home amplifier?

[Daewood]

Where can I get an amplifier that puts out about 50 or so watts that plugs into the wall and has RCA imputs or line-level inputs?

I have a spare sub and am going to put into an enclosure that i want to hook up to my computer for some more bass but I need an amplifier that will hook up to a wall outlet.

 

[DaWiper]

what you are searching for is called a "power amplifier". Most hifi brands has a line of such amps. Nad and Rotel (among others) have cheap models of very high quality.
I use Nad 214 for my subwoofer.

EDIT: You could should also look for "plate amps". They are designed for DIY homeaudio projects in mind.

 

[Daewood]

so I got a question

I have an amp picked out that puts out 70 watts @ 4 ohms. Now I have an 8 ohm sub so that would mean if I hooked that sub up to the amp it would cut my power in half so it would only be 45 watts @ 8 ohms right? so to counteract this could I hook up this sub by bridging the amp and dropping the load right back down to 4 Ohms?

 

[punkgamingmaste]

u can use that amp and ur sub and still get 4 ohms.. just get an 8 ohm resister and wire it in series with ur subwoofer. btw, what amp were u looking at? a link would be nice.

heres a good plate amp for cheap
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=300-784


also here is a link to a 8 ohm resister
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=019-020

 

[Daewood]

That's what I was looking at

and when you bridge a 4 ohm amp with a 4 ohm sub it produces a 2 ohm load on the amp. Why couldn't I do that here with the 8 ohm sub and get 4 ohm load?

Also if you wire an 8 ohm resister in series with an 8 ohm sub you will create a 16 ohm load on the amp and cut the power in half again. if you wired them in parallel it would create a 4 ohm load.

 

[punkgamingmaste]

u knew what i meant.. lol i always mix the series and parallel up. and u cant bridge that amp. i have that same plate amp, there is no way to bridge it.

 

[Daewood]

it's not a 2 channel amp? it looks like it has dual right and left outputs

Is the sub outputs on the otherside where I can't see them?

 

[punkgamingmaste]

yes the sub output is on the other side. and no its not a 2 channel amp. all it does is provide 70 watts at 4 ohms to 1 channel (or around 40 at 8 ohms and around 15 at 16 ohms and so on and so forth.. lol).
its a very stable and reliable amp tho, ive been using it for quite awhile now and im always blaring my sub and it does a good job. ive never noticed any distortion or clipping (of course its a subwoofer, its hard to notice distortion anyways for bass frequencys). it runs pretty hot tho, but it will turn itself off before it overheats. (which has never happened to me)

 

[Daewood]

sounds good I plan on hooking it up to my computer cause my sub is dying right now... the crossover is going out for some reason or another.

 

[DaWiper]

What kind of subwoofer do you have.?

 

[Korndog]

uh.. don't add the resister. think about it, sure you'll get 4ohm load, but you'll actually be giving less power to ur sub and putting more load on ur amp. Since the resister is there, it'll be consuming half of the power that the amp is putting out, so 35w for the resistor and 35 for the woofer. where as @ 8ohms you'll be giving the woofer 45w by itself. There is really little difference between 45 and 70w anyways, i'd be more worried about the enclouser for the sub then the power. i use a 100w amp for parties and it makes the windows flex

 

[Daewood]

I have this sub: http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?DID=7&Product_ID=7476

I never thought of that korndog.

 

[DaWiper]

IMO, I would aim for a bigger amplifier than that dayton 70W thing. That pioneer sub you have are not among the most efficient(90db 1w/1m). Most people starw their subwoofer. The low frequencies in a music signal requires the most power to controll the driver.

I've never owned a "dayton" plateamp, but looking at the price makes me doubt the quality. It's very cheap.

 

[Korndog]

IMO, I would aim for a bigger amplifier than that dayton 70W thing. That pioneer sub you have are not among the most efficient(90db 1w/1m). Most people starw their subwoofer. The low frequencies in a music signal requires the most power to controll the driver.

I've never owned a "dayton" plateamp, but looking at the price makes me doubt the quality. It's very cheap.

dayton products are very good. i have complete confidance in all their products. You don't need more then 70w and sub efficiency doesn't determine how loud it will get. At the car competitions i attend, the high-end subs like the adire brahma, re XXX, ect. have an efficiency below 90db, my own sub is 87db and its loud enough to kill small animals. Sure in free air, a higher efficiency sub will sound louder, but once in a box, and the right box, it makes a whole world of difference.

 

[Daewood]

so would 45watts be sufficient enough to power that sub of mine? and actually be loud?

 

[Korndog]

yea in a vented box about 2 to 2.5cuft tuned close to the fs, so about 28 to 30hz. would make it a lot more efficient.

 

[techun]

well, you could always buy a second sub...

and i would be happy with that amp, wait till ryan answers or korndogg

 

[DaWiper]

dayton products are very good. i have complete confidance in all their products. You don't need more then 70w and sub efficiency doesn't determine how loud it will get. At the car competitions i attend, the high-end subs like the adire brahma, re XXX, ect. have an efficiency below 90db, my own sub is 87db and its loud enough to kill small animals. Sure in free air, a higher efficiency sub will sound louder, but once in a box, and the right box, it makes a whole world of difference.

If sub A has a sens. of 90 dB w/m, and sub B has 95 dB w/m. Both have about equal ST parameters. Both powered by the same amp. Both in nice vented boxes. Wouldn't the 95 dB w/m manage to ouput more dB at the same powerlevel? In case no, then please explain.

-----

About that amp. As I've never tested that amp I'm not sure about it's ability to perform, but if you can afford it get a bigger one. It will perform even better and provide more control when the volume gets high.

 

[Korndog]

If sub A has a sens. of 90 dB w/m, and sub B has 95 dB w/m. Both have about equal ST parameters. Both powered by the same amp. Both in nice vented boxes. Wouldn't the 95 dB w/m manage to ouput more dB at the same powerlevel? In case no, then please explain.

-----

About that amp. As I've never tested that amp I'm not sure about it's ability to perform, but if you can afford it get a bigger one. It will perform even better and provide more control when the volume gets high.

um.. i dont' think thats possible, sensitivity is dependant on the Fs, Vas, and Qes i believe.. changing the sensitivity would change those figures as well. What i was trying to get to was that its a little more complicated to find the true spl of the sub. by true i mean in the actual application, in a box. Also you have to consider its freq responce. Like my old 15" sub would sound like a fart at 15hz, my new 15" makes the whole car rumble at 15hz, the difference was like night and day. Same power, same box, same location and the older one actually had a sensitivity of 97db while the had a sensitivity of 87-88db. I'd say the best thing you could do is actually graph out the responce and spl using a program like winISD to give you a better idea.