What is a good subwoofer/ amp system for my car?

How do you build a active Subwoofer with a car amp in your home teater system?

• Answer:

  Firstly let me start by saying that I'm not a electronics guru, but do have an idea of which wires should not be touched together. I have done this before but very cheaply and it showed. I use a amp, sub and the sub box I had lying around. The box should be able to handle the sub. The sub gets wirred to the amp channels the same way it does in the car. I connected the RCA jacks to the sub output on my home entertainment amp, if you do not have one an AUX out should also work. If none of these are available my amp has a second set of front speaker outs which you can get signal from or just run them in parallel with the existing front speaker. If you are planning to run them in parallel with the front speakers care should be taken to ensure that the amp is capabale of low resistance, as most speaker outs would be 8Ohm or 4Ohm depending on systems. All that being said any audio signal should do the job, like an iPod or walkman. My car amp also has a sub switch, which I switched on to filter out the unwanted sounds such as speech. Now the part that I did cheaply. I went to a electronics store and bought a 220V AC to 12V DC converter. I think any biggish store would probably sell them. It is the one that you can select from 1.5V DC to 12V DC in increments of 1.5V and the polarity is also reversible. I did Spend a little more and got the 1A one instead of the 0.1A. It was good enough to listen to but it wouldn't drive a party. When I turned up the sound the Amp started pulsing on and off because the power supply wasn't enough. Connecting the power supply is simple enough. Cut off the end plug adaptors, strip the wires and connect them to the + and - terminals of the amp. This will take care of power supply. To switch on the amp simply bridge the remote wire with the + wire. This will mean as long as the transformer is powered the sub will be on. A switch can be put in on between the + and remote wire to enable you to switch it on and off. My Home Entertainment amp has a power outlet on the back which powers up when I switch on my amp, this could also be an option. Before connecting all of this together with expensive Home Entertainment, I would advise switching it on seperatly to ensure it does not trip the house electrics, produce weird hums and vibrations or smoke. Then if everything looks and sounds good connect the signal cables.