Electronics Car subwoofer to pc

[sam12301]

Hi
Does anyone know anything on how to use a car sub with a pc?

[Atomic]

Find an amp that can power it.

Personally I'd not bother as car subwoofers are designed for small spaces (the amont of space inside a car) so when put into a much larger space (a room) tend to sound overly boomy and rubbish.

[sam12301]

i wanna try it but my question was how would i actually go about doing it

[lysaer]

You need an amplifier to power the sub, then you need to make an enclosure for the sub.

You could probably run the amp from the pc since it is 12v as long as it didn't draw to much wattage.

Sent from my HTC Sensation XE with Beats Audio using Tapatalk 2

[Atomic]

Originally Posted by sam12301

i wanna try it but my question was how would i actually go about doing it

My first sentence answered that

Originally Posted by lysaer

You need an amplifier to power the sub, then you need to make an enclosure for the sub.

You could probably run the amp from the pc since it is 12v as long as it didn't draw to much wattage.

Sent from my HTC Sensation XE with Beats Audio using Tapatalk 2

Running it from a PC is a very bad idea. The PSU isn't designed to deliver the high current needed to power an amplifier. Using a 12v car amp is also a bad idea!

Ps. Please turn that tapatalk 'signature' off, nobody cares that you're posting from your phone with beats-innit-overpriced-marketing-gimmick audio.

[sam12301]

could i use a seperate pc psu about 300W cut all the yellow wires twist them together and cut 2 black wires twist them then twist the yellow wires with the amp + and twist the black wires with the amp -. I would make an enclosure for the sub. connect the amp to the sub and connect the amp to the pc through the speaker jack. Also could i cut the green wire and a black wire from the 24 pin and twist them together so the psu would power up when switched on?

[mars-bar-man]

That sounds like a horrendous idea..

Oh, and posted from my phone to piss Atomic off..

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[sam12301]

why does it sound horrendous?

[mars-bar-man]

Cutting wires and twisting them together? Sounds like you'd rather have an electric shock than a working amp..

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[sam12301]

they would obv have insulation tape over the ends so they cant be touched so how would i get an electric shock?

[mars-bar-man]

It just sounds like a poor idea.. why don't you just run it off the mains through a transformer?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[Atomic]

As I said earlier:

The PSU isn't designed to deliver the high current needed to power an amplifier.

Cutting wires, twisting them together and wrapping them in tape sounds like an even stupider idea. How many products do you honestly see made using this "wiring" method.

If you want to go ahead, just don't moan when you either set fire to something or electrocute yourself.

Seriously: Don't piss about with PSU's they contain voltages that wil easily kill or seriously injure you and you have shown you don't know what you are doing to mess with them safely.

[sam12301]

ok then so what transformer would i need? and would i need anything else, apart from the amp and sub?

[BLC]

This doesn't sound like something for the faint of heart - we're fast getting into the realms of DIY audio gear, here.

Do you know the wattage required to drive this sub and the impedance value? Do you have an amp that can match these requirements and has a dedicated subwoofer channel? If not, do you have plans to build a dedicated subwoofer amplifier and integrate this into your existing setup, or are you going to build a completely new amplifier for all your audio gear?

You may find that this is going to create an awful lot of questions that need answering/researching, and, as already pointed out, the sound quality isn't likely to be as good as a normal subwoofer (i.e. one not designed for use in a car). It might be an interesting experiment if you already have the equipment capable of driving it - and driving it safely - but something suggests that this is not the case.

[damien c]

There is no point running a car subwoofer for a pc or from a pc etc.

The sound that will be produced from it will not sound as good as it does in a car.

When I worked at halford's we had a Car Stereo, wired up to a Amp and Sub and it sound garbage in the store, I bought the same setup for my car when I passed my test and it sounded awesome.


If you want a good sound in the room, get yourself a decent set of surround sound setup with a decent sub on it.

I used a Sony 1000w surround sound system and the quality of the sound from it was simply stunning.

There are dedicated companies out there who do only high performance audio equipment for houses and large spaces and they will do a far better job than that of a car subwoofer.


One way you could do it though if you insist on doing it, is get a Amp that a DJ would use in a Night Club, that will match the wattage and impedence of the sub and run it off the main's rather than cutting cables for a psu, then using some 3.5mm to Phono cables you can get the sound from the pc to the Amp and then using some high quality speaker cable it will go through the Sub.


I still think it's pointless and you would be better with a real household speaker system rather than a car system modified to work in a house.

[Shirty]

This is an utterly pointless idea. If you want to add a sub to your pc either buy a dedicated set of PC speakers or just plug the audio out jack into any decent hifi, and that will output to the speaker(s) of your choice.

As already stated above, the electronic and audio design of a car subwoofer was designed from the ground up to run off an amplifier powered by the car's circuitry, and create a racket in the boot of said car. My advice would be to sell the car sub and put the money towards a decent set of speakers such as Creative GigaWorks T3 or Logitech Z-5500. These will pump out a hell of a lot of noise and bass.

If you need more power than that then you need to start researching proper hi-fi or even PA systems properly.

Sent from my HP Compaq 4000 Pro SFF PC with Pentium Dual-Core and 4GB RAM (3.44GB useable)

[damien c]

I have just looked this up by using that old thing known to many as Google and the 1st thing that came up was videos that show, how to do it and what you need.

My disclaimer

****I WILL NOT BE HELD LIABLE IF YOU KILL YOURSELF DOING IT****

[legoman]

really not a good idea. several reasons here

Car audio amps require 12-18V BUT ampage is your key hear i have three car audio amps oddly enough in my car each drawing 25amps. These are small!

Also cabling you would be looking for between 4-8AWG to stabily power the amp good luck fitting that to a PSU, 4AWG as an idea is usually 1CM wide.

Low notes stress amps causing higher draw meaning mroe stain on a PSU. OVerly strained PSUs tend to pop. Also most PSUs cant provide high ampage at the speed an amp requires.

Very few car audio subs as people have said sound good outside a car environment typically a sealed sub in a car equates to whats known as a 4th order bandbass enclosure as the car its self acts as part of the enclosure meaning ported would sound horrendous in a house.

If you want to do it properly get a plate amp and home audio sub.

Lastly your electrical skills are some what worrying if you think twisting the cable together will help, i dont mean to come across as harsh but its extremely dangerous what you wanting to do.

I have loads of experience in car audio so know how different it is to home audio (I actually compete with car audio) Do yourself a favour and get a home specific setup it will do the job far better and far more safely.

Sent from a PowerEdge M910 Blade

[Atomic]

Originally Posted by legoman

Sent from a PowerEdge M910 Blade

[bulldogjeff]

If you are hell bent on using it the simple way is to get an amp and a quick trip to Maplins to buy a 12 dc converter, it'll run the amp no probs. I used a full car hifi set up many years ago when i blew up my HiFi.