Tell me if this is possible.

[Heller]

So a buddy of mine was telling me, since he wanted to invest into some car audio but only had 6 months left on his lease, that he did this, but i was not sure if it was possible.

He used a sub he had sitting in is garage from his old computer setup.

http://www.extremetech.com/art.../0,1697,1126462,00.asp

then used a power inverter and somehow he got the sub to play nicely with his car's stock radio and it worked.

is it possible to hook that up? if so? how the hell did he do that?

 

[Doodoo]

somehow he has to get an output from his stereo into the sub...maybe he tapped into the speaker wires and then used a converter to get the signal through?

 

[Hyperlite]

well i'm sure there is a way to make it work, and i guess if you really didin't care if it sounded like garbage and just wanted some low end for the last six months of your lease, and didn't care if it looked like crap, and found a way to tap the signal without tearing your car apart...well then yeah, sure why not.

 

[jtvang125]

Most of these computer speakers use 3.5mm headphone jacks as the input. So if the stock stereo has a 3.5mm aux port then all you have to do is connect the jack to this port. Run an inverter to supply power to the sub and that's it. No cutting or splicing.

 

[Doodoo]

i don't see too many stock stereos with a 3.5 mm aux output...most have an input.

 

[nakedfrog]

Is it possible? Yes. Is it a good idea? Probably not.
My friend had a cheap POS Oldsmobile that he ripped the back seat out of and put his old Cerwin Vega floorstanders in, and his old Bose speakers up front.

 

[themisfit610]

ROFL... that's an epic win...

You can get a speaker level to line level adapter, but the sound quality is so so. It's fine for a sub though.

If you had an inverter strong enough, you could hook up a multimedia speaker set in your car. It's pretty brutally ghetto, but it could work...

~MiSfit

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Definitely possible. In fact, I've been doing it for four years. First two years were with a Logitech Z-2200 sub. Then I upgraded and used a Logitech Z-5500 sub for the next two years. They've been through freezing cold to uncomfortable heat and literally 20,000 miles in the car. When I'm at home, I use them with my computer. When I go on a road trip I take them with me and the sub pounds along the whole entire way.

Simply get a ~200+ watt power inverter that hooks directly to the battery through the firewall. This powers the sub, and the audio input is just your standard 3.5mm jack. For the first two years I simply used a headphone splitter with my MP3 player. Signal goes out from MP3 player, gets split, one half goes to sub, one half goes to the car's head unit. I've since upgraded my head unit to one with an AUX in and a Sub Out. So signal goes out from the player, goes into the head unit via the AUX port, head unit filters the mids and highs to the regular car speakers, and filters the lows out the Sub Out into the sub's 3.5mm input jack. The amount of bass output can be controlled by the head unit and by the Logitech control console.

Does it work? I think it works very well. You're not going to get the super strong vibrating back massage of a real car sub, but these will definitely add some extra dimension and punch to the music. When cranked it will absolutely envelope you in deep bass and vibrations. While playing my side view and rear view mirrors will vibrate. The audio is also very clear. Definitely no where close to anything like distortion.

I did it because it was economical and practical. I already have a sub around, so might as well use it when I'm on the road. The inverter that I bought can also power other accessories like laptops and battery chargers. And when I'm at home, I use the sub in my room which frees up space in my trunk.

People have told me that using computer subs in cars is dangerous because computer subs aren't designed to sit inside a car trunk that can potentially get very hot and make the sub catch on fire. But based on my personal experience this has never been an issue. The Logitechs have excellent heatsinks and I've never felt them get anywhere close to hot.

 

[Heller]

Well, if it works well like you said, i might have to give it a try in my 05 passat.

now i need to find some detailed instructions, because their is no aux out in the head unit.

 

[Heller]

Bump, i have a 250w inverter and a spare sub, I'd like to try this out just for curiosity.. im a real audio and car n00b though, would this be reasonably difficult?

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

What's the RMS wattage of your sub (not PMPO or Peak)? If it's anywhere above 80W, you need an inverter that hooks directly to the car battery. Inverters with lesser wattage go through the cigarette lighter adapter which limits the watts that you can pull. If you tried to run a powerful sub through an inverter attached to the cigarette lighter it'd be severely underpowered and I guess maybe even blow out a fuse.

The most difficult part will be attaching the inverter to the car battery. You have to attach the two wires to the battery and then run the wires through the firewall into the driver/passenger compartment. Depending on how your firewall is designed, this can be a bitch or it can be really easy. There are already wires that run from the engine compartment to the passenger cabin through existing holes in the firewall, so if you can squeeze the inverter wires through these existing holes into your cabin you will be golden. Usually these are surrounded by a rubber grommet to seal the opening from moisture and stuff. When I did mine it was really hard because Toyota rubber grommets are very inflexible and had a very hard time pushing just two extra wires through them. If you really can't get your wires through existing grommets, you may have to find some other openings like along your door or even make your own by drilling a small hole through the firewall.

http://fuzzybabybunny.smugmug....hotos/249910196-X3.jpg

After your inverter is hooked up via its directions, everything else is incredibly simple. Just like hooking up your audio system at home.

If there is no AUX in your head unit:

If it has a cassette player, you can get a 3.5mm plug to cassette adapter from someplace like Radio Shack or Walmart. One end plugs into your MP3 player and another goes to the cassette.

If it doesn't have a cassette player, you could always use one of these FM adapter things that broadcasts your MP3 player signal as FM signals. Prepare for a reduction in quality.

Get a cheap head unit with an AUX port - and maybe even a Sub Out?

 

[Black88GTA]

Some multimedia sets you probably wouldn't even need an inverter. For example, my oldish Boston Acoustics set takes +12v from the wall adapter. If I were to use an inverter with mine in the car, I'd be going [car +12vdc] --> [inverter +115vac] --> [speaker adapter +12vdc] --> sub, which just seems really inefficient. If this is the case, you should (in theory) be able to just get some wire + matching power plug for your sub from Rat Shack and wire it straight into your battery. Problem with this is, you'd have to remember to unplug it each time you parked.

There is a switched lead going into the back of the stereo (the red one) which would allow the sub to turn on and off with the ignition switch...but I wouldn't run the whole thing straight off of it, as it is not designed to run all of that extra current through it (and you would almost certainly blow fuses). If you knew a bit about rigging up relays and such, you'd probably be able to use the power antenna / remote lead (the blue one on most decks) in conjunction with a relay to turn the setup on and off with the switch.

MAKE SURE you pay proper attention to plug polarity (going into the sub) and also be sure to put an inline fuse in the "hot" wire. Never have unfused connections to the battery for any reason.

Easiest way to get sound out would be to have an aux out on your deck. You can get cables that have RCAs on one end (connection to most aftermarket and some factory decks) that terminate in a single 3.5mm phono plug, which would connect to the sub. No crossover needed, since all of that circuitry is built into the multimedia speakers already.

Failing that, I guess you could get a line-output converter and tap into the rear speaker leads either behind the stereo or in the trunk, depending on accessibility. These tend to introduce interference though, and would probably be more hassle than it is worth and end up sounding like crap.

DISCLAIMER: I've never tried any of this and never plan to. I'm just sort of rambling to myself and writing stuff down. So I'm not responsible if you try any of this and cause carnage

And this is completely fucking ghetto

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Originally posted by: Black88GTA
MAKE SURE you pay proper attention to plug polarity (going into the sub) and also be sure to put an inline fuse in the "hot" wire. Never have unfused connections to the battery for any reason.

And this is completely fucking ghetto

Definitely.

 

[Heller]

Ok, i think i have everything now.

I have this on the back of my sub,

Pic 1

Pic 2

I have this cable

http://www.monoprice.com/produ...id=2752&seq=1&format=2

and i have a power converter (dc>ac)

I also have this

http://www.monoprice.com/produ...id=3519&seq=1&format=2

what do i need to do now?

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

You also need this:

http://www.radioshack.com/prod...io+y&parentPage=search

You must have an inverter with cables that can hook directly to the battery. Many 200W+ inverters include these cables, where one end is an eyelet that gets screwed into the inverter and the other end is one of those "crocodile jaw" kind of clamps that clamps down on the battery terminal.

After you get these, just follow what I posted above.

 

[Heller]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
You also need this:

http://www.radioshack.com/prod...io+y&parentPage=search

You must have an inverter with cables that can hook directly to the battery. Many 200W+ inverters include these cables, where one end is an eyelet that gets screwed into the inverter and the other end is one of those "crocodile jaw" kind of clamps that clamps down on the battery terminal.

After you get these, just follow what I posted above.

i have the splitters as well,

Im not following you on the last part, my inveter is like this,
http://www.walmart.com/catalog....do?product_id=7754366

this will be ok?

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

First off, what kind of sub do you have? What's the name and brand, and how many watts RMS does it pump?

As for your inverter... any idea what continuous wattage it's rated at? It looks like it can handle a peak of 150W, but that's just that, a momentary peak of 150W. What's the wattage that it can output continuously?

 

[Heller]

http://www.extremetech.com/art.../0,1697,1126462,00.asp

thats the sub.

also i just wanted to say i appreciate all the help fuzzy

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

You're welcome

Ok, looks like your sub is 150W RMS. In this case, the inverter that you have right now will NOT work. That is simply too much wattage for your cigarette lighter to handle, and too much wattage for your 150W inverter to continuously pump out.

Something like this would work:

http://www.cobra.com/index.cfm...t_ID=323&category_ID=6

See how it includes the cables for directly connecting to the car battery?

 

[alkemyst]

I am not sure what you dudes are trying to accomplish but a regular powered sub or even an amp/sub combo would be less work and sound better than any of these deals. Not to mention a car sub enclosure is often made better than one designed to be under a desk.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Originally posted by: alkemyst
I am not sure what you dudes are trying to accomplish but a regular powered sub or even an amp/sub combo would be less work and sound better than any of these deals. Not to mention a car sub enclosure is often made better than one designed to be under a desk.

All we're trying to accomplish is power a desktop subwoofer with a car inverter. That's it.

This ghetto setup compared to a "proper" setup is:

1. Cheaper (we already have the sub lying around, all we have to provide is an inverter, which is useful for other things as well, not just for powering the sub.) I think all cars should have inverters anyway as standard equipment.

2. More Practical and Multi-tasks existing equipment: When we're out of the house for extended periods of time traveling by car, instead of having the sub just sit around in an empty house we can use it. If we don't need the sub in the car, we can free up space in the trunk by taking it out and instead of having it sit around the house doing nothing, like we would do with a car sub, we can hook it up and use it as a regular house sub.

You need to actually hear a setup like this before you knock it. It's not quite as good as a dedicated car subwoofer, but most people who've heard dedicated car subs (including me) have been outright impressed by it.

As for the enclosure comparison, car sub enclosures are designed better, but is such good design absolutely required? I've used my Logitech sub in my car for years and have never had a complaint about the enclosure. It's a wooden box with a heatsink + amplifier on it. It's perfectly fine for all normal driving conditions. As for the acoustics, refer to my previous point above.