suggestions?
Thanks,
Tom

« **Reply #1 on:** May 11, 2012, 11:59:01 AM »

Did you press the play button and turn the volume up?

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« **Reply #2 on:** May 11, 2012, 12:12:30 PM »

Yeah, maxed the volume on the iPhone and watched ticker indicate it was playing. Toggled between phone being on silent or vibrate too just to eliminate that. Since I have only had the boat for under a year and have fixed many screw ups from the previous owner, I am sure the stereo set up is suspect, but I have heard it play before so obviously the speakers were hooked to the amp somewhat correctly. Could it be a bad ground or bad power supply to the amp? Thanks again for the inputs.
Tom

« **Reply #3 on:** May 11, 2012, 02:17:25 PM »

Assuming the gain on the amp is turned up... I would try that headphone to rca cable on something that you know works like an input on the back of a tv..

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« **Reply #4 on:** May 11, 2012, 02:29:25 PM »

Thanks, I will try it on my tv when I get home from work and update.
Much appreciated,
Tom

« **Reply #5 on:** May 14, 2012, 01:13:13 PM »

Well I tried the connection to the back of a home stereo and the ipod and cable played just fine. So we know both of those components work, now its back to guessing at what is wrong with the amp/speakers in the boat. Big Johnson, you mentioned something about making sure the gain is all the way up, will this be a knob on the amp? Familiar with it on guitar amps but like I said, 0 prior experience with auto/marine audio.

-Tom

« **Reply #6 on:** May 14, 2012, 01:52:33 PM »

On mine any knobs you can turn, turn em up. I assume you have the rcas plugged into the "in" jacks.

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« **Reply #7 on:** May 14, 2012, 02:23:19 PM »

Adjust the knobs in small increments, there is a differences between how "loud" the music is heard and how much power is actually being sent to the speakers. Don't want to damage the coils in the speakers

« **Reply #8 on:** May 14, 2012, 02:29:12 PM »

Yeah, ran the RCA's into the "input" on the side of the amp, will try turning the knobs up when I have it next on Memorial weekend. I will be at Parker so anyone sees me out and about don't hesitate to say hi.
-Tom

« **Reply #9 on:** May 29, 2012, 12:33:07 PM »

Just had the boat out on Parker again for Memorial, was playing around under the bow with the amp, turning the various knobs and such and unfortunately still no luck. Got the head unit working which was good, but still confused how when I take the leads from the head unit out of the "INPUT" jacks on the amp and plug in my ipod with a tested cable that I still do not get sound. Unless anyone else has any other ideas on what to try I guess it comes down to buying a new head unit with a dedicated iPod jack unfortunately. Any and all ideas welcome.
-Tom

« **Reply #10 on:** May 29, 2012, 02:10:49 PM »

get a new head unit and be done with it ...you can get a nice marine one with 2 6in speakers $100....or get a car one $60....you can find sets on sale at walyworld...or marine sets at westmarine..
proly gona be a lot better sound also than what you have

« **Reply #11 on:** May 29, 2012, 05:50:32 PM »

I bought a alpine from best buy with all the fancy shit for 80 bucks and it kicks major ass.

« **Reply #12 on:** May 11, 2013, 10:36:20 PM »

When you hook the iPod directly to the amp you need to use a line driver. It is a preamp between the iPod and amp otherwise the iPod has to be turned all the way up and will not be loud. You can order them from best buy

« **Reply #13 on:** June 20, 2013, 01:00:24 PM »

Do you need a head unit for radio or other ? If not, Ipod direct to amp input with a switch wired into the remote connection to turn on and off... simple and been working in mine for several years now. Just always remember to turn Ipod on first and volume down before flipping switch to amp on. Ipod, Iphone, Windows phone, works for all.

« **Reply #14 on:** June 20, 2013, 08:03:29 PM »

If you have had to fix many "problems" from the previous owner id say to rip all the stereo stuff out n start fresh just my .02 there could be chaffed wires grounded out unplugged wires etc.. Or the amp could of just had its time n is dead ive had amps in my trucks go bad but still lit up as if they were good

« **Reply #15 on:** June 20, 2013, 11:07:14 PM »

in my setup i took a stereo output from my satelite radio/aux/iphone/android and i ran it to a pre-amp/equalizer. i now have 6 possible channels (4 full range and 2 subwoofer) at 7 volts (output from a android/iphone is much lower and its already amplified to drive headphones which when you turn it up all the way on the phone it causes distortion...) I also now have a volume control at a pre-amp level... not from the input. which is 500x better.

its fairly simple to do, and its cheap. im using a boss (i know, boss is a low end brand but hey, its a boat... like im going to SQ when its going to be blasting over the engine running) equalizer/pre-amp. its like $30 on ebay/amazon. i have it wired for power to a switch, which also runs to the remote wire of the amp so i can control everything on a switch independent of the ignition.

you dont need a radio (radio is useless at the river unless you want to listen to mariachi stations) but plugging your iphone directly into an amp is only going to give you 2 channels unless you split and if you do it with just splitter/Y-cables you'll be dropping the voltage and make things sound even worse.

« **Reply #16 on:** June 21, 2013, 02:51:10 AM »

Kinda off subject.. but I got a boss 1200 watt 4 channel amp in my truck that powers my 10" sub along with my 6x9's & 4" door speakers. It sounds really good and clear. I have not had 1 issue with it in over a year. I had a Rockford fosgate before that kept blowing the fuse and it finally took a crap, so desperate for tunes I went and bought the boss at the stereo shop down the street swapped it and it hits hard!

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« **Reply #17 on:** June 21, 2013, 12:50:56 PM »

Nice setup ka0tyk !!!!!!!! ... wish I had the room....lol

« **Reply #18 on:** June 21, 2013, 04:55:23 PM »

Probably late here on this thread but Im willing to bet the amp was not turning on when the ipod was plugged into it. You have to wire the remote turn on wire to a switched place on the key or throw a toggle switch on it to turn it on and off.

« **Reply #19 on:** June 25, 2013, 09:06:38 AM »

you dont need anything in line with the ipot to the amp.

I run just my phone/ipad in both my golf carts and my dune buggy.

From what i am reading you have not said anything about the 12v on wire that goes from the head unit to the amp. so that the amp is not powered when the radio is off. What i did is ran a 12v wire from the dash to a toggle switch and then to the remote on wire of the amp. that way i can shut the amps off when not in use. the remote wire is most commonly a blue wire.

other than that your system should work with out a problem

« **Reply #20 on:** June 25, 2013, 09:30:26 AM »

Thanks for the additional tips guys, I will be out on Parker for ten days this week and will check to see if that switch wire was defective/not hooked up after I pulled the inputs off and hooked the iPod up, something else to check. The weird part is the head unit would work perfectly fine by memory, and I would just swap the leads to the iPod and do nothing else different, and could not get any sound, maybe the head unit itself was shutting off and killing the switch power to the amp. I will have a look.

« **Reply #21 on:** June 25, 2013, 10:07:47 AM »

yes it would not work if the head unit was off. If the head unit was on it should work.

i usually make sure my phone is playing music on its own before i plug the head phone jack into the phone to play thru the amps. just an added trouble shooting step. Cause i have had it playing before but with no sounds. my first step is always unplug the phone and make sure that the phone is indeed playing music and it is loud enough to hear. then plug the phone back in. if that dont work i make sure the switch is on and the amps have power. I have never had to trouble shoot farther than that.

You can ask anyone at willow valley how well it works in my golf cart. LOL..

Rolls Royce golf cart with 2 10s and 2 wake board tower speakers and two amps. Its sounds pretty good. unless the song has a ton of base then the whole cart just rattles.

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