Mod: Connecting Both Stereos
DETAILS: Connecting Both Stereos, Both Directions
I wanted to improve the sound in the back in a similar way, but instead of adding an additional amp and subwoofer, I had the two stereos connected so that I can “borrow” the amp/sub up front when playing movies or music in back. It sounds amazing!
On the back of my Jensen house radio there is a red/white RCA audio OUTPUT. The other end of that RCA cable plugs into the “Aux” INPUT in the back of the chassis stereo up front. The cable was routed down below the floor in the sink, inside the storage bay just below, out of the front side of the storage bay wall, underneath the batteries in the step (protected in black conduit), and then it makes its way up below the inside passenger gray plastic step, under the floor boards inside and then to the back of the chassis stereo.
While they had everything taken apart, I had them run a parallel cable from the chassis stereo OUTPUT (another red/white RCA in back of stereo) along the same path to the 1/8” mini plug AUX 1 INPUT on the front of the Jensen house stereo (see photo). This enables anything playing up front to simultaneously be heard in the back (i.e. SiriusXM radio, etc.). The quality of the sound this direction is about 80% since it’s a long run of RCA cables.
To add the front subwoofer in isolation to the back stereo while watching TV, movies, etc. you need to change some settings on the chassis radio. First, select “AUX” on the chassis radio (as pictured). Then, go to “setup”, then “audio”, then “fader” and change this to “R10”. This moves all sound to the “rear” chassis speakers, of which there are none — it results in none of the 4 main chassis speakers playing audio, but because of the crossover and dedicated input of the sub, it will still play the amplified sub and nothing else up front. Since you’re on the “AUX” input, you’ll be playing the sub from the source, which is the Jensen house stereo. I power the chassis stereo, amp and sub via the house batteries by toggling the switch to “house”.