3800 Is it possible???

[syP]

I have an extra set of 2 10" subs in my bedroom sitting there doing nothing. It has an amp attached. Is there any way to hook it up to my PC? I have an Soundblaster Audigy X-Gamer sound card. So the card can handle it, but what other stuff do i need?

Ryan

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[imported_Ron Vogel]

If you are looking for good sound quality don't even consider it IMO. Subs are power hungry, you won't be able to supply the amperage you need to get a good kickin' low end with any sort of 12v converter. Plus, car audio subs run low ohm coils. In a smal environment, such as a car that doesn't mean much because you're submerged in ambient noise. Low ohm coils aren't as accurate, and will introduce a lot of audio distortion (I don't mean like guitar distortion, Just inaccurate reproduction of sound), this coupled with the phasing problems you will encounter will give you a cheap thumpy sound.
There are two ways to do this, first the "cheap" way:
Get a full, dedicated sub/sattalite system. Your amplification duties are handled by a main hub that separates the highs and lows and sends them to the correct speaker. I personally like the Klipsch stuff out there for this, it's not bad sound for the money.
The right way to do it is with a dedicated component system. I'll use mine as an example, it may be a little too much since I use it for audio production. First off the sound card needs to have a digital optical out. Run that to a reciever that splits out the stereo, or Dolby digital. I have a crossover built into my amp that runs the highs to the spekers, then the lows to pre outs that runs to a dedicated powered sub. You do not want to have a crossover from your amp, and to the spekers and unpowered sub. It will never balance correctly with the sub, unless it's a matched audiophile unit. I tried this years ago, and it's just plain bad. A good powered sub is not cheap either. Remember I said good, not cheap. You can find a real sub starting around $750 or so. Anyone that says they bought one for much less needs to come over to my place and hear mine. There is a major difference in quality between Audiphile and big name store subs.
Hopefully I haven't discouraged you on this, you really need to hit some stereo stores like, Sounds Deluxe, Audio Consultants, and Holm Audio to connect with good sound before you start your search. It's always best to set the bar high at first. Good subs are made by Velodyne (what I have), Sunfire, Meridian, M&K, Atlantic Technology, NHT. I would check out brands like that first, they have the best reps out there.

 

[syP]

ok.. i dont think i wanna do it then.. thanks tho

 

[kazoo]

Not to step on your toes Ron but you are talking about audiophile quality sound. Some people are not into that or can't hear the difference. Some people just want it to sound half way desent or just good. Its good to see there are people on this board that are into high quality sound. Well .... this is what you can do. You need a power supply that outputs 15 to 20 amps. This is if you are using a car amp that is made for 12v. You can get away with a 10 amp power supply if the amp you have is not too big. Now it depends what king of output you have on your sound card. If it is a headphone jack you need an adapter that will convert it to a rca jack so you can run it into your amp. If its an rca output than just get rca cables and run them into the amp. You might need a y splitter somewhere in there if you have signal running into you computer speakers and only one output on the soundcard. Check out radio shack for all these adapters. You are going to have to mess with your gain on the amp to get the sound loudness even with your computer speakers. If you don't have a gain on the amp than you need to get a crossover volume control box but if you get that you might as well get a cheap receiver to do the same and than you won't need your car amp. Any way you look at it you are going to need to spend at least $100 dollars to get something going if you don't have on hand what I have mentioned. It can be done, just needs some imagination. You should get half way desent sound out of it depending what subs you have and what sound you like. All I can say is give it a shot.

 

[imported_Ron Vogel]

I didn't mean to come off like a snob, I just hope he doesn't go through the hassle of doing all that to be dissapointed. I did the car amp/car sub thing, then used a home audi reciever to power the sub. It just sounded bad, so I went out shopping for a real home sub. Only took me 8 months to find one I liked.

BTW, my wife gave me a hard time yeesterday that I own 8 pairs of speakers. Well, I only consider the 2 pairs of Paradigms as real, the rest are parts speakers.

 

[kazoo]

You did not. I'm actually into making my own audio stuff (DIY). Making RCA cables, speakers, amps, ect, so I actully like experimenting with different things. It might not be the greatest sound out of those subs, but it might be good enough for playing games. For playing music, probably not.

Don't let you wife give you a hard time about those speakers. I like having speaker all over the place. Paradigm are good speakers. I think I've listened to their whole line. They do sound good.