Car subwoofer and amp in home

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sitnet

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Hey :)

Ok so I am going to buy a Subwoofer (Sony Xplod 1000W) and a car amp (Don't remember make, but 1000W 2 channel (500w per channel) output, and bridgeable) from a friend of mine. R200 isn't too bad for that is it?

Anyway, the problem is that I want to use this sub and amp in my home. Now I know the amp requires 12V 1000w input, and that is my problem. I read on the net that you can use a PC power supply to power a amp like that. On the other hand a another friend of mine that studied electronic engineering at tukkies said that he would pay me R500 if I could get that working because he can't see the logic in how that will work, he went on about amps required etc. And I only have 2 separate 350W pc power supplies that I can use.

So will it work and if not which is the cheapest and most effective way to power that amp in my home?
 
lol sounds very unpractical to me. Rather spend the R1000 bucks extra that you might need for the PSU and put that money in for a real home theater amp. You will even get HDMI inputs/outputs for video....
 
It will work with the PSU. My friend does it to test amps. The problem is for the sub you will either a few psu's or a high wattage one. You could try getting a invertor
 
how many amps on your PC power supply for the 12V supply
ohm law says P=VI
Therefore if the 12v can supply 20A you will have 240w.
Not nearly enough to drive the amp to its fullest
Also Pc power supplies are not filtered very well so you might get a lot of HUM coming through
Best of luck
 
sitnet said:
Hey :)

Ok so I am going to buy a Subwoofer (Sony Xplod 1000W) and a car amp (Don't remember make, but 1000W 2 channel (500w per channel) output, and bridgeable) from a friend of mine. R200 isn't too bad for that is it?

Anyway, the problem is that I want to use this sub and amp in my home. Now I know the amp requires 12V 1000w input, and that is my problem. I read on the net that you can use a PC power supply to power a amp like that. On the other hand a another friend of mine that studied electronic engineering at tukkies said that he would pay me R500 if I could get that working because he can't see the logic in how that will work, he went on about amps required etc. And I only have 2 separate 350W pc power supplies that I can use.

So will it work and if not which is the cheapest and most effective way to power that amp in my home?
Click to expand...


You get those addaptors that can change voltage. Just use that, I had a car radio in my room when I was younger. Should work the same way for the amp.
http://zshuiyang.manufacturer.globa...dtl/Linear-power/1003246897/AC-DC-Adapter.htm
And they're cheap also, about R 50 I think
 
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But those variable ones don't change amps ...

I'm not sure how many amps a car amplifier uses, but if it's more than 2 - I don't think you'll get a variable for R50 :/
 
A UPS only supplies 220v when your mains fails.You cannot use this for car amp as it is 12V or are you all missing the point.
If the amp puts out 1000w you probably need about 80A.
Did anyone here do science or some thing in this region at school?
 
Ok , first of all, thanx for all the replies :)

From all the suggestions this is what I think my options are:

1) Buy a very expensive PC power supply that can supply 1000 watt and like 70 amps.
2) Buy a car battery and battery charger
3) Sell the amp and buy a home amp

Do you guys have ANY other suggestions?

BTW how much are you willing to pay for that amp and sub already built into a proper box? The amp is mounted to the box?
 
I actually didn't ...

But :

To calculate the current draw of an amplifier, multiply the number of channels by the RMS watts per channel (a 2 channel amp rated at 300 watts RMS per channel would be 600 watts). Double it to account for amplifier inefficiency (600 watts X 2 = 1200 watts), then divide by the average output Voltage of an alternator, 13.8 volts (1200 divided by 13.8 = 87 amps). Since the average music signal requires about 1/3rd of the average power in a test tone, divide by 3 (87 amps divided by 3 = 29 amps). The result is the amplifier's approximate average current draw.

I'm willing to bet yours is something like 100RMS max - so 1/3 of his answer ... so 10A
 
sitnet said:
Ok , first of all, thanx for all the replies :)

From all the suggestions this is what I think my options are:

1) Buy a very expensive PC power supply that can supply 1000 watt and like 70 amps.
2) Buy a car battery and battery charger
3) Sell the amp and buy a home amp

Do you guys have ANY other suggestions?

BTW how much are you willing to pay for that amp and sub already built into a proper box? The amp is mounted to the box?
Click to expand...

I'd go with 3 ;)
 
I've seen this done before. It works on a small amp. Check on the amp, it should have fuses, Probably 2x20A fuses?

I would guess 35A would be safe to assume as a maximum load for 40A worth of fuses.

P=IV
P= 35A X 12V = 420W max @ 12V

That's 420W @12V (35A) from a single point. (Not a 420W psu)

To add some extra confusion cars run at around 14V, not 12V as marked and the power ratings on the amp, 1000W is marketing BS.

You should be fine at up to 3/4 volume.
 
Hey guys :)

Sorry for taking so long to respond, but this is what I've done:

1) First I burnt a surround sound amp by connecting the subwoofer directly to it, I know :D
2) Then I pulled out a old 230Watt PSU and connected it like shown on many Youtube videos, and to my surprise, IT WORKS!!! And I can't believe the amount of sound I get out of that thing.

The PSU doesn't seem to get warm at all, and the amp (which turns out to be a Pro Soundbank, don't really know the brand) just gets a little warm.

I can't believe it, I would pay R2000 + for bass like this! And the amp has some cool features too, Like low and high pass filters that can be adjusted, a Bass booster (up to +12Db), Sub Sonic setting (don't know what that does yet). And to think I only paid R200!!!

WoW :)
 
sitnet said:
Hey guys :)

Sorry for taking so long to respond, but this is what I've done:

1) First I burnt a surround sound amp by connecting the subwoofer directly to it, I know :D
2) Then I pulled out a old 230Watt PSU and connected it like shown on many Youtube videos, and to my surprise, IT WORKS!!! And I can't believe the amount of sound I get out of that thing.

The PSU doesn't seem to get warm at all, and the amp (which turns out to be a Pro Soundbank, don't really know the brand) just gets a little warm.

I can't believe it, I would pay R2000 + for bass like this! And the amp has some cool features too, Like low and high pass filters that can be adjusted, a Bass booster (up to +12Db), Sub Sonic setting (don't know what that does yet). And to think I only paid R200!!!

WoW :)
Click to expand...

Actually you made R 300 since your buddy owes you R 500 :D
 
Car speakers generally run at 4ohm, and house hold speakers at 8ohm, don't mix them. Unless you know what you doing. Bit too late, but ja.
 
@ Pitbull

Why? Do you think that amp and sub is so crap or what??? Or do you mean for blowing that amp? HAHA if the second one is what you mean, I got that surround amp for free :)
 
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Iv done this before and still using it, problem is that the psu has to be very powerful (amps) other wise the amp will never go full swing .I use one of my old car amps and a old psu works ok does its job.If I turn the volume to loud a light starts to flicker a friend of mine told me this was because the amp was not getting enough power .
I just use it as speakers for my PC .
For R200 it is worth it but a proper house amp is still the best
 
When I was a teen I had a car sound setup for my room I used a 12v car battery charger connected to a 12v sealed battery then to the amp best way I found
or go to cash converts and buy there cheap home theater amp brand omega for R300 Does not have very high power but you can atleast change the volume

Good luck on your venture
 
Subsonic filter: This filters out frequencies that are too low for humans to hear, but can be present in recordings. It is used to protect the woofer from going too low and breaking. If you are running a vented box and your port tuning frequency is say 36Hz, you should set the subsonic to be near that frequency, as a vented box has zero output below the port frequency.

Also, an amp like that will not produce more than 250-300WRMS, unless it's an ILS amp (ILS- if lightning strikes the power supply), therefore 20-25 amps will be sufficient to drive it.
 
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