Can I run two amps from one RCA output?

I drive a '98 Honda Civic and I recently have decided to upgrade my system. I am trying to do this on a very low budget. First, I replaced my front 6.5" factory speakers with 2 Eclipse 82641 I got on the cheap from a friend. These are 80 watts peak. These are undoubtedly the highest quality pieces of this "budget system". Second, I replaced the two factory 6x9s with a slight upgrade to two three-way Lightning Audio 6x9s with 225 watts peak. Third, I bought an 8" Bazooka bass tube model el8a. This sub has a built in 30 watt max wattage amp. Fourth, I replaced the factory HU with an old pioneer deh-205 I had bought circa 1995. This head unit only produces 22x4 watts peak. The sound quality has increased exponentially with these budget upgrades. However, since the Eclipse speakers in the front are of such higher quality than the 6x9s, the 6x9s are much louder because I don't have enough power to unlock the Eclipse speaker's full potential. I know that the smartest thing would be to buy a better, more powerful HU. The problem is that I can't fit that into the budget. I have a Pioneer gm-x722-- 2x80 peak watts @4ohms amplifier which I got on the cheap from another sympathetic friend. This amp would be great to power the two eclipse 6.5" speakers. The problem is that my HU only has one set of RCA outputs already in use by the sub amplifier. My somewhat knowledgeable friends differ on what I should do next. One told me that I should be able to run both amps from one RCA output by using splitters. Is this possible? Would it be the best option for my stated goals. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Sorry this post is so long. But, I figure that the more clearly I state the problem the easier it will be for you audio wizards to help me.

Best option to do would be to unplug the rca's from the bass tube and use those rca's to run the amp for the eclipse components and then take the bass tube back and get you money back on it as they suck very badly. Then start saving your money up to buy good equipment that will last more than a month and not sound like crap and have you wanting to upgrade again almost immediately. When you get the money saved up to upgrade your system hop on here and let us know what piece of the system you want to upgrade (i.e. speakers, hu, amp, subs) and how much you have to spend on that and quite a few of us will have suggestions for you to help you get the most bang for the buck.

To answer this yes you can get y-adapters from radio shack or walmart there cheap. AS for the bass tube work with what you can afford, it is better to save up but if your not looking for anything insanly loud then do what you can.

Thanks for the quick reply. As I said, I know that the bass tube is a cheap lower quality alternative. That's why I bought it. I'm just not as gung-ho about volume as I am as much clarity as I can get on a very low budget. Thanks Pimprolla, I will try the Y-adaptor and see how it goes.

It's possible your cd player will overheat at higher volumes once you split the RCA. Do it anyways though. It's not gonna be a big deal. If it becomes a problem, you can buy a new head unit with 3 pre outs for under 150$. I say go with that option because your speakers won't outperform the bass tube.

Ive ran Y-adapters off of my alpine it had 2 sets of PA outputs and i was running 4 amps off of it with no problems and yeah it does get a little hot. But pioneer cd players are known for getting hot.

because it's an old pioneer, that's why I said that.

Nothing wrong with it, the extra ~50uW (.00005 watts) that will be burned off in the headunit's preouts won't even make a measurable difference in temperature, much less a noticeable one.

I know you know a lot (a hell of a lot more than me), but I've had 2 pioneer head units which over heated with the addition of Y adapters for a second amp. It was temporarily solved by removing the Y adapters and running one amp, until I ultimately bought a new HU with 3 pre outs. It happens.

You could have overloaded the preout transistors. but the headunit didn't overheat, there isn't nearly enough power being dissipated in the unit to cause that. It would require close to ten million times more power to overheat the unit than what would be burned off by adding a 2nd amp with y-splitters on the preouts. Overloaded preout transistors could result from have low impedance preouts, a cheap headunit, and cheap amps, but it's rare (unless you're splitting the preout 5+ times). I'm not saying you're lying or anything, just that it's not a common thing at all. Those 2 decks that it happened to, were they similar models? Both cheap units? Were you using the same amps both times? You could have also had a short in one of your y-splitters.

Thanks all for the good advice.

You can buy a kit to turn your speaker wires off of your head unit into an amp hookup, this is the same you build a system on a factory head unit. We used these on one of the HNF cars(an 05 Honda Civic and the sound quality is still wonderful).
You can check this out for an idea, but I would buy one from an audio shop.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=38636&item=7988250200

Walmart sells scoshe ones that are better than that, line out converters are good for low wattage amps. But y adapters will net the same results, and all you have to do is run the rca wires from the dash or in some cases get it where all you have to do is run one rca with the y adapter to one amp and the other one to the other amp. Great for subs but not for speakers. Some amps have the same setup, they include an adapter with the amp all you need to do is hook up the wires to the plug and hook it up to the amp. I believe high level in, it just uses the existing speaker wires from the amp instead of ruing rca wires. Yes there are lots of options you can use.

I just wouldn't want to run both subs and regular speakers on the same rca.

and I figure the factory pre amp is either a sub or rear channel so it wouldn't sound right to hook the front up to it thats just my opinion on it though.

I just wouldn't want to run both subs and regular speakers on the same rca.

and I figure the factory pre amp is either a sub or rear channel so it wouldn't sound right to hook the front up to it thats just my opinion on it though.

As long as the filtering is done at the amp then it's fine. And the rear outputs are the same as the front, cd audio is in stereo, it only has 2 channels, the front outputs are just mirrored on the rear outputs.

Sorry mines five channel so thats how I think, but say he is using a cd player that output is a sub channel, the filtering is done at the amp, but it can't add what isn't supplied by the channel, I have yet to see regular speakers sound right hooked into a sub channel(If it is just a rear channel no problems). The sub channel is designed(on decent head units anyway) to filter out the high frequencies. I know I don't as much about car audio as most of you do, but I do know electronics.

The LPF for the sub out on most headunits can be bypassed

right now i have a alpine cd player with 2 sets of RCA's. i have the rear RCA hooked up to my sub amp and the front RCA hooked up to my amp for my 6X9s that are in the far back. i want to hook up a 4 channel amp for my 4 door speakers. so is it ok to hook up adatpters on both RCAs so i can get 4 sets of RCA's because i need 2 sets for my 4 channel amp?

Yes that is fine. Read back further i had 4 amps on an old alpine which had one set of PA outputs.

Your Honda put down would be strengthened by using correct grammar and spelling