Car sound system conversion to home use.

[Peac3]

Hemm

The battery is of course the way to do it but i doubt very much i am going to put a car battery inside the house. I really don't think i will do that option.. i still have a 12 V capacitor (But i am not really sure if it's doing any good at all, maybe it's only a fancy accessory)

I think i could find some 500w computer power supply used easy. Then i could put 1x 500 w to the Sub then 1x 350w for the head unit + 4 channel amplifier.

That could seriously do the trick with no diodes and maybe more then enough amps.

This is the amplifier i will use for the loud speaker:

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-VPmzaOE7VhA/p_500MRVT420/Alpine-MRV-T420.html

 

[Peac3]

I did my test box today for my speakers and so far i am more then pleased, the sound quality is totaly INSANE! (

I never eared these speakers sound that great and i can't wait to ear them amplified at 50w RMS. The radio has a lot of sound options and the power supply smells good

 

[Six_Shooter]

This is true. But doesn't apply to all brands. I have a few (6) that put out or exceed the rated power. These are "old school" amps from Phoenix Gold, HiFonics and Orion. All of these are 20+ years old and work great.

I love me some old school Phoenix Gold.

I still fondly remember the days of installing MS series amps, and EQ-215x in many cars. I have a few Xenon series amplifiers still along with some Xenon subwoofers.

Anyway, back to the topic.

There should have been ZERO hesitation ordering that 69 amp power supply from fleabay. I have a Cascade 75 amp power supply that I know new was well over $1000, IIRC it was listed in one of my price guides at one time for about $1500. I used it to run two complete sound boards and it worked well, until I really pushed any assembled system. Computer power supplies will NOT deliver enough power to proper power a system with these specs, if the specs are true. Heck I could even see that fleabay power supply possibly having issues at higher outputs.

While I love my car audio (Worked as an installer for about 20 years), I would never use a car system in a home. It's much less efficient than buying even a cheap home system, and it won't be rigged up.

Using as a learning tool, to learn to measure currents and diagnose any problems, yeah, that's great, but not a long time solution.

 

[Peac3]

Six_Shooter

Hello! right now i am listening to 1 x 50w speaker + the subwoofer with the gain really low. I have an IQ on the sub amplifier too, with it, i can cut some kike and it sounds like a regular home loud speaker to listen to music.

I tried to match the proportion voice/low from my Altec Lansing computer kit, which is a fixe factory ratio between voice and loud speakers, the tuning was done from jazz music and it's really really good so far.

You should ear it. it's well balanced for acoustic music.

Of course a study must be done between the type of music i am listening vs the maximum volume i want to get, it's not a SPL project that's for sure...

Why is your Phoenix Gold old school anyways ? There is the IQ-215x it looks nice ( i never had any equalizer like that, must be fun to work with.

There is one there for sale;

http://www.soundbuggy.com/Eric/Car Audio/phoenix_gold/processors/215x/pgeq215x.html

 

[Six_Shooter]

Old school, because the EQ-215X is about 20 years old, which makes it a relic in Car audio terms.

I'm not saying that this won't work, just that it's not a very efficient method of listening to audio recordings and time and money would be better spent on actual home gear.

 

[Peac3]

I disagree 100% with you Six_Shooter even with 20 years of experience.

For the sake of having a great hobby, to improve my skill working with wood and electronics and learning a lot of things. Like the possibility to get a great sound out of a coaxial speaker inside a box and building power supply out of computer scrap.

The money i am spending right now makes me happy, it's going to cost 300 maximum to get something really original, interesting, fun to build and really great.

If course i would not buy car audio from scratch to build home audio that would be totally crazy.

 

[Peac3]

My project is still on, i have some power supply reliability problems right now..



I took the current measure 1 x 6.5 inch speaker is drawing about 2.4 amps at 11.8v and the subwoofer is playing more then enough sound to my taste while consuming about 8 amps at 11.8v

For the moment i can use smaller power supply i am using a 185w for the 4 speakers and 250w for the subwoofer..

Unfortunately the 250 watt died after it's first use. After 30 minutes of power generation at a decent volume level, i put the sound low to listen to music for maybe 30 minutes, the PS died while resting, without any significant load on it.

-------------------------------