psu to power amp and speakers?

**qaz** · 05-31-2005, 09:29 AM

Originally Posted by Nic

computer power supplies arent designed to deal with a current load that fluctuates as much as an amp will, in short, its a bad bad idea

but a cap should smooth it out fine. either way, whats the worst that could happen, itll kill the psu. its only $25 anyway, i figure its worth a shot. i wanna recess the speakers in the ceiling in all the rooms and for the price of 6.5" car speakers it seems like i cant lose. so i guess it comes down to...is 20-25 amps enough to power this?

**Hcomplyr** · 05-31-2005, 09:41 AM

i've used car speakers on my home stereo before without any issues and i had a relatively crappy reviever

**evandude** · 05-31-2005, 10:13 AM

I agree, just get a reciever. car amps are designed to run on 12 volts, recievers are designed to run on AC. It would be stupid to convert AC to 12 volts just to run an amp, when you can run straight off AC... not to mention, a reciever is much more suited to home use anyway (can switch between different audio sources, can have EQ, you can use a remote control, built-in radio, etc etc)

using a car amp indoors seems about as smart as using a reciever in the car on an inverter.

**qaz** · 05-31-2005, 12:09 PM

so i can use a home reciever with car speakers and it would sound and act the same?

**qaz** · 05-31-2005, 12:23 PM

i was just looking at some on ebay and theyre all 8 ohms as opposed to 4 or 2 like car speakers. is this the only difference? whats the drawbacks? thanks

**Nic** · 05-31-2005, 10:27 PM

its difficult to get lots of power out of a car system to power audio becuase its at a low voltage, in orger to get a decent amount of power the voltage must be stepped up. For example an 8ohm speaker that peaks at 200w needs 40v to operate, in order to compensate for this speakers in cars are generally rated at 4ohms or lower, a 4 ohm speaker at 200w only needs 20v. Its harder to produce an accurate speaker with a lower impedence which often makes car speakers more expensive (or worse sounding) than home audio speakers, amplifiers are also often more expensive because they have to step the voltage up.

Another important factor to note is that the enclosure of a speaker plays a big part into how well it peforms, putting speakers into walls when you could easliy make a nice box for them is never a good idea unless you dont care about bass at all, home speakers mostly come in boxes wich are specialy designed with the speaker in mind, but theres nothing stopping you buying the driver and making a box yourself.

Can you run car stuff of a home amp? yes, so long as the amp is stable down to 4 ohms