Thread: Question about sound card and amps

Originally Posted by EpRiDaZ

Hey, I just bought a touchscreen for my car. Im going to hook up a computer to it I might just throw my full sized pc in my trunk. My car audio in the car is two amps, a four channel powering the four speakers and a two channel powering the two subs. I know I need the converter for the amps but how can I control the bass on the computer??

i really hope your planning on bridging the 2 channel amp for the subs, better in my opinion.

you can get an external bass control module for this, not cheap.

Originally Posted by CornToeGoblin

i really hope your planning on bridging the 2 channel amp for the subs, better in my opinion.

you can get an external bass control module for this, not cheap.

Yes they are bridged already. Any other way to control bass?

If you currently have just stereo out on your computer, you technically could split the signal enough times to get the leads you need. I would not suggest that however as a permanent solution. You would be splitting what likely is already a weak signal (on most sound cards). This would make you put your gains up really high and overwork them.

Best bet is to get a sound card that can handle 5.1 or more channels. This will give you a sub line to go to your sub amp. Do a search for sound cards. There are plenty of choices available.

Originally Posted by StrataG

If you currently have just stereo out on your computer, you technically could split the signal enough times to get the leads you need. I would not suggest that however as a permanent solution. You would be splitting what likely is already a weak signal (on most sound cards). This would make you put your gains up really high and overwork them.

Best bet is to get a sound card that can handle 5.1 or more channels. This will give you a sub line to go to your sub amp. Do a search for sound cards. There are plenty of choices available.

I wouldnt recommend a multi channel card as 99% of the time the only thing being output from the computer are 2 channels

Just get a crossover. That will filter the frequencies
I believe some amps even come with them built in

Be careful bridging two subs on a 2 channel amp. Most 2 channel amps can only handle 4 Ohms in bridge mode, so unless you have Dual-Voice-Coil or 2 Ohm subs, you're likely to destroy something...

And an active or passive EQ/Crossover is the way to go. I have an Alpine ERA-G320 I got off ebay that works great.

Keep in mind that with the EQ route, you either have to mount it up front or get one with a controller you can mount up front if you want to control the levels frequently.

Many times I find myself adjusting various EQ settings from song to song. Not so much of a problem when listening to music of the same type, but can be a problem if you have a playlist that is scattered across genres. Before anyone gets into the whole proper sound system installation, this is irregardless of that. Simply put I tend to turn down the bass a bit on genres like hip-hop and r&b, but up on rock and heavy metal. I am actually creating a few html files to use in conjunction with girder's html osd so I can control EQ settings and volume for each set of speakers. This is only an option with a 5.1+ card, unless you have the EQ controls up front as I mentioned earlier.

As far the stereo outputs from most sources played from the computer, if you get a card that can distribute the sound to the other channels than it is not a problem. I use the Terratec Aurion 7.1 using the 3D feature which handles that. It then allows me to control balance and volume for the front & rear channels indepently as well as volume to the sub.

Basically the choice is yours, I just went this route since I planned on integrating it into my carputer setup. I don't want to have another device up front if there isn't a need for it.

What i decided to do was buy the USB sound card thats for sale on mp3car.com. And use that to control the three channel 1. Front 2. Rear 3. Subs