[pbf_98]

I took out my subwoofers from my old car and now I have 2 12in subs with an amp just laying around, and was curious if anyone knew any ways to set it up so I'd be able to use them with my computer.
I have done some reading and a few people have said they used a computer power supply for powering the amp, but they did not describe what exactly they did to accomplish that.
I have many power supplies laying around and if I could figure out how to do that I'd easily be able to get rca cables to plug them into my computer.

Any thoughts tips suggestions, warnings?

Thanks for any help

[travisxcore]

It'll sound like ****. Someone asked this same question last month. Its stupid. Its ridiculous.

[Supra_MKIII]

Get a proper home amplifier or don't bother.

PC PSUs aren't made for what you're trying to do.

[Angry_Birds]

I don't get some people. A decent set of computer speakers is maybe $100-$150. If you can't afford that, you really shouldn't be spending money on luxuries like car stereo.

[Supra_MKIII]

Originally Posted by Angry_Birds

I don't get some people. A decent set of computer speakers is maybe $100-$150. If you can't afford that, you really shouldn't be spending money on luxuries like car stereo.

Let's not assume we know anyone's situation.

[paintballking72]

Originally Posted by Supra_MKIII

Let's not assume we know anyone's situation.

This.

He just stated that he took them out of his old car and they are just lying around. He didn't say that he JUST went out and bought hundreds of dollars of car stereo equipment.

In his mind he has speakers already, so why go buy $100 dollar computer speakers if he could save some money.

He obviously didn't know if it was a good idea, so he asked. Atleast he didn't come in asking which laptop to buy like 98.49384% of all the other scrubs.

[travisxcore]

After they've already bought it*

[AuxiliaryPie]

"**** all of you im just gonna go with what i originally thought, alienware alll dayyy!"

[Bon'Qui'Qui]

Not this again

There's no way you can still be convinced that this is going to work...

Originally Posted by paintballking72

This.

He just stated that he took them out of his old car and they are just lying around. He didn't say that he JUST went out and bought hundreds of dollars of car stereo equipment.

Right. So he should sell them and buy a stereo system that's made for what he wants to do.

[lnopia]

Just out of curiosity, what doesn't make it work? Only thing anyone has mentioned was power supply from computer won't work right with the amp

[Supra_MKIII]

There are plenty of reasons, but the simplest is probably that the output of a PC power supply will be 12v, but it's going to be going through 16awg wire or thinner.

I don't have the numbers on 16awg, but I do know that 14awg can only feed 130w or so through an efficient class D amp.

You do NOT want to pull more than 7 amps through 16awg, and most sub amps are capable of 40 amps or more.

Watts = volts * amps
so we're looking at a whopping 90 watts assuming a 100% efficient amp. Obviously in reality that doesn't happen, so you're going to be feeding 70w or so at max to 2 12" subs. Probably barely enough to hear them.

[draco1990]

I have no clue how to get power to the subs and amp but if you can, i think i know how you could hook up the sound system to your computer

I think what you could do is get an audio receiver to plug in all the speakers, subs, amps, etc. then get an audio card for your computer so you can plug the cables from the receiver to the computer

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829271004

that would be the kind of audio/sound card you may need to make it work and i do not could if there are cheaper ones

[Supra_MKIII]

Originally Posted by draco1990

I have no clue how to get power to the subs and amp but if you can, i think i know how you could hook up the sound system to your computer

I think what you could do is get an audio receiver to plug in all the speakers, subs, amps, etc. then get an audio card for your computer so you can plug the cables from the receiver to the computer

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829271004

that would be the kind of audio/sound card you may need to make it work and i do not could if there are cheaper ones

That isn't the issue...

Any remotely current sound card (or even the onboard of a mobo) has a 3.5mm jack just for a subwoofer. You can get a 3.5mm to RCA connectors. Almost all car amplifiers use RCA.

[Kid named puoS (Banned)]

Originally Posted by Supra_MKIII

That isn't the issue...

Any remotely current sound card (or even the onboard of a mobo) has a 3.5mm jack just for a subwoofer. You can get a 3.5mm to RCA connectors. Almost all car amplifiers use RCA.

Off topic, but what's the alternative to RCA? I haven't seen a car amp that uses anything else..

[Supra_MKIII]

Some use high-level inputs.

There are some Ethernet based amps surfacing now as well, but they're quite pricey. Supposedly you can connect it to a laptop for super fine tuning, but I don't have any experience with it. Just heard about it.

Looks pretty impressive, I hope prices become reasonable in the future... http://www.audison.eu/index.php?page=product&id=26

[toolbandfan]

What about TRS? Any of them use that?

[Supra_MKIII]

Not that I've seen.