RNS510 Aux out

[golfather]

Thinking of attaching a sub to the RNS510.
Although everyone seems to have used speaker level converters, I read here that there are pinouts for AUX-out on the telephone connector:

http://www.my-gti.com/529/volkswagen-rns-510-pin-assignments



Multi-pin connector 3, 12-pin, for telephone and microphone signals

1 –  Microphone input, negative
2 –  AUX output, audio, right
3 –  AUX output, common signal earth
4 –  Microphone output, negative
5 –  Telephone audio input signal left, negative
6 –  Telephone audio input signal right, negative
7 –  Microphone input, positive
8 –  AUX output, audio, left
9 –  Microphone output, positive
10 –  Telephone mute (mute switch for radio)
11 –  Telephone audio input signal left, positive
12 –  Telephone audio input signal right, positive

Has anyone tried these and do they work?
Although the pins are populated on the unit, the pin-out diagram on the unit has these as blank.

[golfather]

Seems like Aux out was only available for US units, which is why the pinout label on EU units shows these pins as blank.
Still intreaged to find out if its true as the pins are there so just need to hook them up to an amp to see if they are live !

[mclovin]

I believe they are active on all RNS-510s, however, the big problem I have with this approach is that it only gives you two channels so there is no way to add a sub (or to amplify your rear speakers if you wanted to for some unknown reason).

[golfather]

Dont understand !

If you've got your preout for left and right, then that is more than adequate for your sub amp, and keep the head unit driving the fronts and rears full range speakers.
If you feel the need to add more amp'd speakers, most amps have throughput RCA's preouts which you can feed into the next amp, for 6x9's or amped rear speakers or whatever.

[mclovin]

Okay, just re-read your original post and I see you *just* want to add a sub, so I guess you want to go down this route to get a "true" preamp output for the sub amp. This is fine and it'll do just that, but why stop at just a sub amp? You mention splitting out the signal by using amps in serial to drive additional speakers but given the nature of the RNS-510, my guess this is likely to be a 2V preamp output rather than a true 4V output, but even if it is 4V you really don't want to split this down into multiple amps as this will degrade the sound quality quite substantially. If it is a 2V output as I suspect you REALLY don't want to split this out to multiple amps, it'll sound bloody awful.

As for using the head unit to drive the front speakers... seriously? These are the speakers you hear, these are the ones you really want to amplify! The little class D amp in the headunit is massively compromised, using a separate amp will hugely improve sound quality, which is kind of the whole point, doing this alone will give you a better overall sound in that car than just adding an sub. Rear speakers are pointless unless you spend a lot of time sitting in the back of your car so you could drive those from the head unit or just not bother at all (I don't bother powering my rear speakers).

The only way to get a half decent sound out of the RNS-510 is to use a LineOutput Converter as it gives you four pretty reasonable 4V pre-amp channels to play with. This way you can use a 4-channel amp to drive your front and rear speakers or ditch the rears and just drive the front speakers and a sub (bridge outputs 3&4 for more clout to the sub). Further gains can be had from upgrading the front speakers, invest in a set of 3-way Focals and you won't regret it. This way you get great range, a decent soundstage and some real clout when you get twitchy with the volume button, I know as this is the setup I have in my car right now.

6x9s speakers are compromised by design, mounting them at the back of the car would make them even worse and driving them from second amp hooked up in serial to a sub amp will make the whole thing sound like a total dogs dinner - Don't waste your money!

[golfather]

Point was you dont need any line out converters at all.
The Aux out (if it works) is ideal for the sub.

And if you really want to go the whole hog and amp up the front and rears, then you can recode the RNS510 to give low level outputs instead of high, on the speaker terminals, thereby giving you front and rear pre-outs.

This will provide a very good compromise for a fully amped system.

All the rest you talk about is perfectly viable. But just depends how far you want to go...

[mclovin]

Of course it's viable, I have already done it!

You still need to use a LOC even if you recode the RNS for low-level speaker output by the way.

I don't consider amping front speakers to be going "the whole hog", far from it, it should be the primary step for anyone looking to get a better sound from the RNS. I personally do not see the point in simply adding a sub to a system that relies on the internal amp to drive the main speakers as the overall sound quality will still be poor. Focus on the speakers you actually hear most of the time, get that right and then add a sub to fill in the low frequencies. The fact is that you can do all of this with a simple LOC, a decent four channel amp and a passive sub.

I don't mean to sound condescending in any way, I just personally fail to see what you could gain from using this auxillary output just to power a sub without sorting out the primary speakers first, also don't be afraid to use a LOC, they are inexpensive and they do a surprisingly good job. One aspect of this, however, does interest me and that is whether or not you can still get a 4V pre-amp output out of these terminals whilst the RNS is set to low frequency speaker output, in essence giving a third pre-amp output, something that could be very useful.  

[golfather]

You still need to use a LOC even if you recode the RNS for low-level speaker output by the way.

Really? Why?

[mclovin]

You can recode the RNS-510 to drop the speaker output from 26dB to 12dB, but that doesn't necessarily mean it turns the speaker output into a standard 4V pre-amp output.

Let's say that the RNS-510 has a 50W internal amp, as we know car speakers have an impedance of 4 Ohms we can work out roughly what that output is in volts because W=VxI. Therefore without recoding, the speaker output would be about 12.5V. By dropping the power output down to "12dB" you would be effectively dropping the output down to about 5.8V. Of course this is inexact as we don't know for sure what the peak power output of the RNS-510 is and we certainly don't know what the impedance of it's internal amplifier is, but the chances are it's not going to give you a true 4V pre-amp output.

Throwing more than 4V at an amplifier can damage it and personally I would not want to take this risk with £400 worth of car amplifier. adding in a £20 LOC guarantees you a true 4V pre-amp output that you can use to drive your amp without risk of damage or drop in sound quality. It'll also give you a remote power output and a set of handy RCA connectors, so it's well worth the minimal outlay.

[golfather]

Back on topic, has anyone connected a set of RCA's to the alleged AUX OUT of the RNS510 to see if they work?

[golfather]

Ok just to close this topic, I tried the Aux Out pins today.

And nothing....

They are not Live on the EU RNS510's.

So make sure you have a Line Out converter handy :)