# How to connect car sub to pc???



## Dilz (Jun 28, 2008)

Hey everyone i am new here and id just like to thank everyone who has come here to read my post and try help me.

Heres my situation... i have a 5.1 creavitce system and a 7.1 soundcard. My sounds system on the pc at the moment is Creative Insire A500.

My friend has managed to hood up a 1200watt car sub to his stereo to his laptop and i though i will try do soemthing similar myself as most of my mates know alot about cars and wiring subs and so and i know very little.

I had some spare cash and i purchased a: Mutant MT-1205 - 12" Subwoofer of the net. It came through today







but i have no wiring and do not know how to connect it to my pc. Is this possible? someone told me to get a amp but thats out my price range i think.

Heres the specs on the sub:

12" (300mm) IMPP Cone with Rubber Edge
50oz Magnet
2" Heat Resistant Kaptop Voice Coil
Input Powe: 120W RMS / 250W MAX
Frequency Responce: 25Hz - 2KHz
Impedance: 4 Ohms
Sensitivity: 90dB
Gold Plated Round Terminal for Quick Connection

I hope there is some way to do this as i am trying to do a little project for myself, i will probs not use this sub to the max but i just want to wire this and see it work







will be an achievement for me.

My mate recommended to try a: 5M RCA PHONO SPEAKER WIRE EXTENSION CABLE 5.1 PC LEAD. He is not sure but he said i should try wire it up with that to my creative system. He said he will order me one.

I hope you have enough information there to help me out. Please give me a decent answer, i dont want you to tell me to hook it straight to my pc if it can be dangerous or damage my pc as it is werth alot more then the sub.

Thanks alot, hope i get some replies for what to do and what wiring my be needed.









With regards,
Dilz


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## kiwiguy (Aug 17, 2003)

The Sub will have an impedance around 2 - 4 Ohms, it needs a Sub amp. 

That sub amp needs a really beefy 12v supply (20 amps or so) that you might be able to use a spare Computer Power Supply for, suitably modified to run with no 5v load.


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## Dilz (Jun 28, 2008)

The impedance on the sub is 4Ohms. Correct me if i am wrong but what your saying is buy a sub amp and then modify a CPS to power the amp?

I may have a spare power supply but how much will this car amp cost me exactly? is there a cheaper way around this?


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## kiwiguy (Aug 17, 2003)

You need a sub amp to drive the 4 Ohm speaker. No way round it.

You need a very meaty AC Mains to 12v supply to power the sub, typically 20 anps at 12v, fully regulated. No way round that.

It will not be cheap.


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## cwwozniak (Nov 29, 2005)

You could consider getting a home stereo amplifier whose outputs can be bridged for a higher power mono output to the sub-woofer. They are directly powered from the AC mains. They will not be cheap either.


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## Soundy (Feb 17, 2006)

Dilz said:


> My friend has managed to hood up a 1200watt car sub to his stereo to his laptop and i though i will try do soemthing similar myself as most of my mates know alot about cars and wiring subs and so and i know very little.
> 
> I had some spare cash and i purchased a: Mutant MT-1205 - 12" Subwoofer of the net. It came through today
> 
> ...


This will ONLY work with an amp for the sub. You could wire it directly to the output of your sound card but you'll get barely a squeak out of it.



> I hope there is some way to do this as i am trying to do a little project for myself, i will probs not use this sub to the max but i just want to wire this and see it work
> 
> 
> 
> ...


To just do it "as a project" is fine, but realize that it's going to cost you more than just the sub - as others have noted, it will need an amp, and if it's a car-audio amp, that will need a power supply.



> My mate recommended to try a: 5M RCA PHONO SPEAKER WIRE EXTENSION CABLE 5.1 PC LEAD. He is not sure but he said i should try wire it up with that to my creative system. He said he will order me one.


You'll want a "stereo headphone to RCA" cable, like this one:









However, typically, one jack on your sound card will output sub audio on one channel, and center channel on the other, so in order to plug this in, you'll be losing your center channel... unless you add a headphone splitter cable.



> I hope you have enough information there to help me out. Please give me a decent answer, i dont want you to tell me to hook it straight to my pc if it can be dangerous or damage my pc as it is werth alot more then the sub.


Frankly, your "spare cash" would have been better spent on a basic home-theater sub, which will already have a built-in amp. However, since you're making a project out of this...



Dilz said:


> The impedance on the sub is 4Ohms. Correct me if i am wrong but what your saying is buy a sub amp and then modify a CPS to power the amp?
> 
> I may have a spare power supply but how much will this car amp cost me exactly? is there a cheaper way around this?


Here's the rub: you can find cheap car amps around, claiming to output hundreds of watts, but they don't really. In order to properly drive that sub, you'll want an amp that produces AT LEAST 150 *real* watts. For that, you're probably looking at minimum $100 (I guess that would be around £50), and even that would be bottom-of-the-barrel. You also want to make sure it has a built-in sub crossover.



kiwiguy said:


> You need a sub amp to drive the 4 Ohm speaker. No way round it.
> 
> You need a very meaty AC Mains to 12v supply to power the sub, typically 20 anps at 12v, fully regulated. No way round that.
> 
> It will not be cheap.


That doesn't require a "meaty AC mains" though - assuming no losses, [email protected] is only going to draw about 2A at 120VAC, or 1A at 240VAC (since the OP is in the UK).

For a basic project, you can use an old car battery to power the amp, and put a cheap charger on it to keep it charged. It's not pretty and not a long-term solution if you're going to keep it as a permanent installation, but it'll do for a "project".



cwwozniak said:


> You could consider getting a home stereo amplifier whose outputs can be bridged for a higher power mono output to the sub-woofer. They are directly powered from the AC mains. They will not be cheap either.


Actually, a home amp may be overkill and over-fancy. A PA/live-sound rental shop could probably sell you a smaller PA amp that can run bridged into 4 ohms for cheap. Most of these are designed to at least run 8 ohms in stereo and will handle 4 ohm bridged easily. Better ones can run 4 ohm stereo/2 ohms bridged.

One final consideration: if it's not in an enclosure, then you'll need one of those to mount the sub in as well, or you'll get NO bass out of it. You can buy them pre-made, probably starting at another $25-$30, or build one yourself. MDF (medium-density fiberboard) is the preferred building material for these, at least 3/4" thick. Plans abound on the 'net.


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