Car Subwoofers to Home stereo subwoofers?

How can I do this?
I have 2 12" MTX subwoofers from 1998, and they have been sitting in my garage for about 3-4 years. I want to use them in my garage stereo.
I believe (don't quote me on this) that the amp I used with them was a 300 watt one, or maybe a 100...

Obviously, I need some type of amp that can be plugged into the wall.
Any help would be great. Is there a specific name for this type of amp, or does it even exist? How many watts of an amp would I need? Is there any type of difference from home to car amps? I guess, what would be sufficient. Sorry for all the questions.

Sorry if this is a n00b question.

 

Someone told me before that you can hook up car subs and amps to a home stereo using a car battery, a converter and a couple wires.

I haven't tried any sort of setup. Nor do I recommend it.

 

Yea, That just sounds like a bad idea.

 

hi wiiguy

car amps and home stereo amps are completely different. the first obvious difference is car amps run off 12v DC and home stereo amps run off 120v AC. And you can't just get a 12 volt wall wort (the black power adapters you plug in the wall to run things like a router or printer) because car amplifiers require a lot of amps (current), and small power adapters can't supply enough current to run an amp like that. next difference is the quality. car stereos have a much higher level of THD (total harmonic distortion) than home theater systems.

here's my suggestion. i assume you have the two subs already in a box, yes? go onto ebay or craigslist, and find an old home stereo. just a basic two channel receiver that puts out 50 to 100 watts per channel. then you need a car subwoofer crossover. they are hard to find, since most car amps today have crossovers built in. this would be another good ebay buy. they are small boxes that take RCA in and RCA out, and run on 12v DC. a small converter like this could be powered by a 12v DV wall wort power adapter.

now take line level (RCA red and white) output from your stereo or whatever your audio source is, connect that to the input of your subwoofer crossover, and the output of the crossover to a line level RCA input (such as CD or DVD input) of the stereo receiver. now for the most important part:

car stereo systems run of 2 to 4 ohm impedance. home theater systems run on 8 ohms. if you connect a 4 ohm speaker to a 8 ohm home stereo you will overheat the amp and burn it out. to fix this problem, hook your two 4 ohm 12" subs in series mode. to do this, connect the positive on sub #1 to positive output on the amp. take the negative on sub #1 to the positive on sub #2, then connect the negative on sub #2 to the negative on the amp. by doing this, you have converted your two 4 ohm subwoofer speakers into one 8 ohm load which the home stereo amplifier can handle.

note that your car subs are only going to sound good in a small space like a bedroom. car subs are designed to operate in a small area (like a car, obviously) and they don't sound very good in a large open area.

this seems like a mouthful, but its not that complicated. feel free to post with any questions or problems and i'll help ya out best i can.

 

Sounds complicated. I'll get on getting those pieces. Thanks a bunch.
Would something like this work?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Cerwin-Vega-Sub...66:2|39:1|72:1234|240:1318|301:0|293:1|294:50

 

yeah thats great actually because that combines the three items you need (amp, crossover, and power supply for crossover) into one. kinda pricey though. you're paying a lot of money just for the cerwin vega name (which has been out of business for over 5 years now.) that's exactly what you need, but try finding a used one or another brand perhaps.

don't forget to wire your subs in series to make them 8 ohms!!!

 

No, I wasn't anticipating that much. I have been watching them the last few days, and some have gone for under $50 used. Is there any specific specifications that I would need? I did check the car amp, and it ran @ 300 watts.

 

well like i said before a car amp is not practical in a home stereo system because it would require a MASSIVE power supply to run it. you are better off buying a used subwoofer amp like that cerwin vega one you found on ebay. as far as specs go anything similar to the one you found should work. 100 to 200 watts is plenty for a subwoofer.

if you can find a used home theater sub amp like the cerwin vega one that will be the cheapest way to go since you have all the components you need in one unit.

 

Im trying to do the same thing and I have 2 12" Rockford fausgate 300w subs. (I bought them years ago and dont recall the rms, 150rms almost sound familiar)This all makes sense to me but I would need a bigger amp than 100-200 watt amp correct? If the RMS is indeed 150 then I would need a 300w amp correct? And since I would wire them in series I would only need a single channel amp right? My other question is, is it worth it? Ive had a few people tell me car subs sound terrible in a home theater setting. Is it really terrible or just not as good as one designed for home theater?

Thanks

 

i wouldn't say its horrible, but it is far from ideal. you have to remember that car subwoofers are designed to perform in a small environment, not a large room like home theatre systems. if you plan on using your 2 12 inch car subs them you should use a home stereo amplifier. a car amp is not practical because you would need a very large 12v transformer to power the amp. my suggestion is to go on ebay and get yourself an older stereo amplifier. wire your subs in series ( connect positive from sub one to negative on sub two, then connect negative to negative output on stereo and positive on sub two to positive output on stereo.) you will need a crossover, and you can get those online for about $20.

 

So something like this would be powerful enough to push my subs?
http://cgi.ebay.com/SUBWOOFER-AMPLI...in_0?hash=item3ca55eca52&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

Also, it says "Power output (RMS): 300W @ 4ohm, 200W @ 8ohm " in the specifications. So If I ran it in 4ohm mode I wouldn't need to run the speakers in series?

Thanks for your help its greatly appreciated.

 

yeah dude thats perfect. but you will still need to run your speakers in series, and this is why: since this sub amp has only one channel, if you hook the speakers in parallel (pos to pos and neg to neg on both speakers, then pos to pos on amp output and neg to neg on output.) the reason why this WON'T work is because by connecting two 4 ohm speakers in parallel, you are basically creating one speaker load of 2 ohms, which this amp cannot handle. but by connecting the speakers in series like i described earlier, you are creating one load of 8 ohms. you will still need to hook the speakers up in series and have an 8 ohm load to the amp...doing a parallel 2 ohm hook up will short out the amp and fry the components, because this amp is not desinged for 2 ohm loads, only 4 and 8. but don't worry dude, 200 watts RMS at 8 ohms should still be plenty of power to run the subs. i hope that makes since, if it doesn't let me know and i'll go into further detail.

the other reason this is a good fit is that since it is an amp designed for a home theatre sub is that it has a built in crossover so you don't need to get a separate one.

so this amp will work perfectly for you!

 

Awesome! That all makes sense. Thanks a ton for your help!

 

no problem. only other suggestion i have is to search around ebay a little more...i have seen other used ones for much cheaper. good luck

 

Hey I was gonna put 2 12" subwoofers with 3200 watts in my room. Im not the best at all this and i was wondering how i should do it. I was thinking about hookin the amp up to a car battery for power. if you see something bad bout to happen please let me know. (the only reason its goin in my room is so when i get a car i have a nice sound system to put in it) Please respond ASAP. Thanks!

 

I know this post is a little older, but what I strongly suggest you should do is sell your car stuff that you dont use, and buy a proper hometheater sub...I recently bought an SVS pc12-nsd and its f'in awesome. Shakes the house!

 

Yeah, I considered that. However, I wanted to put car subs in there so I could put them in my car once I got one. This would also shake the house ( 2 12" with 3200 watts).

 

You will need a sub amp for mains power, its not possible to use a power supply or battery for use all the time as there is just to much current draw.
My best bet would be to buy an amp from Jaycar Electronics, they sell the 600wrms subwoofer amps for $169US .
600wrms is at a 4ohm load though so if you have two 4ohm subs with single voice coils it wont be the best as in parralel the load is 2ohms and in series its 8ohm and although 8ohm's is ok for the amp you wont get most from the amp itself (maybe 300wrms).
If your subwoofers are dual 4ohm voice coils them wire them in series/parallel to get the 4ohm load to the amp which is perfect!

A subwoofer is a subwoofer, its the box that decides what it's purpose is for and yours will do just fine with a cubic foot each box.

I am running my Earthquake 12in magma off one coil (3.2ohm's each)in a 1.2cu/ft box with a passive radiator and the amp handles it fine with reference levels.
Long story short, buy a dedicated home theatre sub amp, they are cheap and for what you need put out enough power.

Hope this helps

 

a car subwoofer and amp setup is impractical for home use for several reasons.

first, car subs are designed to work efficiently in a small closed space (i.e. a car's interior, not a large room.) second, the power supply required to run a car sub amp would be enormous. you can't use a car battery...it would go dead in a few hours. if you run it off a power supply, it would require one that outputs a TON of wattage, it would be cheaper just to purchase a home theatre amp. third, home theatre systems generally run on 8 ohms. car systems run on 2 to 4 ohms, so it would be difficult to integrate car stereo parts with home stereo parts. don't run a 4 or 2 ohm sub on a home stereo amp that is designed for 8 ohms loads...thats a great way to fry the amp.

in the long run, just save your car stereo system for a CAR. you can purchase home stereo subs for pretty cheap these days.

 

Where do you get that a subwoofer that they sell for cars is only designed for cars alone? I think you have been severley missinformed or dont understand speaker design!
I dont know where you get your 8ohm thing for HT from but check the specs on most floor standing speaker towers and there either 6ohm or being of the more exotic brands 4ohm.
Also if you read the first line in my post that I did say he would need a mains powered sub amp
"You will need a sub amp for mains power, its not possible to use a power supply or battery for use all the time as there is just to much current draw."
Sorry if the first bit confused you but posting a link to the amp itself you would have realised this is a sub amp!
The sub amp is 4ohm stable so what drugs are you on champ???
I think you are the noob to anything stereo so be gone and stop quoting crap you dont understand...