Car Audio Amp to Home Audio Conversion? (1 Viewer)

[Joel Grice]

I'm a real cheapskate and I have had a hard time finding an amp for my sub. I do not want a plate amp and external amps are quite expensive. So here's my idea:

I have a few car audio amps laying around. I was thinking that I could take an electronics project case, drop the guts of the car amp into it, add a 12VDC power supply and I'd have a pretty decent amp for my 4 ohm sub.

I have a couple of questions:

1. Is it doable?

2. How many 12VDC amps would I need to supply to the amp? I've seen power supplies that deliver as little as 3amps up to 125amps.

3. Could I build my own power supply?

What do you think?

Any input will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Joel

 

[Kerry Hackney]

Joel, from what I've read the problem is being able to find a resonably priced DC power supply that can deliver the amount of dc current needed to power a car stereo amp. I'm sure it can be done and would work OK but you get into that area where it is just as cheap and a lot easier to buy a home amp. When you look around at some of the sub amps and pro sound stuff it is getting so much more affordable to buy wattage.

 

[Bob Ahlberg]

You'd be hard pressed to make it cost effective unless you have all the parts on hand already. A car audio amplifier that will make 300 watts into 4 ohms will draw (unless it is a digital amp) in the area of 30 amps (or more) at full output. A high quality 35 amp, 12V, power supply is big and heavy and makes a fair amount of heat under heavy use.

The end result will be a fairly big metal box that will probably cost more than a plate amp or an after market amp and will perform no better.

Bob

 

[Joel Grice]

Well, It was worth a try. I'm always looking for the chance to hack something together.

Thanks for the input,

Joel

 

[myke]

You could always use a deep-cycle battery (small-ish one, from walmart or something, $35) and small-ish charger (5-amp or so). That should ensure you have plenty of power, it's cheap, but it's messy (big ugly battery you have to put somewhere).

I'm not completely sure about sound quality with this setup, but I have used a similar setup for testing car subs/amp combos in the past.