# Running 12v amps via a ac dc converter



## sands1 (Dec 15, 2009)

Im thinking about building a home audio set up by running my 12v car audio amps by way of a powermax converter. With a normal 120v pre-amp as my control. Thinking of running this set-up to a pair of dynaudio 4ohm speakers.
Or maybe even a set of 8ohm Harbeth's

Has anyone tried this before and can you offer any insight or do's and dont's?

Or is this just a bad idea ?

Thanks for any thoughts on the subject


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## boosted2.7 (Aug 14, 2012)

You can use an AC DC converter, a lot of shops to that to test their gear. I would think that you could find a better setup from home audio gear, but if you are just trying to use what you have, I'd say go for it.


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## fast306stang (Jul 1, 2009)

My thread is 2 posts down on the main page of the forum...I use car audio amps for my mids and highs, each using a dedicated Astron power supply. So far so good, no issues yet. I did hook up a pair of 10's to the D7 to test them and the power supply didn't really like that too much--the led meter was fluctuating all over the place.

The Astrons are 20amp power supplies, one day I'd like to upgrade to 30 amp or better.

I had a 10amp power supply for one amp for awhile and eventually the smoke got let out of it.


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## sands1 (Dec 15, 2009)

fast306stang said:


> My thread is 2 posts down on the main page of the forum...I use car audio amps for my mids and highs, each using a dedicated Astron power supply. So far so good, no issues yet. I did hook up a pair of 10's to the D7 to test them and the power supply didn't really like that too much--the led meter was fluctuating all over the place.
> 
> The Astrons are 20amp power supplies, one day I'd like to upgrade to 30 amp or better.
> 
> I had a 10amp power supply for one amp for awhile and eventually the smoke got let out of it.


Hey fast306stang your system looks great. 
Any thoughts on poweramp ac/dc power supplies out of florida?
They have a 100A constant 14.4v that im looking into. Its a few $$ but should do the trick for what im thinking. Does Astrons have a reputation for good products like that ?


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## wheelieking71 (Dec 20, 2006)

i listen to 12v amps powered by a 20a ASTRON almost daily. i love that little power-supply. its super reliable, and dead quiet.


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## fast306stang (Jul 1, 2009)

The Astrons have been great for me, perfectly reliable. I still need to get another led voltmeter for my second one, I think it's a good idea to be able to keep an eye on the output. When I drove that pair of tens real hard, I could see the output was wanting to fluctuate a little bit. 

Now I will say that I did have to turn the gain down on my second amp the other day, a Zed Audio ESX Q175.2. It tends to be a bit power hungry and while the power supply did it's job, the amp did go into clipping.

I should mention that this happened after playing the stereo for about 3 hours solid, fairly high volume, and it didn't start clipping until I decided to see exactly how loud will this system play...I wanted to see at what point would I start hearing distortion but the amp started complaining first. However, I did have the gain turned up pretty high as to increase the sensitivity of the volume knob on the preamp. Once I turned the gains down on both amps, I was surprised to hear that sound quality improved. I have not pushed the system to find the limits again since then. 

I think the Astrons are great but with my experience, I can't say I would use them for powering a subwoofer amp. Maybe a stronger Astron would be fine or the one you were talking about using? I can't really say because I don't have any other experiences to relate. 

I use a home theater subwoofer and it does well so far. It's also very convenient, plug it in, run an RCA, and set the x-over and gain. I plan to step up to a pair of tens in a decware design and use a plate amp again for the same reasons, convenience and not having to buy another power supply, lol. 

Really the greatest thing about piecing a system together like this besides the wow factor is you can, with luck and educated decisions and time, more time, and some more time....did I mention time? And some planning and effort, you can wind up with a killer system, designed to your tastes and room layout. The money I have invested in the entire thing would buy one pair of nice towers. ($1300ish). I pieced it together little by little, starting with some bookshelves I built and a 4 channel Sony amp. I guess I'm getting sidetracked but my point is, you can come out way ahead of the game if you can truly DIY most of this stuff. Anyone with enough money, ie, not me, can just go out and buy a boxed home theater. If no one ever sees my system it wouldn't bother me a bit because I never get tired of seeing it every time I go in the living room, even if I don't turn it on, lol. 

Ok, I've written waaay more than I intended. To sum it all up, if this is something you're capable of doing and you have the time and patience for it, do it. I promise when it's all done, it's worth it and you'll never look back.

One caveat I should mention. I only have stereo sound and I'm fine with that. I'm not sure what all you would need to keep in mind with speaker design and whatnot if you plan on using a surround sound processor.


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## rich20730 (Feb 13, 2012)

You can buy an old computer server power supply from ebay for around $20 and modify it pretty easily. I just converted one recently - 125A regulated power supply, fully adjustable from 12V to 14V

Here's a picture:









Instructions are in this thread:

A simple high quality 12Volt 100Amp Power Supply- Part1 - Page 37 - RC Groups

I did the Dell 6800 Poweredge


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## Changchung (Aug 15, 2012)

rich20730 said:


> You can buy an old computer server power supply from ebay for around $20 and modify it pretty easily. I just converted one recently - 125A regulated power supply, fully adjustable from 12V to 14V
> 
> Here's a picture:
> 
> ...


I do the same but with a DPS-1200FBA this is a 100amp using 220v AC, small and quite. I pay 25$ for a pair shipped


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## dareo (Dec 17, 2010)

You can run car audio inside for sure but you must be careful to stay within the limits of your power supply. If you strain it, it will break. 

I have some sort of server PSU but i could never get it to power on. I'l have to study that thread and try it out. I'd like to make more than the 35 amps my old Pyramid power supply produces.


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## Changchung (Aug 15, 2012)

The last heavy weight power supply that I have was a 15amp palomar that weight like 10 pounds, I damage it pushing her so hard... Then I find the rcgroups forum and try this power supply, I really like it, small, light, quite and powerfull. Perfect for any 12volts project.


Sent from my phone with camera with flash and internet on it...


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## Thumper26 (Sep 23, 2005)

note you don't need a server power supply. You can do this with any desktop power supply as well.


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## Changchung (Aug 15, 2012)

Thumper26 said:


> note you don't need a server power supply. You can do this with any desktop power supply as well.


Some desktop power supply cant deliver high current, and if can will cost more than 20$


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## luisc202 (Oct 29, 2013)

rich20730 said:


> You can buy an old computer server power supply from ebay for around $20 and modify it pretty easily. I just converted one recently - 125A regulated power supply, fully adjustable from 12V to 14V
> 
> Here's a picture:
> 
> ...


Where did you get the 12V and ground from all the pins? Heck I am ordering 2 of these power supplies..lol.


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## Changchung (Aug 15, 2012)

luisc202 said:


> Where did you get the 12V and ground from all the pins? Heck I am ordering 2 of these power supplies..lol.


Hope this help

RC Groups - View Single Post - A simple high quality 12Volt 100Amp Power Supply- Part1


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## luisc202 (Oct 29, 2013)

luisc202 said:


> Where did you get the 12V and ground from all the pins? Heck I am ordering 2 of these power supplies..lol.


Thanks I get my PS tomorrow and will use the information you supplied me here.


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## helpmeplease (Oct 6, 2012)

I just use an old power supply

I just set this up today. Still deciding on where to mount everything, but you get the idea. I even had a RF p500-2 on this power supply and it did just fine.


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