low-level output on stock system

[DouglasABaker]

Originally Posted by UKenGB

Thanks for the explanation. Just to clarify, I am a science graduate (although not in electronics) and have worked in the automotive industry (ran Honda's Technical Training Schools for some years) and more recently in IT (database development). So yes, you could say I'm a technical kinda guy and Ohms Law etc is not exactly unfamiliar. However, the principles of electronic design are beyond my experience, hence my need for explanation.

My requirements will be for the outputs of the BMW radio module to be fed into an AudioControl 6XS which will handle active crossover duties and pass the signal onto the Nakamichi amps which have an input sensitivity of 0.2 - 0.8V, but it seems to me that it's the 6XS that needs to be able to cope with BMW's balanced signals, yes?

In any case, I have determined that Genesis' (the UK amp people) Hi Level converter is happy to accept the BMW 5V balanced signal and will output a single ended signal suitable for the input of any amp. Problem solved

Thank you all for your input.

You are correct - the Audiocontrol needs to be able to accept the BMW signal. My quick read of the owners manual didn't give a spec as to whether it can or not. What is did reveal, is that the 6XS outputs a variable high voltage signal (9V RMS). I'm pretty sure you won't be able to feed the 6XS output directly to your Naks since your Nak only accepts <1V signals.

I bring this up just to make sure you have enough LOC's - you may need them both before AND after the 6XS ...

Also, note that an LOC is NOT the same as a balanced -> unbalanced converter (balun), so make sure you ask them specifically. An LOC is a simple tranformer while a balun does exactly what it says...

d-