Car Audio for my Garage - what do I need?
 

Hey guys,

I'm going to attempt to piece together an audio system for my garage using car audio equipment.

I have an old Kenwood 5 channel amp, model KAC-959. PDF Owner's Manual

I'm not sure I want to assume that the amp is 2 ohm stable. The output rating only show for 4 ohms. I'd love to get the most out of the amp, but don't want to fry it by not having enough of a load on it.

I need to find some bookshelf speakers with an RMS of 80W or so. Then place on in each corner. The issue is going to be that these speakers are likely going to be 6 or 8 ohm drivers, which means I won't get that 80W of output. I could place 4 speakers on either side of my garage, split the left 4 into the "front" and "rear", and do the same for the other side. Then I could wire the pairs in parallel to bring the load down to 3 or 4 ohm per channel. Then the speakers would split that 80W between them.

What I really need to know more about is the power source. I've heard a few people mention converters in various threads. Is this something I'd plug into an outlet in my garage then hook the amp up to it, or would I still need a battery and a charging system?
What am I looking at for powering this up? How much should I be willing to spend for quality equipment?

I'm finding it really easy to find DC to AC Converters, but no the other way around.

Hold up. What about this?
http://www.trcelectronics.com/Meanwell/rsp-1000-12.shtml

This probably isn't such a feasible idea if I have to spend this much money on something just for power. I might as well just buy another home stereo receiver and go that way. And get a cheap little DVD player to play audio...

Nevermind. Nice waste of a post, eh?

a power converter for your application would be the most expensive peice and are not that easy find.

The power converter you listed would do the trick, However this should be suffice PSP-600-12, Mean Well PSP-600-12

I have often thought about doing this in my garage, since I have a bunch of left over random gear.

I imagine that these power converters are what the audio shops use to power the amps on their sound boards. Never gave it much thought, since that part of it is always out of view.

For arguments sake, if I decided to go ahead with this, how would I go about grounding the amp? I thought I'd pick up a used or inexpensive new Head Unit, how would that be wired for power to the converter. Any ideas?

the amp goes right to the converter, both pos+and neg- like a car battery, along with the source(deck)

So the ground from the amp goes right to the negative terminal on the converter...
That's easy enough. I thought I was going to have to create a grounding source for the amp.
Thanks.

The type of inverter that a shop generally uses is rather huge.
If your somewhat handy though...
DIY Personal Bench Power Supply | YourITronics

Or..

http://www.audioauthority.com/produc...ccessEZ_Mobile

Somewhat Handy. That'd be a cool band name. But not a good way of describing my abilities to work with electricity or electronic devices. lol

It would definitely have to be of the "plug and play variety".

those will not give enough amps

btw, if you want to power an HU an old PC ATX PSU will do the trick (+12v @ 14A)

This Kenwood amp has two 25A fuses in it. Wouldn't that mean that a unit capable of producing 60A would be sufficient?