Add new Head Unit and keep Mcintosh Amp?

[Talkiet]

Hi all... I have read a lot on here (most recently viewtopic.php?f=22&t=5667&start=15 ) about the Mc being balanced and this causing problems and I have read a few tantalising bits about how it might be possible to convert from unbalanced to balanced or vice versa but I haven't been able to find anything declarative about it.

Here's my situation. I would LIKE to be able to do this.

Add a new Head unit to replace a Mcintosh HU and use the triple RCA outs from the head unit to drive the McIntosh Amp (keeping the same Amp and speakers as I have currently). My car is a 2004 Legacy GT-B and the Mc unit is this:



I gather this means I would have a Head unit with unbalanced outputs (I don't pretend to fully understand what that means) and an Amp requiring balanced inputs. I'm very capable with a soldering iron but am not an electronics expert.

Is there something I can buy / build that will let me use the existing Mc Amp with a new head unit.

The other options I have are:

1) Use the new head unit as the amp for the F+R and forget about the sub, or get a little mono amp and use that for the sub.

2) Get 2 new amps, one 4 channel and one mono.

Both of these seem straightforward but I don't have any problem with the Mcintosh volume or quality so it seems like a waste to go buy a new amp (or two!)

Please tell me there's a simple and cheap solution

Cheers - Neil G

[wassell2381]

you might be able to try a line output converter to balance the signals. That's what i did when i didnt have rcas on my HU
good luck with it

[Ric]

Does the new head unit have outputs for each speaker?
(i.e. front left & right, rear left and right, and sub)

If yes, here's how you could do it with some signal transformers. (Note, I'm not certain what the rem-on signal needs to be connected to, probably just pulled up to 12V)

BAL-CONV.gif (9.01 KiB) Viewed 2089 times

[Talkiet]

Does the new head unit has outputs for each speaker?
(i.e. front left & right, rear left and right, and sub)

If yes, here's how you could do it with some signal transformers. (Note, I'm not certain what the rem-on signal needs to be connected to, probably just pulled up to 12V)

BAL-CONV.gif

Wow... That's essentially exactly what I was after!!!

The new head unit does have triple RCA outs... It's one of these

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_500IDAX305 ... 5684&avf=N

Just to confirm, is the connector at the right of your picture the existing connector on the Mcintosh amp? Is it the cable that currently comes from the Mc Head unit?

Cheers - N

[Ric]

Just to confirm, is the connector at the right of your picture the existing connector on the Mcintosh amp? Is it the cable that currently comes from the Mc Head unit?

Either, it's a straight through cable from the back of the HU to the amplifier.

[Talkiet]

Just to confirm, is the connector at the right of your picture the existing connector on the Mcintosh amp? Is it the cable that currently comes from the Mc Head unit?

Either, it's a straight through cable from the back of the HU to the amplifier.

Cool - do I need to hack up the existing cable or is it a commonly available DIN (The diagram mentions DIN)?

Your pinout agrees with the one here ( viewtopic.php?f=22&t=6050 ) but that one shows a round 21 pin din with pin 19&20 NC and 21 being a ground).

Also, could I trouble you to provide a litte more detail on the signal transformers? An example of the item I would need would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers - N

[Ric]

Cool - do I need to hack up the existing cable or is it a commonly available DIN (The diagram mentions DIN)?

I think you'll need to hack the existing one, it's not a common plug.

Your pinout agrees with the one here ( viewtopic.php?f=22&t=6050 ) but that one shows a round 21 pin din with pin 19&20 NC and 21 being a ground).

Here's what the plug looks like. As I recall, there weren't any pins in the last two positions, but I could be wrong.

P1030154.jpg (119.27 KiB) Viewed 2084 times

Also, could I trouble you to provide a litte more detail on the signal transformers? An example of the item I would need would be greatly appreciated.

Something like this should work: http://jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=MM2534

Note, this is theoretical, I haven't actually done it to a McIntosh yet, because I didn't want to hack into my own cable, and hadn't been able to find the DIN plugs.

[cpitts]

Cool - do I need to hack up the existing cable or is it a commonly available DIN (The diagram mentions DIN)?

I think you'll need to hack the existing one, it's not a common plug.

Your pinout agrees with the one here ( viewtopic.php?f=22&t=6050 ) but that one shows a round 21 pin din with pin 19&20 NC and 21 being a ground).

Yeah, sadly at this point in time, I've not been able to track down a female side for the 21pin plug, let alone the 14 pin plug that you'll have on your unit (they changed in 2006 / MY07 McIntosh model).

It's all chop and refit, which no-one's taken the lead on yet as it's a bit irreversible.