# Car Amp powdered inside



## shotzie95 (Aug 19, 2014)

Hi all, I am new here and need help already! I have a spare Kenwood X500-1 and two 12" subs from my car I sold and I want to use it inside. How do I go about doing this?
Thanks a lot


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## BD55 (Oct 18, 2011)

It's probably a bit more work than you'll find worth, but you'll have to get a power supply that is capable of AC/DC conversion from the wall to the amp and has sufficient output to correctly drive the amp and drivers. FYI, good power supplies aren't cheap...


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## shotzie95 (Aug 19, 2014)

I'm willing to spend money as the system was hundreds of dollars and I have no use of it outside of this


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## BD55 (Oct 18, 2011)

What I'm getting at is you may just want to pony up for a good dedicated amp that was purpose built for driving home theater subwoofers. You didn't mention what 12's you have, and that will determine what amp you should look for.


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## shotzie95 (Aug 19, 2014)

They're Kenwood I don't even remember the output and such. Just a Home amp with the same specs I guess


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## rambocommando (Aug 28, 2014)

For something with similar specs you would be looking at something like the Emotiva XPA-100 amp. But just a word of caution, depending on the enclosure of the subs it may not sound quite as nice in a home stereo/theater environment as it does in your car (which usually just targets high SPL and not even frequency response).

Alternatively, you could use a computer power supply to provide power to your car amplifier. You would need one that could provide at least 30 amps and you would need to do some customization to it in order to run your amp.


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## shotzie95 (Aug 19, 2014)

Wow that's really pricey. I think it'll sound fine because it's enclosed, but $350 for like a $750 unit ..


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## rambocommando (Aug 28, 2014)

Yeah, unfortunately a monoblock 300w amp isn't going to be cheap. A lot of home theater subs come with a plate amplifier built-in. You could alternatively buy a plate amplifier, something like this. This style of amplifier is typically part of the speaker enclosure, so you could cut a hole in the dual sub enclosure, or create a custom "enclosure" for the plate amp by mounting it to a board separately.


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## shotzie95 (Aug 19, 2014)

Since that is legitimately half the price, I'm trying to think how I would go about doing this. I wouldn't want to break my seal tight enclosure unless made necessary


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## |Tch0rT| (May 2, 2013)

You should just sell your car amp and subs and use the money towards a proper home sub. Car subs are made in mind that the cabin gain will boost the low end. When you put car subs in a house there's not nearly enough cabin/room gain to help out the subs and they end up sounded very weak, you'll wonder where the bass went. You could put them in a new box but more than likely it'll be huge. More trouble than it's worth IMO.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Car subs are also generally designed to use frequencies above 25hz. Not much benefit in that in theatre use.


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## rambocommando (Aug 28, 2014)

There are reasons why home theater subs are different from car subs, and I agree that buying a new subwoofer is going to give you the best sound. If you decided to use the plate amp, you could build a small box to mount it to, and run the output wires to your subs from there.
If I were in your position though, I would try to sell the car audio equipment and buy dedicated home theater equipment.


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## RTS100x5 (Sep 12, 2009)

You can easily use this Power supply as it has enough amperage output to drive your sub amp...

http://www.amazon.com/Regulated-Compact-Power-Supply-13-8Vdc/dp/B007WMOM4O/ref=sr_1_30?ie=UTF8&qid=1409765310&sr=8-30&keywords=12v+power+supply


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## rambocommando (Aug 28, 2014)

You could also use this ($40) to power the amp. It would require some soldering or stripping and crimping in order to connect it, but it has more than enough power for the amp also. 
You would just combine one of the yellow wires from each rail, and connect that to your positive terminal on the amp, and the same for the black wires adjacent to the yellows and connect it to the negative. Then to turn the power supply on you'll need to short pins 14 and 15. Then you would use the power switch on the back to turn on/off the power supply


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## RTS100x5 (Sep 12, 2009)

great idea !! never thought of using a PC PSU and Im a PC building junkie :R


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## shotzie95 (Aug 19, 2014)

So I'm leaning towards to just selling both and possibly buying some home subwoofers and such. Any suggestions?
I really think my car subwoofer is plenty heavy on the bass seeing as I live in a small, college apartment, but I guess i'll just trust you guys. I don't have a soldering gun here at college, but I believe those are cheap, so I might even go that route. We'll see.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Do you have a budget in mind? SVS has these PB2000 subs and would very easily fill a space your size. There is also the smaller PB1000 and they would go much deeper and cleaner than your current subs.


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## shotzie95 (Aug 19, 2014)

tonyvdb said:


> Do you have a budget in mind? SVS has these PB2000 subs and would very easily fill a space your size. There is also the smaller PB1000 and they would go much deeper and cleaner than your current subs.


Oh geez. That's real expensive.. I'm just a petty college student...


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## rambocommando (Aug 28, 2014)

Check out the Dayton Sub-1000 and Dayton Sub-1200 and the BIC America F12. They're all on amazon, and probably the best budget subs that exist. If you are looking even cheaper, second hand subs can be an option. Check eBay, craigslist, or audiogon, or if you're in canadia there's a secondhand audio site canuckaudiomart. 
I'd post links but I'm on mobile.


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## jamesfrazier (Jul 24, 2011)

Look up reaction audio subs. New budget company making great subs on a budget. I think they have a b stock bps 212 which I have heard personally, and for it's size it's very impressive. I heard it next to it's big brother the bps 215 and it was definitely holding it's own, just didn't have the extension the 15 had, but was plenty loud.


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## |Tch0rT| (May 2, 2013)

shotzie95 said:


> I really think my car subwoofer is plenty heavy on the bass seeing as I live in a small, college apartment, but I guess i'll just trust you guys.


Unless less your apartment is the size of a sedan more than likely the bass will be anemic. :nerd: Putting it in a corner would help but the variables are pretty iffy. If you can test it and you're fine with it then rock it but if I were a betting man I'd bet that you'd be disappointed with the results. I can't really recommend any budget subs other than I've heard the Dayton and Bic subs listed above are nice for their price point.


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## shotzie95 (Aug 19, 2014)

rambocommando said:


> Check out the Dayton Sub-1000 and Dayton Sub-1200 and the BIC America F12. They're all on amazon, and probably the best budget subs that exist. If you are looking even cheaper, second hand subs can be an option. Check eBay, craigslist, or audiogon, or if you're in canadia there's a secondhand audio site canuckaudiomart.
> I'd post links but I'm on mobile.


Those Dayton's would be plenty? Also, would I buy a pair of them or what?


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## rambocommando (Aug 28, 2014)

It will depend on the size and shape of your room. The reason people usually go with 2 or more isn't necessarily to increase the SPL (although it definitely will), but to eliminate standing waves which are more prominent in lower frequencies. Basically it just means there will be "low" spots and "high" spots where bass response will be missing or too much.
What are your goals for this sub? Are you playing music (for parties)? Watching movies? Driving neighbors crazy? :bigsmile:


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## shotzie95 (Aug 19, 2014)

rambocommando said:


> It will depend on the size and shape of your room. The reason people usually go with 2 or more isn't necessarily to increase the SPL (although it definitely will), but to eliminate standing waves which are more prominent in lower frequencies. Basically it just means there will be "low" spots and "high" spots where bass response will be missing or too much.
> What are your goals for this sub? Are you playing music (for parties)? Watching movies? Driving neighbors crazy? :bigsmile:


The subs will be for playing music for parties. I have a multiway or whatever it's called, like a station where aux, and stuff go. The back has the red and black spots for speakers and stuff.


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## jamesfrazier (Jul 24, 2011)

If I went with the Daytons I would definitely buy a pair. As they are regarded as very good for what you pay; your still only paying 120 for a woofer, amp, and cabinet... You have to realize there's only so much they can do for that price and still make a dollar. If you buy two you will take the load off each one ( if you use them for parties I'm sure they will be running loud for some period of time) have much, much better response, and you will gain some spl.


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## shotzie95 (Aug 19, 2014)

jamesfrazier said:


> If I went with the Daytons I would definitely buy a pair. As they are regarded as very good for what you pay; your still only paying 120 for a woofer, amp, and cabinet... You have to realize there's only so much they can do for that price and still make a dollar. If you buy two you will take the load off each one ( if you use them for parties I'm sure they will be running loud for some period of time) have much, much better response, and you will gain some spl.


So the Dayton's take care of the bass, but what do you suggest I do for the vocals and stuff?


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

If your looking for a 5 channel speaker system this Pioneer system from Andrew jones is hard to beat for the money


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## shotzie95 (Aug 19, 2014)

tonyvdb said:


> If your looking for a 5 channel speaker system this Pioneer system from Andrew jones is hard to beat for the money


So basically it's $600 for the whole system and it'll sound pretty good?


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

yes, There are a number of members here who have it and say its an amazing system.


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