Line Drivers

Do you know what line drivers are in relation to car audio systems? If not, then you definitely wouldn’t know if you needed one or not. After all, there are so many components for a car audio system that you could likely get them confused. In fact, most people would, unless of course you were a mobile audio sound professional.

Defining A Line Driver

To clear up any confusion about what line drivers are, they are a device which takes a signal and amplifies it. This could be any signal which is produced at a low lever from a unit head. A line driver is made to boost your signal from your line level by ten volts or more. Of course, this could be a moot point unless your receiver could handle it. That is where line receivers come in to bring the voltage of the line down from those ten volts. You will discover that the line driver along with this line receiver will be installed near the source of the line signal as well as its destination. This in turn will cut down on any pick up of noise.

The Why’s Of Line Drivers

Your car has so many different electrical parts that it is no wonder it creates a noisy background. Therefore, your RCA cables can absorb that noise as it makes its way to the sound amplifier. This noise is not actual car noise like those from an engine. Rather, these are induced noises. Line drivers are used to combat this noise problem.

You can make the RCA cable carry a high signal level which would then in turn boost resistance against this noise. The result is a higher signal level versus the noise from the RCA destination cable. Of course, some main units don’t produce enough voltage to warrant line drivers.

Line drivers can bump up forceful range in a few cases where too much noise is concealing low level signals. However you can expect your line drivers to not elevate this forceful range when there is practically no noise. You can expect your line driver to allow you to increase your stereo sound because your amplifier cannot always perform to its total potential.

So do you really need line drivers for your car audio system? You will have to decide whether your electrical noise is creating too much interference. You can look up line driver info for your car audio system through various retailers or even online. Discovering a 600 ohm line driver, a line driver with 50 ohms and more can be a bit nerve-wracking, especially if you don’t understand the concept of line drivers. Your best bet is to consult with a sound professional. Just don’t let them talk you into a Kove ka-6 line driver. Those are for the competition bound sound drivers. It might be a bit too much for you!