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Car Speakers with PC audio amp?
PileOfMonkeyCrap:
The simple is to use a car amp to power car speakers. You'll also just need an AT power supply to supply the 12v power to the amp. Make a simple wiring harness from a PC harddrive/CD drive "Y" power cable and you can also use any 12v or 5v auto accessories.
The picture below shows a custom marquee with 2 Sony Xplod car speakers, a 200w car amp mounted in the middle and a 5v car alarm scanner (ala Kight Rider) mounted beneath them. All is powered by a 300w AT PS and 1 custom wiring harness.
You'll get the best sound and loudest sound with no distortion. Additionally, since the amp has subwoofer connections, there is a car tube subwoofer inside the cab to provide earth shaking bass.
All audio connections (TV, Dreamcast, PC, etc) pass thru the New-Q PC equalizer installed in the PC. This came with a remote and FM tuner. So all sound can be controlled via the remote, which is great when using the cab for a jukebox, watching music videos, TV or DVDs.
Rick
--- Quote from: kevsteele on October 01, 2003, 03:38:53 pm ---I've got a question about using car speakers with a PC amp unit.
I'm not an audio expert, but I did get lucky with my first cab, as I simply took a cheap PC speaker set (Creative Inspire 2.1), and just spliced my existing 6" arcade speakers in as the satellite speakers. Everything worked great.
This time, I thought I'd go the same route, but instead bought some car speakers since I didn't have any original arcade speakers. I spliced the car speakers in, and got nothing this time except for some buzzing.
I suspect it's just a power level issue, as the Creative amp is only rated for 6 watts RMS per satellite, and the car speakers are 35 watts (160 watts max). Pretty big difference. Both the car and PC speakers were 4 ohms impedence, so I've got a match there. I've also checked the polarity for the wires.
Do I just need more "oomph" to drive the speakers? Would a car amp be a better solution, or a more powerful PC 2.1 speaker set? Any other route to take?
The goal here is to find some nice 5" speakers that would fit into the new cab. I'm not too picky on how they're driven, but it would be nice to have some sort of volume control pod (like I currently have with the Create 2.1 speakers).
Any ideas?
Kevin
--- End quote ---
MaximRecoil:
--- Quote from: PileOfMonkeyCrap on October 07, 2003, 10:10:40 am ---The simple is to use a car amp to power car speakers. You'll also just need an AT power supply to supply the 12v power to the amp. Make a simple wiring harness from a PC harddrive/CD drive "Y" power cable and you can also use any 12v or 5v auto accessories.
The picture below shows a custom marquee with 2 Sony Xplod car speakers, a 200w car amp mounted in the middle and a 5v car alarm scanner (ala Kight Rider) mounted beneath them. All is powered by a 300w AT PS and 1 custom wiring harness.
You'll get the best sound and loudest sound with no distortion. Additionally, since the amp has subwoofer connections, there is a car tube subwoofer inside the cab to provide earth shaking bass.
--- End quote ---
PC power supplies = a make-do solution, not the best choice. They are not designed for the demands of a car amp with any power. Plus they only put out 12v and a typical car amp has an unregulated (or loosely regulated) power supply and if you only put in 12v you won't get much out of them. What kind of "200 watt" amp are you talking about anyway? A typical amp that claims to be "200 watts" has an interesting way of achieving that figure. First they rate it with a 14.4v input (that makes a huge difference). There are precious few car electrical systems that can supply 14.4v, much less a PC power supply. Second, this is typically a 2 ohm stereo rating or 4 ohm bridged assuming a 2 channel amp.
So what are you going to get realistically from a "200 watt" car amp with a 12v input and a 4 ohm stereo load (such as would be the case with a pair of Sony coaxials)? First you can cut the power in half for the fact that you are running it at 4 ohms instead of 2. Now it is a 100 watt amp. Cut it in half again because of the ridiculously low 12v input from the PC power supply (a typical car electrical system will supply about 13.5v) and now you have a 50 watt amp.
Also, a "tube subwoofer" could in no way be described as "earth shaking bass" in any application. And...is this subwoofer powered or is it drawing off that "200 watt" amp?
Now, an awesome sound system could certainly be set up in (or around) an arcade cab using car audio equipment but a high quality 200 ampere (big $$$) inverter that will supply 14.4v would be a minimum IMO. Then you would need a 1000 watt amp for your mids and highs (best way would be a pair of 500w x 1 @ 4 ohms amps) and then at least a 1000 watt amp for your sub(s). To really make bass in a large area such as a room in a house (which doesn't have the bass reinforcement qualities of a small area like a car) you would want at least a high quality 15" driver.
I wouldn't have brought all of this up but your terminology to describe that setup ("You'll get the best sound and loudest sound with no distortion...there is a car tube subwoofer inside the cab to provide earth shaking bass.") is not really accurate.
PileOfMonkeyCrap:
I've used AT power supplies to power stereo systems in several cabs. The main reason is the price : free - $20. I'm sure there are "better" solutions, but my ears can't tell the difference. As long as there's no liss, distortion or muddy bass, then I'm good to go. Besides, an original arcade game usually had a rinky dinky speaker for the sound...so my setup blows that away for game playing. Of course the amp states "200w" but we all know those are exaggerated to seem more powerful than the next amp. Just a consumer marketing ploy.
A tube subwoofer certainly is awesome in an arcade cabinet and for music, videos and DVDs. As with any application, money can't be spent & spent & spent. But I'm not vying for a Motor Trend award winning car stereo system, nor am I'm vying to have an audiophile's wet dream in my cabinet.
I was going for a futuristic, original and unique look and also kick ass sound. My ears, eyes & customers tell me that I was successful.
Rick
--- Quote from: maxim_recoil on October 07, 2003, 01:16:12 pm ---
--- Quote from: PileOfMonkeyCrap on October 07, 2003, 10:10:40 am ---The simple is to use a car amp to power car speakers. You'll also just need an AT power supply to supply the 12v power to the amp. Make a simple wiring harness from a PC harddrive/CD drive "Y" power cable and you can also use any 12v or 5v auto accessories.
The picture below shows a custom marquee with 2 Sony Xplod car speakers, a 200w car amp mounted in the middle and a 5v car alarm scanner (ala Kight Rider) mounted beneath them. All is powered by a 300w AT PS and 1 custom wiring harness.
You'll get the best sound and loudest sound with no distortion. Additionally, since the amp has subwoofer connections, there is a car tube subwoofer inside the cab to provide earth shaking bass.
--- End quote ---
PC power supplies = a make-do solution, not the best choice. They are not designed for the demands of a car amp with any power. Plus they only put out 12v and a typical car amp has an unregulated (or loosely regulated) power supply and if you only put in 12v you won't get much out of them. What kind of "200 watt" amp are you talking about anyway? A typical amp that claims to be "200 watts" has an interesting way of achieving that figure. First they rate it with a 14.4v input (that makes a huge difference). There are precious few car electrical systems that can supply 14.4v, much less a PC power supply. Second, this is typically a 2 ohm stereo rating or 4 ohm bridged assuming a 2 channel amp.
So what are you going to get realistically from a "200 watt" car amp with a 12v input and a 4 ohm stereo load (such as would be the case with a pair of Sony coaxials)? First you can cut the power in half for the fact that you are running it at 4 ohms instead of 2. Now it is a 100 watt amp. Cut it in half again because of the ridiculously low 12v input from the PC power supply (a typical car electrical system will supply about 13.5v) and now you have a 50 watt amp.
Also, a "tube subwoofer" could in no way be described as "earth shaking bass" in any application. And...is this subwoofer powered or is it drawing off that "200 watt" amp?
Now, an awesome sound system could certainly be set up in (or around) an arcade cab using car audio equipment but a high quality 200 ampere (big $$$) inverter that will supply 14.4v would be a minimum IMO. Then you would need a 1000 watt amp for your mids and highs (best way would be a pair of 500w x 1 @ 4 ohms amps) and then at least a 1000 watt amp for your sub(s). To really make bass in a large area such as a room in a house (which doesn't have the bass reinforcement qualities of a small area like a car) you would want at least a high quality 15" driver.
I wouldn't have brought all of this up but your terminology to describe that setup ("You'll get the best sound and loudest sound with no distortion...there is a car tube subwoofer inside the cab to provide earth shaking bass.") is not really accurate.
--- End quote ---
PileOfMonkeyCrap:
Sounds like you're using Sony Xplod speakers as well? I didn't have any magnetic interference at all either, and I was using a TV.
I have the speakers backlit just from the florescent light ($12 Home Depot) that I installed. The red cones do look very cool backlit.
Rick
--- Quote from: kevsteele on October 02, 2003, 12:50:22 pm ---SS427:
I don't have any obvious magnetic interference with the D9200 monitor, so I'm assuming I don't need cancellation magnets.
Sound is great from the car speakers I bought, and as a bonus the cones on the speakers are a translucent red plastic -- I'm already working out ways to illuminate them from behind! ;)
Kevin
--- End quote ---
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