If you are using an Antique Automobile Radio (AAR) with a 4 or 5 channel amplifier, you won’t be able to use the fader function that is built into the radio because AAR Radios only have 3 channel subwoofer outputs. These outputs only control the left and right sides of the faders; they do not have any control of the fader in the front and back. If you want to adjust the sound in the front and back, you have to use the gain on the amplifier to get control of the front and back faders. Please take caution when using your gain. Turning your gain up to high can result in your woofers and amplifiers burning out due to heat that builds from your amp clipping. So that begs the question, “How do I combine the power of a 4 or 5 channel amplifier with an AAR Radio and have control of all sides of your fader?” Here are your best options for this situation.

How To Run a 4 Channel Amp:

  1. Just use 1 RCA Cable. All of the amplifiers that we offer at Classic Car Stereos have 2/4 channel inputs. If you set the input to 2, the amp will take that input signal from the front and direct it to the back so you can have control of the front and back sounds. You would lose the ability to fade front to rear on the radio, but you are now able to control the gain on the amplifier whereas before you were unable to do that.

  2. Use high level inputs and adapters. Our amplifiers accept high level inputs and because of that you can run the amplified signal from your radio’s speaker wire outputs directly into the input side of the amplifier. Now if the amp only accepts RCA inputs, then you will need to run some speaker wires to connect with the RCA adapters. Connect the front to front and rear to rear and you should be all set up.

How To Run a 5 Channel Amp:

We recommend a bass knob for 5 Channel Amps or for any subwoofer installation for that matter. Bass Knobs allow you to control the subwoofer from the driver’s seat and the knob is easy to turn just like the volume knob on your radio. Just use the 2 channel inputs like we described in the first step and ignore the subwoofer control. You don’t need the subwoofer control because the bass knob will take its place.


If you have more questions, please give us a call at 888-789-7297.