Car Deck instead of an Amp

[THRobinson]

I'm pretty certain at this point in time that the TPA3116 amp board I bought off eBay (China) isn't coming.

I have a pair of Sony speakers from what looks like the left/right speakers of a surround setup, grabbed them for $3 at a garage sale because weighed way more than expected and sure enough, pretty solid built speakers with a big magnet and shielding etc. says 8Ohm on them. No wattage, but found them online and I think 30-60w.

Anyways... looked at the Lepai mini amps, not Lepy because from what I've read it's the same amp with cheaper parts (?)... and when looking of course car amps popped up in the search results.

I don't need 200w of power for an arcade cab, especially with speakers 2 feet from my face... so the output of your average car stereo would be just fine. And many have an AUX-IN on the rear.

Anyone have any experience using one in their cab?

I was going to use a 19v laptop power supply for the eBay amp, Lepai comes with an AC adapter, not sure how to power a car amp using what I have on hand... for budget's sake, I don't want to spend more than I have to. Time wise, I won't be buying anything from here-on-in from eBay China/HK either or this thing will never get built.

[Titchgamer]

I used a car amp in my MAME cab.
It works fine and runs happily of the PC's PSU but just a little warning from experience....

Make sure the volume knobs are set all the way down before you start it up else you risk rupturing a ear drum!!

[THRobinson]

Car AMP or a car DECK?

I've seen a few posts about using amps... one was very detailed, but a bit much, amp, capacitors, 360w of speakers etc...

I was thinking the actual deck/cd player from a car which is usually about 40-60w power per speaker, and maybe a pair of 3-way car speakers if the Sony's I have sound like poop.

PSU for the computer was going to be my next question. I have a 550w PSU... will run the PC as well as a pair of 120mm fans and going to connect the white LED strips to it for behind the sign... hoping enough power left to power a car deck. Not sure if would need a 2 farad capacitor in between maybe? That's where I'm totally ignorant... no idea.

[Titchgamer]

Ahh right no never used a cd deck just a 12v car amp :p

[barrymossel]

I'm pretty certain at this point in time that the TPA3116 amp board I bought off eBay (China) isn't coming.

I have a pair of Sony speakers from what looks like the left/right speakers of a surround setup, grabbed them for $3 at a garage sale because weighed way more than expected and sure enough, pretty solid built speakers with a big magnet and shielding etc. says 8Ohm on them. No wattage, but found them online and I think 30-60w.

Anyways... looked at the Lepai mini amps, not Lepy because from what I've read it's the same amp with cheaper parts (?)... and when looking of course car amps popped up in the search results.

I don't need 200w of power for an arcade cab, especially with speakers 2 feet from my face... so the output of your average car stereo would be just fine. And many have an AUX-IN on the rear.

Anyone have any experience using one in their cab?

I was going to use a 19v laptop power supply for the eBay amp, Lepai comes with an AC adapter, not sure how to power a car amp using what I have on hand... for budget's sake, I don't want to spend more than I have to. Time wise, I won't be buying anything from here-on-in from eBay China/HK either or this thing will never get built.

What would be the difference between a "car" amp and an amplifier like the TPA3116? They both run on 12(+)V, they both can drive probably 4-8Ohm speakers.

I have used multiple TPA3116 amplifier boards and some Lepai "car" amps and I totally prefer the TPA3116 boards. 3 out of 3 Lepai's broke down or didn't work anyway. These were Lepai LP-838 amps from China though.

Could you link the Lepai you were looking at? Probably 19V will work on that as well if you already have that power supply. They normally play better at higher voltages. By the way: 200 watt doesn't say anything actually as the wattage would depend on the voltage being fed to the amp as far as I know (and the impedance of the speakers).

[THRobinson]

Well, thing is, budget wise, I'd rather use what I have than buy something else... which is why I started looking at the car stereo because I have an extra one, and been debating replacing the one in my car which has been a great stereo but want something with USB (Sony XPLOD 54x4w).

Was looking at the laptop power supply, 19v but to make something to switch to 12v, well, too much work and by the time I get the parts I may as well buy something.

I was thinking though, my computer power supply. Has a 12V rail on it which I was going to use for the cab fans and white LEDs for the marquee. Using an online calculator to figure out what my system will use,

Computer system, 2 fans and 2.5M of LED lights = 246w load, recommended 296w PSU... gives me 254w to play with, because I have a 550w PSU.

That work?

I don't plan on anything like 500w of speakers blaring in my face, I have a pair of 8Ohm 30w speakers, if they sound bad I'll probably grab car speakers,

Kenwood KFC-1665S 60-Watt 6.5-Inch 2-Way - $33/pair
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00HZVHA1E/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=QGFCW1CXG2SH&coliid=ID7SGW6KB59QH

or would like these buy price goes up a fair bit

Dayton PS95-8 - $33/each
https://solen.ca/products/speakers/home-speakers/fullranges/ps95-8/

The Lepai I was looking at, can get the Lepy copies off eBay cheap, but I'm done with ordering overseas, else be the Fall when stuff arrives
https://solen.ca/products/electronics/amplifiers/lp2020ti/

[pbj]

I tried it once with a Sony car stereo hooked up to a switching power supply.  It was barely enough power to get the stereo to come on and wasn't very loud.  I had routed out a board and taken photos and was all ready to start a project thread, but it was so disappointing I just abandoned it - I was going to route the MAME sound through the aux input.

I suspect it's going to take a rather powerful and heat producing power supply to get any acceptable performance of one, and at that point, you're probably much better off using computer speakers.

 

[THRobinson]

Looking online I've seen everything from a car stereo needing 2A to 20A.... few posts about grabbing a 12v5A DC adapter off eBay, some saying to get a 12v20A switching PSU, even found a DIY hooking up to the computer PSU which is why I am curious.

One of those things where, yes, an amp would work and fairly cheap, bought a $12CAD one off eBay that runs off a 19v laptop power supply which I have, but again, been about 2 months and still a no-show. I'd order another amp from somewhere else, but, I'd rather re-use something if I already own it than buy something else, which is why I was hoping car stereos were a bit more commonly used and had good results.

Only time I see real detailed info is when someone goes really big with it... big PSU, capacitors, 1000w amp, car deck, 500+w speakers and a sub which at that point most of the information becomes non-relevant to me.

[Barry Barcrest]

I have used car amp and speakers for jukebox builds running the amp off the PC power supply. The only issue I have had with this was that hard drive activity was audible through the speakers. I think this was down to using a crappy psu that wasn't up to the task really as I only had the issue on the first build.

[THRobinson]

I have used car amp and speakers for jukebox builds running the amp off the PC power supply. The only issue I have had with this was that hard drive activity was audible through the speakers. I think this was down to using a crappy psu that wasn't up to the task really as I only had the issue on the first build.

Car amp? or deck? I'm just looking to power the deck with the 52Wx4 power it (supposedly) produces per speaker.

[lilshawn]

it would have to be a pretty small amp. otherwise you will need PILES of power to get it going. even a small REAL 250 watt 2 channel amp is going to need 15 to 20 amps (or more) amps of juice to operate. an SMPS supply capable of powering that is going to be about as much as the amp itself.

you also have to realize these small lepai style amps that SAY 200 watts aren't anywhere near 200 watts. (more like 25 watts)

[THRobinson]

Well, like I said, more interested in a Car Stereo Deck... because I have an extra one. Like the title says, car deck instead of an amp.

Looking at the manual for a similar model (because forget the model number for mine) I think a computer PSU will work fine.

I have 260w extra from my PSU to play with, specs says 45w power consumption... leaves me 215w which is a good sized buffer. My speakers say 8ohm, when I used the multimeter to check them out they read at 6ohm, still, between 4-8ohm 30w RMS. If they sound poor, I'll probably grab a pair of 2-way 4" 4ohm like Kenwoods or something.

I have a similar deck in the car now, no extra amps or anything else connected, replaced the factory speakers with entry level Sony Xplod's and it's plenty loud and I think it sounds great. If I go beyond 50% for the volume it's way too loud to listen to comfortably.

Based on the below specs... it should work fine right? am I missing something?

Again... CD STEREO DECK ONLY.... NOT AN AMP...

Amplifier Section
Speaker Impedance: 4-8 Ohms
Max power output: 52 watts x 4 at 4 ohms

Power
Power Consumption (in Operation): 45W
Output Power: 52W x4 High Power - 17 watts per channel minimum continuous average power into 4 Ohms, 4 channels driven from 20 Hz to 20 kHz with no more than 5% total harmonic distortion.
Current Drain: 3 - 5 amps
Input Power: 12 V DC car battery (negative ground (earth))
Input Voltage: 12 V DC car battery (negative ground)

[lilshawn]

260 watts all rails combined though. you need to look at your individual rails.

also take in account that power supply maximum is rarely ever achieved in lower tier power supplies and also should be derated as temperature increases.

a 250 watt power supply after 50 degrees C should be derated about 20% and down to as low as 50% at 75 degrees C... i mean, run it at 100% load still if you want but your power supply components life will be greatly reduced.

a CD deck will usually require ~7 amps at full load (which is about 85 watts) the 45 watt spec is likely just running idle with nothing playing. or with a specific set of ideal testing criteria. really just hook it up in line with your voltohmmeter  and read the actual draw.

also to consider, many power supplies only regulate the 3,3 volt rail. did you want a wildly fluctuating 12 rail powering your computer? Your CPU uses a dedicated 12 volt rail to produce your Vcore and whatnot. when playing sound, your deck is going to be plotzing your 12v load all over. it might end up with chronic crashing issues.

it may be better to power this unit with a small 12 volt power brick if you can find one that puts out 5 or 6 amps if you don't plan on cranking the volume.

[lilshawn]

sorry, i'm not meaning to put your idea down or anything... just want to let you know what to possibly expect.

[JDFan]

Why not just go to Walmart and pick up a cheap set of Logitech PC speakers - Like these s120's for $9.49 ( https://www.walmart.com/ip/Logitech-S120-Desktop-Speaker-System-Black/12321679 )- even if your local store doesn't have them in stock they have free ship to store for pick up at the store within four  days.

They come complete with everything you need including the amp board and like you say you don't need 200W of power for an arcade cabinet !

[THRobinson]

sorry, i'm not meaning to put your idea down or anything... just want to let you know what to possibly expect.

No worries... I simply don't know if it will/won't and normally, I'd just try it and see what happens, but, for something like this, I don't want to ruin a totally ok CD Deck or blow the speakers.

I know that a PSU can power the deck just fine, many YouTube vids proving that, but as mentioned, it's a PSU + DECK and nothing else attached at all. I'd hate to be the first to test it out with a PC attached as well and fry the board/cpu especially since I just got them a few weeks ago.

Ideally, that eBay amp (TPA3116 no case) shows up, but given past experience I'll launch a case with eBay and the seller, they'll have me wait an extra week, they'll issue a refund, and a month later it might show up. In cases where it does I'm ahead because got a refund and the item, but, it's annoying if I already went out and bought something else.

July 26th will be 52 days, but eBay won't let me launch a complaint until the estimated arrival time has passed, use to be able to launch a complaint anytime up until day 45, but guess that changed.

Failing that I'll get the Lepai amp probably, or saw a review on a Breeze TPA3116 amp that seemed ok, though in the review he had 2 of the same amp, one had 25v caps and the other 35v, put a 24v supply on and caps in the one blew immediately so, although I plan to use the 19v laptop PSU, whatever I get I'll probably recap the power input caps to Rubicon/Nichicon 35v caps to be safe.

[Barry Barcrest]

it would have to be a pretty small amp. otherwise you will need PILES of power to get it going. even a small REAL 250 watt 2 channel amp is going to need 15 to 20 amps (or more) amps of juice to operate. an SMPS supply capable of powering that is going to be about as much as the amp itself.

you also have to realize these small lepai style amps that SAY 200 watts aren't anywhere near 200 watts. (more like 25 watts)

What do you mean by lots of juice? You can pick up a 500w for less than £20. It depends on what you are running PC wise as well I guess but a normal PC using onboard graphics and audio and an SSD for the boot drive have always been fine for me. For the media I always go with an external USB drive which has it's own power.

[lilshawn]

you realize a 20 buck amp is not actually going to put out 500 watts right?

...

right?

[THRobinson]

Maybe a typo and he meant 50w