I know future shop can do it, but how easy is it for me to get a sub signal from my computer to my subs? Winter is here and i dont wanna blow the 12s.....i want them in my house and pounding. What could i do to make this possible? Im guessing i need a 120VAC to 12VDC converter, but what about the amperage?
Thanks

 

Why would you blow your 12s in the winter. I have had 2 12's in my last 5 cars, during the summer and winter. And have never blown one because its cold outside.

 

123456

 

Next time dont tell me about something i didn't want to hear. Knowing that someone would come on here and tell me that im an idiot for saying its possible to blow the subs due to cold weather is the reason why i never stated "Please dont tell me they are not able to be blown in the winter".
Now do you know how to hook up 12s in your house or not?
I do NOT want them in my car. I dont care if you haven't blown yours......I just do not want the subs in the car.

 

Yes, you can drive your subs to a home stereo just as long as your amp can support it, such as 4 ohms. If your amp cannot handle 4 ohms or less, then you will find out soon enough your amp will work serious overtime and overheat. As far as speakers, it doesn't matter about the voltage driving them, it's just the amplification on ohms driving it. Also to note, too, speakers made for car audio are made more stronger to handle all temperature extremes, meaning it's hardly possible to ruin them under those conditions.

 

I suggest a plate style amp designed for home subs. Check partsexpress.com and acoustic-visions.com

But don't get beligerant with us because you did state "Winter is here and i dont wanna blow the 12s". Another option is to purchase a home sub. Car subs are designed for the small cabin of a vehicle and won't have as great sub extension in a home. They may be more likely to blow as it will take more power to attain the same SPL.

 

If you are planning to run the subs in the house, you have a few issues to overcome. The first issue is what are you powering them with. If it is a car amp, you will quickly find that a power supply large enough to run it safely is more expensive than just buying a decent home subwoofer. The next issue is that the subs are going to need a different box to work well in a house. Car subwoofers are designed to work with the secondary pressure of a small cabin such as a car or even SUV, but take the pressure away, and they sound horrible. If you have ever gone to a stereo shop, and the subs sounded 10 times better in the car, than on the display, you will know what I'm talking about. Unless you already have a home amp, that is designed for running subwoofers, and is stable enough to run car speakers, just go buy a sub designed for home, and sell what you have to someone else.

 

Man you need to check your attitude. First of all, no one on the org can read minds and tell whether or not you are going to get your panties in a bunch because of a certain answer. If you don't want to hear a certain response, state that. Second, no one called you an idiot, you volunteered that information. Third, car audio subs are built for cars, home audio subs are built for the home. Car subs will sound like crap in the house.

 

Cerwin Vega subs sound great in the house.

Pyramid makes rack mount amps that will push subs nicely.

Remember you need to get a crossover to x-over the subs at subwoofer frequencies.

Some subs will be able to break out of their surrounbds in the winter, such as the diamond TDX series, because they have very stiff rubber surrounds, which when cold wont have the same compliance. If you really bump it when you first start up your system, they can break.

 

i still don't see how modern speakers can be damaged in the cold. i'm sure the design engineers took weather into consideration when they're designing the speaker. if this was ten years ago, then yeah it could be a different story. but with today's technology and material, any good speaker should be able to take the weather head on. my$.02

 

you will blow the voice coil, get a 12 volt transformer for the house (good one) and run it off that...

 

Visit Maxima.org for all the BS of years past reiterated today!

 

what an odd thread....I had a step-brother that did it back in high school, it can be done easily

 

Easily? Now that there are numerous home sub plate amps on the market. But in the old days a passive crossover or some AC/DC converters were needed. Another advantage of the current year is that there are a few home active crossovers on the market. But the plate amp is still the best choice for an average to slightly better than average system. I have a nice 1000 watt class D - 36 lbs of pure amp in my HT setup. I also built a home sub with car subs in the early 90's. But it is much easier to do correctly today.

 

Yeah, you will spend way more on a 12V power supply capable of producing the necessary amperage than you would on a plate amp.

You can run your gear at home, but you would definately need to redesign your enclosure to be more efficient and buy another amp. Why not buy a Shiva and a plate amp and not worry about swapping everything around all the time.

 

Im not worried about swapping.....Because of insurance and a couple tickets i wont be driving for a LONG time.
I dont really want to buy a new amp. I just want to hook up my subs with their current ported enclosure and get some bass running in the bassment. Has anyone done this the "old school" way? Using a transformer and doing it that way? Exactly how many amps will i need to run to the subs? They are already spliced into mono and my 2 channel RF amp is set to 300X1. These are not even average speakers by todays standards. Just a pair of Orion Cobalts that i want to have pumping out some bass, so i dont think a plate amp would be very cost effective.
So ya....no more car, just subs........want to still hear them....thanks

 

You have a pair of orion cobalts, what is the nominal resistance of each sub? Be careful with the ported box. It is probably tuned an octave too high for good sound in a home. And playing the low frequencies in the house will easilly blow the subs. You could just plug the ports but that won't help the SQ much.

You RF amp, what is the output power, 300 watts RMS? And is the amp class AB or class D?

Chances are good that a plate amp is the cheaper route. And you will have a lot less wires to get tangled up in your listening room.

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