linking up car sub, amp and 6x9's to computer

robina_80 · 01-26-2006, 12:14 PM

is this poosible because a car audio needs a 12v car battery doesnt it, what i want to do is link it all up to my computer because i ahve over 2000W RMS in my car and i want to link it up to pc is this possible?

suprasteve · 01-26-2006, 12:23 PM

it's possible, I've known people who have done it, but like you said, the biggest problem is getting 12v power for the amp to run on, maybe look into a workbench inverter or something

donjuan1jr · 01-26-2006, 09:43 PM

You can but u need to get a plate amp for ht...u cannot run a car amp off a computer. Since u seem to know about your car stereo stuff you need to check teh resistance of your sub, and speakers.Then you would need to make an enclosure for the speakers or can run them like in your car just off a baffle but you will find it doesnt work that great in a room. Try partsexpress.com for plate amps and stuff. To be honest i dunno how u would connect your computer to the amp itself but id figure theres a way.

suprasteve · 01-27-2006, 12:19 AM

the whole point is his amps are huge in his car though and he wants to keep using them, you could easily do a high level input from your sound card, but I know of people who have done it, just don't know how to get in contact with them anymore or I'd ask about it

ReturnToEmpire · 01-27-2006, 01:11 AM

do you think u could use a massive power supply to power them?

Jerkstore · 01-27-2006, 01:22 AM

are you powering your car audio inside the car??
just hook it up like normal...

Our Civic at the shop here is currently pushing 3x 12" JL Audios just fine of a PC.
It will have 8 in total when the project is complete and 3 Orion component sets (mmmm 7.1 THX surround). You will need a line driver from the computer speaker outs to the amplifyer ins to get any good push from your subs. I'm pushing a lot more db's than I'm sure you're looking for, so if it can handle it here then you should be fine.

**The_Other_One** · 01-27-2006, 01:35 AM

You just want to connect it in your house? Aw man that's EASY! Find yourself any 12v DC addaptor that has a good amount of amps. Strip the wires on the end and test which is positive and negative with a volton meeter. And that's it. Connect it to your amp and you should be good to go. I had no problems with about 1.2A powering a 100watt car amp, never gave me a problem.

One problem you will have is that your soundcard is amplified, so you will get quite loud sound unless your amp has an input designed for this. Most are just preamp. It'll work with the amplified output from your soundcard, it'll just be quite loud and will become distorted very easilly.

OH, another problem you might run into is that remote power. The way I solved this was just set a jumper from the power connection right to the remote power connection.

My old setup was quite cool. I had two amps under my bed(120 and 100 watt) One was connected to two 6" subs with 1" tweeters, the other was connected to an 8" bass tube. When I wanted all that sound, I just flipped on a surge protector under my bed(all this was under/behind my bed, BTW

And the room would be shaking soon enough

I kind of miss that setup...

Blue · 01-27-2006, 10:08 PM

I built a wooding box when I was a teen that housed a car stereo and 2 6x9's (no amp) I yanked an old 12 volt transformer out of an old tapedeck (for home stereo) and used a DC to AC converter. I housed everything in the box and the cord ran out the back and plugged into the wall.

vortmax · 01-28-2006, 12:56 AM

you all you need is a power rectifier to convert the AC to DC and a transformer to drop it from 120V to 12V. Not hard to come by at all. Just make sure the rectifier and transformer are both rated for the amps you plan on pulling with the Amplifier. The line signal should be alright as long as you adjust the gain on the amp.

01-26-2006, 12:14 PM	#1 (permalink)
robina_80 Diamond Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: LONDON Age: 24 Posts: 1,988	linking up car sub, amp and 6x9's to computer is this poosible because a car audio needs a 12v car battery doesnt it, what i want to do is link it all up to my computer because i ahve over 2000W RMS in my car and i want to link it up to pc is this possible? __________________ Windows Vista Home Pre x32 AMD 4200X2 S939 512K (2.2) 512M ASUS EN7600GSTOP SILENT 1x80Gb 1x320gb SATA2 2Gb Dual Channel PC3200 Non-ECC DDR Memory Gbyte K8N PRO SLi s939 nF4 530W TAGAN 2FORCE T530-U22 Clabs Aud 2 ZS 7.1 OEM

01-27-2006, 01:35 AM	#7 (permalink)
The_Other_One Super Moderator Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Lexington, NC Age: 23 Posts: 12,368	You just want to connect it in your house? Aw man that's EASY! Find yourself any 12v DC addaptor that has a good amount of amps. Strip the wires on the end and test which is positive and negative with a volton meeter. And that's it. Connect it to your amp and you should be good to go. I had no problems with about 1.2A powering a 100watt car amp, never gave me a problem. One problem you will have is that your soundcard is amplified, so you will get quite loud sound unless your amp has an input designed for this. Most are just preamp. It'll work with the amplified output from your soundcard, it'll just be quite loud and will become distorted very easilly. OH, another problem you might run into is that remote power. The way I solved this was just set a jumper from the power connection right to the remote power connection. My old setup was quite cool. I had two amps under my bed(120 and 100 watt) One was connected to two 6" subs with 1" tweeters, the other was connected to an 8" bass tube. When I wanted all that sound, I just flipped on a surge protector under my bed(all this was under/behind my bed, BTW And the room would be shaking soon enough I kind of miss that setup... __________________ Desktop * Athlon X2 4200 \| 2G RAM \| 160G HD \| 7600GT Laptop1 * C2D T5550 \| 3G RAM \| 120G HD \| Intel x3100 Laptop2 * C2D T5250 \| 2G RAM \| 160G HD \| Intel x3100

01-27-2006, 10:08 PM	#8 (permalink)
Blue VIP Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: London Ontario Age: 35 Posts: 3,555	I built a wooding box when I was a teen that housed a car stereo and 2 6x9's (no amp) I yanked an old 12 volt transformer out of an old tapedeck (for home stereo) and used a DC to AC converter. I housed everything in the box and the cord ran out the back and plugged into the wall. __________________ FOLDING FOR THE GOOD OF MANKIND :F@H Team 44358

01-28-2006, 12:56 AM	#9 (permalink)
vortmax Platinum Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Age: 26 Posts: 619	you all you need is a power rectifier to convert the AC to DC and a transformer to drop it from 120V to 12V. Not hard to come by at all. Just make sure the rectifier and transformer are both rated for the amps you plan on pulling with the Amplifier. The line signal should be alright as long as you adjust the gain on the amp. __________________ Asus A7N8x delux Nforce 2 AMD Athlon 2800+ (barton core) 512 meg Corsair DDR 400 Gainward G-force FX 5200 Dell 6000i Intel Pentium M 725 (1.60 GHz/2MB Cache/400MHz FSB) ATI MOBILITY RADEON X300 64MB HyperMemory 1 gig DDR2 PC2-3200 Music server: AMD K6 500 MHz 128 Meg RAM Onkyo HT-R520 Reciever 6.1 DTS ES & Dolby Digital EX

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01-26-2006, 12:23 PM	#2 (permalink)
suprasteve Diamond Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Atlanta Posts: 1,355	it's possible, I've known people who have done it, but like you said, the biggest problem is getting 12v power for the amp to run on, maybe look into a workbench inverter or something

01-26-2006, 09:43 PM	#3 (permalink)
donjuan1jr banned Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: New York Age: 22 Posts: 433	You can but u need to get a plate amp for ht...u cannot run a car amp off a computer. Since u seem to know about your car stereo stuff you need to check teh resistance of your sub, and speakers.Then you would need to make an enclosure for the speakers or can run them like in your car just off a baffle but you will find it doesnt work that great in a room. Try partsexpress.com for plate amps and stuff. To be honest i dunno how u would connect your computer to the amp itself but id figure theres a way.

01-27-2006, 12:19 AM	#4 (permalink)
suprasteve Diamond Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Atlanta Posts: 1,355	the whole point is his amps are huge in his car though and he wants to keep using them, you could easily do a high level input from your sound card, but I know of people who have done it, just don't know how to get in contact with them anymore or I'd ask about it

01-27-2006, 01:22 AM	#6 (permalink)
Jerkstore Gold Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Age: 26 Posts: 354	are you powering your car audio inside the car?? just hook it up like normal... Our Civic at the shop here is currently pushing 3x 12" JL Audios just fine of a PC. It will have 8 in total when the project is complete and 3 Orion component sets (mmmm 7.1 THX surround). You will need a line driver from the computer speaker outs to the amplifyer ins to get any good push from your subs. I'm pushing a lot more db's than I'm sure you're looking for, so if it can handle it here then you should be fine.