audiophiles... EE's some ideas?

[magley64]

Hey guys, I have 4 large speakers that I'd like to drive.

they are large box speakers contiaining a large driver (2 are 15's, 2 are 12's) a midrange speaker, and a small tweeter.

I want good clarity, I want it loud, and I want to be able to drive it constantly loud (no overheating, frying circuits, etc) No regard for my hearing.

I had a 300w amplifier that came with the stereo, but somehow it got fried (it's 20 years old, so not really surprised) and I thnk it was only originally designed to drive 2 of the speakers (though it had connections for 4)

I'm having a hard time finding a 120 v amplifier with the kind of power I want to produce.

My experience is primarily car audio, so my mind went initially to this...

then in order to give this thing enough clean 12v power, I was thinking of a high end computer power supply like this..

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0290512

build a box, throw in some computer cooling fans for good measure.

anyone see any pitfalls I might run into with this?

anyone know of any good quality 120v amplifiers or recievers with 500 - 1000 watt 4 channel outputs?

Edited October 23, 2010 by magley64

[Disclaimer]

The biggest problem I see is that I can't find any "Air Guitar" Input port.

[alienpi]

I think there are many options to run these speakers. I would expect that they are probably 8-ohms and relatively efficient. I'd just look for a bargain home theater amplifier from NAD http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=NAT955.

[jporter12]

I think the car audio amp is not the way to go. What's the budget?

[rawlins87]

Home theatre amp or a pro sound amp is the way to go. Running a bench setup to run 12v is more hassle and probably cost more in the end.

As far as pro sound, check eBay or used guitars stores (I.e. music go round)

[jporter12]

Home theatre amp or a pro sound amp is the way to go. Running a bench setup to run 12v is more hassle and probably cost more in the end.

As far as pro sound, check eBay or used guitars stores (I.e. music go round)

Exactly what I was thinking!

[max power]

Those are going to kill the gas mileage of the Bird.

[magley64]

Those are going to kill the gas mileage of the Bird.

you said it brother. fonzies mock up is turning out to be a real hassle.

[magley64]

I think there are many options to run these speakers. I would expect that they are probably 8-ohms and relatively efficient. I'd just look for a bargain home theater amplifier from NAD http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=NAT955.

correct expectations as far as I can tell.

3 hesitations with this idea:

1. I don't recognize the brand

2. A little pricey

3. being 5 channel, if I only hook up 4 speakers would the uneven load damage this amp?

[magley64]

I think the car audio amp is not the way to go. What's the budget?

cheap as possible, that bench 12v will run under $300 for 800 watts of juice, and 600 watts of amplification. That would leave me a couple hundred watts to add a head unit to this setup, too easier to control volume, cd/mp3 input, aux input, and a radio tuner.

btw, this whole system is going in a garage.

Edited October 23, 2010 by magley64

[jporter12]

I don't think that 12v solution will work out as well as it sounds, unless there are others that have successfully powered high current amp with a PC power supply.

[Radio Flyer]

Go to Retag it or something like that and get a receiver. You should be able to find a decent 5.1 to power those speakers.

I only have 2 Klipsch powered by a 2 channel Onkyo and it rocks the whole house if I really need it to.

[rawlins87]

120v to 12v is pointless, unless its a stereo shop demoing head unit.....just saying..

http://columbus.craigslist.org/ele/1986610303.html

[magley64]

I don't think that 12v solution will work out as well as it sounds, unless there are others that have successfully powered high current amp with a PC power supply.

This is one of my concerns. By the numbers it should work out fine, as far as I can tell .

if I change gears and go with a 120 v system, what are the best brands?

[rawlins87]

Crown

EV

QSC isnt bad if your strapped for cash

Peavy isnt bad

Avoid Behringer, pyle.

Just like anything else, you get what you pay for.

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=245-650

Also review post #13

[magley64]

You should be able to find a decent 5.1 to power those speakers.

again, I've only got the 4 big speakers, if unevenly loaded, would the 5.1 system be damaged?

[jporter12]

again, I've only got the 4 big speakers, if unevenly loaded, would the 5.1 system be damaged?

Doubtful.

[rawlins87]

again, I've only got the 4 big speakers, if unevenly loaded, would the 5.1 system be damaged?

Unless you went below the systems minimum impedance, the only thing i could see if one channel would run hotter than the other.

[magley64]

thank you very much rawlins, you've been very helpful through this whole thread.

I think i'll be scanning ebay and CL for that crown 600, seems like an awesome unit.

[rawlins87]

Your welcome.

[Strictly Street]

Where to start…..

Going from 120v to 12v to use a car stereo amp in your garage is not a good idea. You will be converting one thing to another and be loosing power in the conversion. It can be done but there are built in problems with the idea for a high demand system.

Running an old car stereo through those used Jensen tri-axial speakers you got from the old chevy will work just fine. But that is not your design goal.

A 120v amplifier takes the 120 and splits it to two 60 volt rails and uses these to power the speakers at the final drive stage. This will give you the most total power to get to the speakers.

A 12v system does not split the voltage this way and instead tries to use amperage to make up for the loss of voltage swing (-60v to +60v) this will fry your little power converter in short order with high power use.

With that said, if you have 120 power available, use a 120 power amp. Good names have already been mentioned for that.

DO NOT WIRE YOUR SPEAKERS IN PARALEL!!! Unless the amp will handle it this is a fast way to let the smoke out of the amp.

However you could consider using a 12v supply to run a car stereo head end and wire it to the power amp. Just use the pre-out jacks on the car stereo to the input jacks on the amp. Maybe save a couple of bucks this way.

Edited October 24, 2010 by Strictly Street

[Strictly Street]

duplicate post deleted

[jporter12]

duplicate post deleted

Newbie.

Good advice from a good guy! I have "let the smoke out" of a couple amps in my time!

Magz, if you have your heart set on using a 12v solution, there are options. I would pick up a couple deep-cycle batteries, and a small charger for your power supply. You would want to turn off the charger when using the system, to prevent humming in the speakers.

[rawlins87]

Magz, if you have your heart set on using a 12v solution, there are options. I would pick up a couple deep-cycle batteries, and a small charger for your power supply. You would want to turn off the charger when using the system, to prevent humming in the speakers.

Even at that, you would have to have a HUGE battery bank to be able to play for 1+hrs. Then if an amp is rated at 300 watts rms, 99% that rated at 14.4 volts. His setup would float around 12-12.5volts. So a 300 watt amp now becomes a 250 watt amp.

So the whole setup might draw close to 30-40 amps. (They amp alone would draw 21amps if its 100% efficient, which its not)

So Yes on batteries it could be done, you would have more money in batteries than just buying a pro sound amp.

[jporter12]

Even at that, you would have to have a HUGE battery bank to be able to play for 1+hrs. Then if an amp is rated at 300 watts rms, 99% that rated at 14.4 volts. His setup would float around 12-12.5volts. So a 300 watt amp now becomes a 250 watt amp.

So the whole setup might draw close to 30-40 amps. (They amp alone would draw 21amps if its 100% efficient, which its not)

So Yes on batteries it could be done, you would have more money in batteries than just buying a pro sound amp.

Yeah, I wasn't thinking. I was comparing to system I had in my Camaro (that got ripped off) which had a class D amp for the subs, and a couple smaller amps for the mids and highs. I was around 1000 watts, and could run it for a couple hours easy, without starting the car, on a group 78 battery, which I think was 800-1000 cca's. I miss that system, it was crazy loud, and clear.