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Home Audio

what can i use to power car subwoofers in my home audio stereo?

i got into a car crash and everything was pretty much done for except for the subwoofers, the boxes they were in got kinda beat up though, and so i was wondering what i could use to power them so i could use them in my home audio stereo? i have a 150 watt receiver pushing 2 speakers already, so they is basically used up, and ideas on what i can use?

If your subs are passive (don't have a power amp built in) you'll need an amplifier rated at the same impediance (usually 4 ohms) as the subs and power (watts) of the subs.

You don't want to send the full range of frequencies to the subs as it will distort the cone (music is usually 20,000 hertz to 20 hertz, 20 hertz being the low or bass, 20,000 hertz the highs. these are also refered to as 20k to 20 hertz). subs will want to hear around 200 - 20 hertz.

Anyway, to filter out the high frequencies you'll need a "crossover." These can be active (powered) or passive and all they do is take the audio output and seperate it into highs and lows so that the high frequency signals can go to your regular speakers (they require less power) and the subs or bass speakers which are larger and require more power (bigger amps/more wattage) to move the cones. This is called biamping and is used to improve overall sound quality and efficiency.

Crossovers usually have an adjustment to set the crossover point (the cut off point at which the device sends either the highs thru mids to the standard speakers and the low frequencies to the subs). see the referred wiki

Now it's possible that your subs have filters in them already and that you can send them the full range of frequencies without damaging them.

It's also possible that they're powered sub speakers, meaning they already have amplifiers built in (but being car speakers they'll want 12volts dc instead of 110volts ac). (no worries, you can buy 12 volt power adapters/inverters, but make sure they're rated to handle the load-current requirements)

Lastly your home stereo has a switching circuit that allows you to switch between radio. cd, tape, aux, and (gasp) phonograph and sends the appropriatly selected signal to it's internal amplifier. You can't send speaker out of your home system to another amplifier (your new sub amp). The new amp will have way to much signal input and distort if not distroy anything hooked up to it due to "gain mismatch". You have to send "line level" to the new amp. Not to worry, this can usually be gotten by using the tape output (usually a set of rca jacks) to the input of the bass amp. The tape output is used to send signal to a tape deck and mirrors whatever output going to the speaker outputs but at line level.

one caveat, some subs have a built in circuit that allows you to hook up the left and right speaker outputs from your car stereo, and then does all the processing/seperating in the sub and has a seperate out put that you then hook your remaining speaker to.
Without knowing brands and models, I can't give you specific instructions only general information.

go forth and rock