Shielding or Power Supply Issue?

[commandcom]

The sound system in my cabinet runs from a PC power supply, though one of these amps:

http://mach5products.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=Amp1

and into a pair of Sony Xplod 5x7 car speakers.

The sound is horrible.

[digitaldj]

I would venture to guess that your about maximum on your computer power supply. I myself would never run a audio amp from the computer power supply.

I would try hooking the amp to a seperate power supply as one of the first things to try. If you know how to check current draw with a multimeter you can check the amp and see the current draw. Usually when audio is really distorted there could be a few things going on, 1 as mentioned before power supply issues, 2 what you are driving the amp with and is it over driving(audio from the computer), 3 proper impedance on the amp from the speakers typically 4 or 8 ohms for todays amps. You can also check the voltage across the amp supply connections and see if your voltage is low when audio is playing!

Also make sure you are hooking up all connections for your left and right audio including the ground wires.

There could also be a issue of what is actually coming out of the computer, this may be your whole problem. Maybe run the audio to another amp like your home stereo and try that also.

Let Me Know What You Find!
Kevin

[commandcom]

What I'm going to do is just ditch the PC amp, get a cheap car amp and a 15A power converter.  I bought this amp off of e-bay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5800152096

I wouldn't use something like this in my car, but 30 watts per channel should be plenty for a cabinet.