Car Players - Volume Issue
Hey everyone, I’m wondering if any of you have suggestions for an issue I’ve been experiencing with multiple car players for a while now .
I have 3 car players running in my car , my wife’s car, and my work van. All 3 are wired through a line out converter and then into the vehicles’ respective aux ports.
I initially had the R-, L-, and ground leads from the players all connected to their respective leads on the line out converters. However, I was getting extremely low volume, to the point of road noise overpowering the music, even with the players / car stereos turned up all the way.
Then, I discovered that leaving the R- and L- leads disconnected , but leaving the LOC ground lead connected to the 12v- wire, gives me way more volume, but still not as much as the cars’ stereos are capable of. With this setup, my dilemma is that I can’t turn the player volume up past a certain point (usually just under half, more like one quarter if the “loudness” Button is engaged, which I find increases the dynamic range of the audio I get) without the audio sounding extremely “hot” and blown out.
I have tried using LOCs with adjustable gain - it helps minimally but the issue is still very present. I have also tried wiring the player directly to the speakers in my van - same issue.
Has anyone in here had success with being able to turn their car players all the way (or close to all the way) up, and getting clear, non-blown out sound that is as loud as their car stereo is capable of going? Is this just an issue of non-compatibility between 40-50 year old equipment and 10-20 year old vehicles?
Would having an amp (between the stock car stereo and speakers) and upgraded speakers installed in my car be my best bet ?
My wife and I get a ton of use out of our car players and I’d love to maximize their functionality!
TIA
Photo for algorithm - tape in player is home recorded featuring the Strawberry Switchblade LP and Rose McDowall’s first solo LP.