Saturday 26 November 2011

How to hook up a vehicle subwoofer to a household setup.

We all love bass. We also know that vehicle sub woofers tend to put out more power than household.

They're also cheaper.

Today's project is a setup I've done already, but figured that some enthusiasts out there would love to find some info on this.

This here is my beautiful 10" 500W Hertz sub. This baby has some beautiful clean bass that can make my bedroom sound like the apocalypse has come. We're going to have this running off my computer, through a receiver and powering the sub amp on a 12v rail. The good news is that most of the initial setup can be found for less than $50 at a pawn shop.

Parts/Tools Needed:
     1. Computer PSU (Or a ham radio power supply).
     2. A 120V household audio receiver. (I'm running a pioneer unit)
     3. Sub woofer in box with amp.
     4. Wire strippers (knife if you're good at it.)
     5. Screwdrivers
     6. Double male-tipped RCA cable.
     7. Stereo(two lines) RCA-to-1/8" (headphone) adapter cable.

This project is set up off of the idea that you already know how to hook up a basic setup in a vehicle.

For a quick run through:
Plug the positive and negative lines to the sub woofer from the amp.

Not so bad eh?

Now our only issue is running power to the amp without blowing it on household 120 VAC.

This is where the power supply comes in.


Molex Connector (should be a line straight from the power supply.)
   Orientation:
              (1)Red Line - 5v data line (you can use this for the remote power or run a jumper)
              (1)Yellow Line - 12V power line.
              (2)Black Line - Ground.

Cut the tip off and use the lines to power your unit.
As you can see, I ran the 12v (yellow) line to the battery port, and ran the ground (black) to it's appropriate slot.

Next is your remote power, I personally just jumped a line from the battery (power) to the P.Con (Power Control / Remote Power). You can run the red line to the P.Con instead of jumping if you would like.

The next issue in line is that the power supply won't turn on.
Here's the fix.
The 20-pin ATX motherboard connector stops the power supply from turning on unless the appropriate connection is made as a safety measure. If you jump pins 3 and 4, this will override it and the power supply should now activate by the switch on the back.


Our sub and amp combo now have power. Now we just need to run the audio-out channel to the receiver.
Next, just run the 2x RCA-to-1/8"(headphone) wire from the audio-out to the computer and you're done!

Of course you will need the speakers set up, but if you don't know how to do that, you shouldn't be doing this tutorial.

This has honestly made my room several times more enjoyable to be in. I hope you all get the same enjoyment.