zak9494

Hey guys!
I’m wanting to turn one of my car subs into a home sub just for music and movies.
I was wondering what’s the best way to go about this?

I don’t have a box for the sub so I guess id have to get one made from someone off of craigslist.
What kind of specs should it have or anything that I should have required done to the box? Such as a port & air space.

I’m not sure how either sub would work with the receiver I have.
So please let me know which sub you think would be best match for the receiver.

I don’t know much about this stuff so all help is appreciated.
I do not want to spend much this lol.
Thanks!

What I have to work with:
- Alpine Type R 12” Sub - Model SWR-12D4
OR

- Alpine Type S 12” Sub – Model SWS-12D4

- As a receiver I have
Denon AVR-3803 Receiver


- I have two computer speakers that I am happy with, as they are very loud.

More info On The Type R Sub:
Alpine Electronics, Inc SWR12D4 - Best Buy

More info On The Type S Sub:
Alpine 12" DualVoiceCoil 4Ohm Subwoofer SWS-12D4 - Best Buy

More info On the Receiver:
Denon AVR-3803 (Black) Home theater receiver with Dolby Digital EX, DTS-ES, and Pro Logic II at Crutchfield.com

I know this may not be the correct forum but I figured it’d be the best place to post something like this on considering it’s a car sub!

Phil G.

Generally a home sub is self powered meaning it has an amplifier built right into the sub box. Since this is the route generally that the home audio industry goes, most receivers are not designed to power a sub properly, they only provide the pre-amplier output signal to drive the amp inside the sub box. I would suggest you try to sell or trade the 2 subs you have for a proper used home sub woofer.
I don't know where you are located but check out ad #512578059 on Kijiji, it's in the GTA and it's a proper home sub by Velodyne that would solve all your problems if it's in decent shape, it's only $100. There are plenty more on there between 100-200.

You should easily get 100+ out of the 2 subs you have there if they are in great shape.

BBCA

look it can be done... use either sub ok. but if you have a extra car amp laying around you can use that for the amp for you sub. i did this before so i know it works.. you receiver uses rca's for the subwoofer. so find some rca's and use the rca's on you car amp. turn the gain to max first then slowly turn it down tell you get the best SQ out your sub... all you need is a good computer psu to power you car amp indoors.... heres the link to show you how to do it...

How to Convert a Computer ATX Power Supply to a Lab Power Supply

if you need anything else pm me ok i will help you out. been doing this for over ten yrs i should know

BillJackson

Not a good idea to use a car sub on a home unit car subs tend to have more distortion also they boom and beam the sound which is not what you want in a home environment you want something that has wide dispersion and controlled frequency response for home use...also the unit is 4 ohm and most home systems are set up around 8 ohm subs; that use 8 ohm amps...you would need an amp that is line level compatible with the sub output on your receiver; You could try building a sophisticated transmission line box that would even out the sound some and possibly find an expensive 4 ohm amp that would work but its too much work for the results you can expect....

danyman

iTrader: (1)

its all about the box. get it designed for home theater use and it will work. amp wize check out solen.ca under electronics and u can get a nice sub amp for it

Fathershelper

Well just for giggles i actually built a home sub. I used 3 10 inch rf. This little project is way over complicated but i love the problems. The bottom part of the cab is a pretty simple ported box. I used 3 inch exhaust pipe from the shop. Tuned way low to 20 htz. The sub is a dvc. Powered by a soundstream 360 4 channel bridged. The top part is a 5th order isobaric box. Slot port tuned way low again at 20 htz. Powered by a kenwood 250 watt 2 channel. Overall i think its one of the best sounding home subs ive ever heard. Last night i was playing music and the glass globe that covers the entry way lighting fixture decided the vibrations were too strong and fell to the cold hard tile in a what i call bassquake lol

the problems i had to overcome were
1. Originally the subs were in a line firing up and down. Causing the box to bunny-hop
solution... move bottom sub to fire front wards.
2. Port noise from round port at high volume.
solution.... switch amp. By using the 360 amp to drive the dvc and the 250 to drive the other 2 subs i actually corrected 2 problems. The bottom sub and the top subs are all now using close to the same amount of power. Port noise is gone at high volume and all speakers produce the same volume.
3. 12 volt power supply for car amps in the house.
solution... use xbox 360 power bricks.
4. Single out mono rca pre amp on reciever going to 4
channels on one amp and 2 on the other.
solution.... build a 25 ft rca cable to split from one into 6 channels.
5. Replace glass globe.
solution.... replace all light fixtures with eco friendly led fixtures and install dyno mat to all walls in home. . . . J/k

One more note of interest. I have another sub on the other side of the couch. The rca cable send signal to that one also. I accomplished this by running 2 channels to it and on the car amps the 4 channel amp has input and out put so i daisy chained em.

pretty good sounding. The entire set up consists of 2 front speakers. 1 center channel. 2 surround speakers. And the 2 different sub woofers. In a like 30 x 20 foot room.