car stereo to comp

[chris ladbrook]

is it possible to wire a car stereo e.g sub and amps to my comp

[Graeme*Kustom*]

no reason why not - amps just take a phono input so it's easy to wire that from your PC.

Only bit you gotta sort out is a 12v power source and (sometimes) an extra signal to the amp that lets it know the head unit is switched on... not sure of the voltage level on this though :(

[chris ladbrook]

then if i added a head unit to the equation can i attach it all inside my comp and if its a 12v can i use my stepdown transformer to convert my 240v to 12v... how could i attach my head unit to my comp .. i have a optical out on my sound card is this what i would need for my graphical equalizer on the head unit?

[Dg]

You could use car speakers, I assume u want a pc with a built in stereo, hence the talk of head units?

To connect a pc to a car head unit, you would need a head with a line in on it, and then take a lead from the line out on your sound card. Ive never come accross a head with an optical in, thou its possible on the more expensive models (£500+) that some do.

The only reason i would wnat to connect car speakers to a pc is to get the bass you just cant get from hifi, otherwise it would be far simpler to buy a half decent hifi or pc speaker system.

The problem with this is getting enough current to power a car amp: in my car I have blown a 30amp fuse on the subs a couple of times, P=IV, so this equates to 360w. The only supply I found that could push this much power was a car battery, however if you come up with a cheap way of getting 40A at 12v, let me know.


EDIT: Forgot to add, the trigger to turn the amp needs +12v, usually at ~50mA, so u can just bridge a wire of the +ve feed and put a switch on it. Alternativly some hifi preamps have trigger outs on them, such as the NAD C350, which I use to power a crossover and turn on my power amp.

[butch]

this was exaclty what i wanted to know!! can u hook up a car amp to a molex 12v maybee?:confused: i didnt know if a psu really had the power to power an amp, coz i have a car sub i wanted to hook up a car amp 4 the pc

[Dg]

you could, but the chances are the psu would trip the first time there was a long base note.

as i stated above, my car sub has blown a 30A fuse before, and the most powerful pc PSU (http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/product.php?view=1720&PHPSESSID=b0546abf41cfc95a54506f66508aa937) I have seen can only manage 18A.

It is possible you could take a pair of these power supplies, and wire the 12v outputs in parallel, thus getting 36A. However, Im not an electrical engineer and dont know if you can do this, everyone I have spoken to has said "maybe, or maybe not"

[butch]

hmmm, me thicks that it would work, but wouldent it give you 24 volts or is it my calculations going wrong again:confused:? graeme is good at all of this, ask him:D