Jan 8, 2009

Posted by
DJ Cal

Category: Audio
8 comments

How to Use a Computer Power Supply to Power a Car Amplifier for Subwoofers in Your Home

Preface: Yes, I am a techy DIY nerd. Yes, this project could have started an electrical fire. Yes, I had a fire extinguisher close at hand at all times (really). Yes, these subwoofers are far too loud for a small dorm room, and everyone in my building is going to hate me in 4 months.

In case any one was interested in why I haven’t posted much over the last couple days, on top of having a gig at This Is London tomorrow I’ve been working on a project that I’ve meant to do for a while – get my old car subwoofers working in my dorm room.  Yes, they are insanely loud – each have dual 300W voice coils, and the amp is 600W regulated power.  With some very simple modifications to a standard computer ATX power supply I am able to power my amp with no problems – the amperage on the PS is more than sufficient!

The steps are simple: pick a connector – in this case i was able to plug ‘extra’ connectors in to the side of the PS (I didn’t want to chop up one of the main wiring harnesses) – attach its yellow +12v lead in to the power and remote on the amp, attach all black wires to the ground, and your amp is connected.  To have the PS turn on when you flip the power switch you need to short the green wire on the main 20 (/24) pin connector to a black ground wire (doesn’t matter which).  I did this by using a wire ‘jumper’ (seen in one of the pics).  You could cut the wires and splice them together, but as I said, I didn’t want to chop up any of the wiring harnesses because I could always use the PS down the road!

So here are some pics..

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  1. Yo Cal. After some of the boys saw the post about that critics thing.They realize you knew what you were on about.So please can you answer a very important question?
    What is the best type of music to play at a white tie party?(New Year charity Gala)will these do?
    Sia-Buttons (CSS Remix)
    Bee Gees – Night Fever (Future Funk Squad Remix)
    and those remixes from the The Monarch Presents Modern Remixes of Old School Hits!post.Please suggest more.
    Much appreciated and again thanks for all the sngs.

  2. signaturex says:

    nice.. are those JL audio.. I use to have a tri-plate with 3 JLs and a precision power a600. i sold em to some guy and he started his truck on fire.

    Im using a computer power supply to run my back up 12v CD system — its a changer and deck. It holds 10 cds so its enough to play with if everything else fails. hahahahahah

  3. haha hilarious..

    yeah they’re jl 12w3v2-d4′s

  4. Mark Hovland says:

    I wanted to thank-you for answering a simple question on using an ATX power supply. How the heck you get it to turn on when it is out of the computer! Worked like a charm! Thanks again

  5. Chad Richardson says:

    thx your pic help a lot im going to put a vid up on how to do it thx a lot and how did u get the amp to work with no moutherbord to turn on the power supply thx A lot for the help

  6. Hi… To answer some of the questions.. On the big 20 pin connector he jumped 2 of the pins… that effectively allows the psu to think it is connected to a mother board.. I have tried this and it works.. my only question is will the psu give you 100% power if you only connect up 1 yellow wire?? I have seen other tutorials where they connect all the yellow wires from the molex connectors..

  7. Hey, i followed what you did however the signal to the sub is extremely quiet.

    These are the supplies im using:
    Soundstream di 175.1
    Pioneer TS-W256C 350 rms sub
    Antec Earthwatts power supply.

    My problem is, the sub wont go louder than my dinky little 6″ sub that gets 30 watts rms.
    Hope to hear from you!

  8. To make it a cleaner install, get a switch and connect in between the 2 pins on the 20 pin connector. Just flip that switch and the ps and amp turn on.

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