PC Speakers? Car Speakers?

Shoryuken · 01-28-2004, 02:48 PM

Would it be possible to use PC speakers in your car? My home PC speaker system blows my car speakers out of the water, and getting a good quality 7 speaker dolby 6.1 surround sound set for $129 seems like the way to upgrade.

Are there problems with this other than housing/mounting/cableing issues? I'm not sure what kind of power draw those speakers require, that might be the limiting factor. I've poked all over these boards looking for the answer, hopefully I'm not requesting dead horse(tm) information.

Thanks

jjh221 · 01-28-2004, 03:00 PM

how are you powering your computer?

killerfishes · 01-28-2004, 03:04 PM

just get some good car stuff. it will never look right and will be prone to noise in a car.
but if i cant talk you out of it get a strong power inverter and a low wattage set of speakers. there is no way to do this with the GigaWorks S750.

Shoryuken · 01-28-2004, 03:25 PM

At the moment I'm using an inverter and belkin UPS, but my eventual goal is to switch to an Opus. I had the inverter and UPS sitting around. Kind of funny actually, I thought I was inventing something putting a PC in my car... Then I found these forums. Always a day late

Thanks for the help, I was really just curious. I'd like to be able to use cheaper PC speakers, that still sound better than my crappy car (factory) speakers. I hadn't heard of anyone doing this, and so I figure there must be a reason why. My setup is pretty ghetto, but then, its a 96 ford taurus - its not a show-piece

starfox · 01-28-2004, 11:36 PM

Audio systems use quite a lot of power. If you use an inverter and computer speakers, you're running something like 13.8V DC (Car) -> Inverter (110V / 240V AC) -> Amp transformer ( ~25V AC ) -> Rectifier (+/- 35V DC) -> Amplifier ICs.

You can probably see that running that sort of path is inefficient

It'll probably put quite a strain on your car electrical system.

Since this is a mp3 car forum as well, i guess most people here have replaced the stock speakers +/ head unit +/ amplifier in cars to have better audio in their cars.

cotwild · 01-29-2004, 12:49 AM

i'm using a 5.1 system for pc (wavemaster mx5) and in the rear 2 stock car-speakers over an amplifier. it sounds great with creative USB audigy2 nx!!
i use a 300W inverter over ignition and a seperate dc-dc power supply for carpc.. (perhaps i'll use a 2nd battery..) system is still in testing mode, but it works great until now..

this pc-speakers (5 satelites & 1 sub) need running full power about 140W (230V).. so i got enough power for other devices..

well.. i think using pc speakers isn't that efficient.. but CHEAP!!
buy a sound system with about 2000W for car..

pc speakers are good as most car speakers!!

Shoryuken · 01-29-2004, 06:41 AM

that was my thought exactly Cotwild, PC speakers sound great, and are 1/10th the cost of car audio. Once i convert to DC-DC PSU, that should free up enough juice to run a fairly powerful set of speakers, and save me 1000+ dollars building a similar sound system.

Seems to me that I could build a good sounding carputer system for about half what you'd spend for a comperable car audio system.

NotchbackVW · 01-30-2004, 09:16 AM

This is my plan too 5.1 surround cambridge, sub box up front under dash. My logic was that the amp (built into sub at the moment) runs on 13.5 volts and basically sounds awsome in my room so cant imagine it sounding pants in car. N.b. I am a 'newbie' too, so may prove my self wrong yet, system still bench building. but if it is crap I have lost nothing and will have learnt lots.

I too have felt 'scared' of suggesting this on this board as most people seem to have proper car audio systems and thats fine. I' sure many of the people on this board were into car ICE in the traditional sense long before they started carputering and so makes perfect sense to intergrate into existing system, I would do the same. For me at the moment my interior is a shell not even a cassett deck! i cant afford a full car audio system as my car is a classic and I still have lots of work to do on it (mainly interior). Also having no interior at present means intergarting stuff isnt such a problem as for some who have modern plastis interiors, i have no carpet yet and no panels, i will design it all around the system.

Basically mate do what you think best try it, if you are not happy with it, change it. I think everyone here will agree with that. This site is all about designing tailored sytems for yourself, your spec, your requirments. Thats the whole concept avoiding paying 1000's for off the shelf crap that doesnt do exactly what you want anyway.

Have fun

belezeebub · 02-02-2004, 04:31 PM

I won't Poopoo your idea but I am running a good 600 Dollar set of computer 7.1 speakers and I know for Damm sure it won't hold a candle to my car audio speakers

Sure it sounds pretty good in my nice quite apartment, but once you go outside all bets are off.

the Cheap speakers, subs and amps in computer speakers just don't cut it next to

2 Sets of Diamond Audio Hex 600s
2 12" TDX 12D4's
2 PPI PCX4125
2 PPI PCX 2400

Now if you were going to Mold in a nice set of Bose Acoustimass 16 then you might get my thumbs up there small and they rock, but there also not 129 bucks

Quote: Originally Posted by Shoryuken

Would it be possible to use PC speakers in your car? My home PC speaker system blows my car speakers out of the water, and getting a good quality 7 speaker dolby 6.1 surround sound set for $129 seems like the way to upgrade.

Are there problems with this other than housing/mounting/cableing issues? I'm not sure what kind of power draw those speakers require, that might be the limiting factor. I've poked all over these boards looking for the answer, hopefully I'm not requesting dead horse(tm) information.

Thanks