car audio to home audio?
 

I know this is somewhat of a backwards question for this forum, but how exactly would i go about using car audio equipment in my house? I know you need some sort of converter to adapt the DC to AC i think...but what all else would i need? even if someone could point me to a website that shows how to do this, that would be fantastic, thanks

Actually, you'd need an AC to DC converter, more appropriately called a 12-volt DC power supply. Buying one of those plug-in adaptors from the Source is not the way to go either... If you plan on running anything other than 12V LEDs in your house, you'll need something with some decent current output. Computer power supplys can sometimes dish out up to 10 amps, but even then that's only really good for a head unit. A sub amp would probably go into protect once turned up past a certain level. Unfortunately, professional DC power supplies can get pricey if you need high-amperage. Their reputation for making large car audio paperweights notwithstanding, Pyramid actually makes some decently-priced regulated DC power supplies:

http://www.fcsurplus.ca/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=104

46 amps should be enough to run a HU and moderate sub amp. From there it's just a matter of connecting everything to the power supply and watching the sparks fly. :)

Easiest thing to do is to get a 12 Volt power supply, if you're gonna use an amp as well, you need a bigger power supply, arond 20 - 30 amp should would for the average amp as long as you're not hooking up a monster bass amp.

OR, simply get a car battery, a marine battery, dry cell etc and hook up a battery charger to it to keep it charged. Careful not to overcharge the battery though, and to prevent this new type of charger is available which stops charging before damage occurs (boil over from over charging). Crappy Tire has them now but I'm sure you could find one just about anywhere.

lol, thanks for the optimism ex:P....
the sub i want to power is a concept ex12 i believe...around 500watts and 6ohms, so i figured because of the higher ohms it would run well with a home audio system as they tend to be higher ohms than car audio stuff ( i think like at least 8ohms)....
I can get ahold of a comp power supply with around 20+amps on teh 12v rail...but i like the sound of the car battery idea...i will look into that i think

If you were going to power your sub with your home amp you might get away with using the 6 ohm woofer.... but if you're using a car amp to power it then you will need to bridge the car amp mono into the woofer in order to make the car amp put out any decent power, and then run the rca wire from the "audio out" on your home amp to give an audio signal to the car amp to power the sub.

And it sounds like you have just the one woofer right? If you're gonna use the home amp don't bridge the home amp into the woofer!

If you're gonna use the car amp, and since it's for sub amp duty, I personally like the car battery idea especially with a sealed cell battery, or Optima Yellowtop, or a sealed marine battery (you don't want to be spillin' acid in da' house never mind the fumes) because it gives you some reserve capacity for a bigger amp and longer playing time, plus marine batts and yellow tops can be cycled (drained) down significantly without serious damage. Car starting batteries can't!

Also there is the potential cost effectiveness if you already have a decent "smart" charger and a battery vs. bigger power supply required to power a sub amp - power supply can be an expen$ive option unless you can get a good deal on a used one (Hard to find!).

Make sense?

Ok so a couple hundred bux for a decent 'dry cell' battery plus a charger or a couple hun for a DC power supply..

Why not just buy a decent home stereo receiver for a couple hundred bux? I would... :thumbsup:

yeah, dude go to the parts express website and buy a dedicated home sub amp for 100.00-200.00 cdn that is 4ohm stable. Here is a link to one that puts out 272 watts @ 4ohms. Make your life easy...

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&PartNumber=300-794&DID=7

update...
 

hey all...i kinda gave up on the idea because i didnt think it was worth putting the money into batteries and stuff...but my gf's brother just gave me a
JVC ax-66BK stereo integrated amplifier and a
JVC sea-rm20 graphics equalizer... I havent been able to find any specific info on either of these products...but it would seem that i should be able to use them for my home audio setup...any additional input would be greatly appreciated

*Edit*
I am also trying to figure out how much wattage this amp puts out...but im not sure....teh impedance is 8-16ohms...but other than that the only wattage number is right under "AC 120v"(370W)

*bump*

im really not too confident hooking all this stuff up by myself, so any tips would be great, just to recap I have the following:

jvc ax-66bk int. stereo amp
jvc sea rm20 graphics eq
concept ex12 subwoofer(dvc 6ohm)
i have some other car speakers that i could use...but i think im just gonna use some other actual home speakers instead with the car sub