Car Speakers

Can You Use A Car Amp For Your Home Speakers: We Explain Everything.

Getting a new amplifier may not be as convenient when you do not have many funds. You have probably thought of using a car amplifier for your home speakers, the thing is that you may not be so sure if it is a great idea.

Well, we have good news for you, you can use a car amp for your home speakers.

In this article, you will learn how to use your car amplifier for your home speakers and also how to connect them to other devices like a smart mobile device and Bluetooth-enabled sound system.

Check our articles on the Difference Between Front And Rear Car Speakers, Can I Use Home Speakers In My Car

Can You Use A Car Amp For Your Home Speakers

Using A Car Amplifier In Your Home

Like I said at the beginning of this article, car amplifiers can be connected to your home speakers. However, it is not as easy as it seems. You must follow a meticulous process to achieve this.

Getting the required power to carry out this connection is one of the most important parts of this process and if it is not done properly a lot of things could go wrong.

Let us examine the things required to make this possible;

  1. Power Source: The amplifiers in cars work from a +12V current supply, unlike home stereos that get their power from an alternating current (AC). In order to run the amplifier, a power supply of +12V AC-DC is needed.
  2. Remote Wire: This is needed to power your car amplifier on and off.
  3. Signal Input: Very few home stereos have RCA line-level jacks so you’ll need them for this connection if you do not have one.

Things To Take Seriously

  • Before you start the connection process, you must ensure that you have everything you need. If they are not all readily available, get ready to spend some extra cash to get all that you need.
    Don’t worry, you don’t have to panic about the cash because most of the items cost next to nothing. The whole point of using your car amp at home is to save you the cost of getting a new one.
  • In your bid to get all the equipment you need, get ready to start ordering them online as retail stores may not have all that you need.

Selecting The Appropriate Power Supply

It is easy to determine the electrical power needed for your amplifier based on the power labeled in watts RMS. You really do not need a lot of power though, you should be able to make do with minimal power.

The Voltage Needed By A Car Amp

Normally, car amplifiers work off a range of voltages, and it goes beyond 12 volts which are generally used as reference.

You will need a power supply DC output from 12V to 13.8V, but it is still okay to use 12V. But be careful because the amp may shut down at around 11V so you must have ample power to avoid such incidents.

The Power Supply Size Needed

Getting a car amp powered in your home needs a decent amp rating power supply. You need a 5 amp power supply as standard wall adapters will not get the job done. Again, you should not worry about the price because these things are quite affordable.

Getting Your Car Amp Connected To A Computer Power Supply

Getting a desktop computer connected to a car amp is quite easy if you follow the appropriate steps.

  1. Supply On Control: Regardless of the state of the power switch, PC supplies do not come on automatically. A control signal is used by a motherboard to power it on. The wire will need to be jumped by stripping and cutting it. You can go ahead to use a toggle switch or permanently connect it to a ground wire. 
  1. Power Connections: Get several ground wires and +12V wires, cut and strip them. Get these wires twisted slightly together or utilize a crimp connector to get it connected to the amp’s ground terminals and power.
  1. Amp Remote On Wire: After the supply-on wire has been connected to the ground, your amplifier should be powered on. However, it may not be as seamless in all situations. There may be a short current spike by high-power amplifiers. In some cases, the self-protect mode can be activated when this occurs. If this occurs you should power the remote wire a moment after starting the supply first.

Remote Wire Options For Powering The Car Amp.

The remote-on input utilizes a +12V signal that begins its internal power circuitry. You ca do this in a plethora of ways which we are going to look at.

RCA Converter With Remote Lead: A line-level converter with a built-in remote can be utilized if you are connecting an amp to speaker outputs. The amplifier will automatically be turned on or off with the presence of signal input.

Jumper The Remote On Terminal: A small jumper wire from the +12V terminal can be used when getting the power and ground 12V connections wired.

Jumper Wire + Switch: This is the same as the aforementioned, but in this case, a simple inline switch on the remote wire can be placed to manually toggle it on and off.

Remote Wire Output With RCA Adapters

An illustration of a line-level converter with a remote wire output feature you should mentally picture is when there is a signal in the speaker level inputs, you get a +12V signal created.

The remote wire will delineate to zero volts when no signal is seen, this will cause the amplifier to automatically go off. A regular converter on the other hand needs +12V and ground connections to function properly.

Getting Smart Phones, Home Speakers, And Other Audio Resources Connected To A Car Amp

This is the most interesting part of the article, it is the reason we are here in the first place. Now that we have gotten the things needed for a car amp and home speaker connection possible, let us take a look at how these connections can be established.

You can get these connections established to a smartphone, laptop, and tablet via Bluetooth or by using their jack. And these connections can be established regardless of the type of home speaker or car amp.

So if you have a seemingly obsolete model of one or both do not fret because they are all applicable. Now, let us get to the thick of things.

Connecting A Smart Phone And Other Gadgets To A Car Amp

Like I said, you should always remember that you can utilize a headphone jack, however, that can be bad or good depending on the gadget.

In your bid to get the headphone jack, ensure to get decent brands. If you want to save some little bucks by getting jacks from unknown brands, you may get yourself in rot and may have a ruptured connection and cause strange sounds when you start playing your music.

The connection you use totally depends on the features of your car amp and your home speaker. Regardless of the features, one of these three things will happen.

  1. Car Amp With Speaker Level Inputs: It is not strange finding home theater receivers and home stereos without full-range RCA audio-out jacks. If this is your scenario the speaker level input of the car amp should be linked to a pair of speaker terminals that have not been previously. The level input of the amp will get the speaker signal to the level needed by the amp.
  2. Car Amp With RCA Jacks Only + Home Stereo With No RCA Output Jacks: If you find yourself in this scenario, what you must do is to utilize a car audio’s line-level converter. These are connected like the first one, they have to be connected to speaker terminals alongside connected speakers or they can be connected alone.
  3. Car Amp + Home Stereo With Full Range RCA Output Jacks: This is the final and easiest method by all ramifications. However, very few home speakers have full-range RCA output jacks. Some of them are equipped with just RCA output jacks which are bass-only outputs.

RCA Converter

RCA speaker level adapters also known as line-level converters are small adapters that delineate the signals of higher voltage to lower voltage. This reduction is done by a speaker.

The RCA does this with the use of the car amp’s RCA jack inputs. They can be directly connected to a speaker or a ratio in order to give you RCA connections.

Conclusion

Using the amplifier in your car for your home will save you a lot of money and the process is pretty simple if you have all the tools needed. Many individuals go ahead to spend money on new amplifiers for their home speakers when they can they can just make use of the one in their car.

Well, thank you, you have all the knowledge from this article and all the tools you will need to get the job done. Thanks for reading.

When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission.
Back to top button