# subwoofer amp and power supply units



## 92blacktt (Dec 18, 2008)

Hey all,

Looking to convert my ascendant audio avalanche to home audio use. 

Not finding an affordable amp to power it (want roughly 800wrms). Has anyone converted the internal power supply unit to run on 110vac? or build a 110vac to 14.4vdc unit? Or know where I can find the information to do so?

Thanks,


----------



## [email protected] (Jun 12, 2008)

A regulated power supply is what you are talking about. They make them. I have acouple and would sell you one possibly.


----------



## Avatar4886 (Sep 13, 2009)

I've used an ATX computer power supply to power car stereo amps for indoor use.


----------



## Stück (Jul 3, 2011)

Another cheap 12V power supply is an XBOX power brick. They can be had cheap online for $10-15 shipped and put out 16A or so 12V. Granted that won't feed a sub amp very loud, but I use one to bench test headunits and amps.


----------



## drufuss (Mar 13, 2009)

What if you were looking to push closer to 700-800 watts? Would it be ok to just buy a larger power supply like a 1000w power supply, or are there certain specs to pay attention to?


----------



## XtremeRevolution (Dec 3, 2010)

drufuss said:


> What if you were looking to push closer to 700-800 watts? Would it be ok to just buy a larger power supply like a 1000w power supply, or are there certain specs to pay attention to?


Have you any idea how expensive such a power supply would be? You're better off buying a plate amp.


----------



## drufuss (Mar 13, 2009)

If we're talking about the same thing; tiger direct has them anywhere between $200-$250. 
I've never heard of a power plate. If that's a better solution to what I'm trying to do then I'm all for it.


----------



## XtremeRevolution (Dec 3, 2010)

drufuss said:


> If we're talking about the same thing; tiger direct has them anywhere between $200-$250.
> I've never heard of a power plate. If that's a better solution to what I'm trying to do then I'm all for it.


Subwoofer Amplifiers, Plate Amplifiers, Home Audio/Video Subwoofer Amplifiers, Powered Subwoofer Amplifiers Perfect for Building Your Own Powered Subwoofer.

Why spend $200-$250 for just the transformer when you can get the whole 500W amp for $190?

Bash 500W Digital Subwoofer Amplifier

These BASH amplifiers make their rated power and then some.


----------



## generalkorrd (Jan 10, 2009)

put a bid on one of these:
Soundcraftsmen PM860 600 Watt Amplifier | eBay

Amazing old school amp, that you should be able to get into for 200 or less( there are 2 on the ebay right now) 

Some info:
Soundcraftsmen purchase help

205/[email protected], 315/[email protected], 450/[email protected] ohms.

Almost unkillable amps


----------



## generalkorrd (Jan 10, 2009)

BTW, BASH amps are "meh" at best, not very reliable at all. for roughly the same money, you can get much more power and reliability. There are also other used home amps that I would go for before a BASH amp that you can get in to for about that same money.


----------



## its_bacon12 (Aug 16, 2007)

generalkorrd said:


> BTW, BASH amps are "meh" at best, not very reliable at all. for roughly the same money, you can get much more power and reliability. There are also other used home amps that I would go for before a BASH amp that you can get in to for about that same money.


Care to divulge? I have 3 bash amps that have been going strong for several years..


----------



## XtremeRevolution (Dec 3, 2010)

its_bacon12 said:


> Care to divulge? I have 3 bash amps that have been going strong for several years..


What he said. I ran one for about 4 years and then sold the sub, everything still working perfectly. 

It doesn't have to be a BASH amp, there are other analog amps for sale on the page I listed.


----------



## generalkorrd (Jan 10, 2009)

As I said, Bash amps are not the best, but they do work mostly. I have had 2 of them overheat and die on me, and my brother lost one as well. Having a 4 year track record vs a 25 year track record is no contest in my book. Investigate around a bit, you will find a good amount of complaints about Bash amps. There are like you said many other choices, if he has the rack room, I would definitely get a 2ch rack type amp, rather than a plate amp, as the rack type is much more versatile.

Edit: I have a bash amp right now, in my infinty ps12 sub, I'm considering myself lucky so far on this one. To be fair though, it has been working for about 4 years, but the failure rate seems to be higher than normal on them.


----------



## XtremeRevolution (Dec 3, 2010)

generalkorrd said:


> As I said, Bash amps are not the best, but they do work mostly. I have had 2 of them overheat and die on me, and my brother lost one as well. Having a 4 year track record vs a 25 year track record is no contest in my book. Investigate around a bit, you will find a good amount of complaints about Bash amps. There are like you said many other choices, if he has the rack room, I would definitely get a 2ch rack type amp, rather than a plate amp, as the rack type is much more versatile.
> 
> Edit: I have a bash amp right now, in my infinty ps12 sub, I'm considering myself lucky so far on this one. To be fair though, it has been working for about 4 years, but the failure rate seems to be higher than normal on them.


Well, I can only comment on what I owned. My current "sub amp" is a QSC GX3 that delivers 425W RMS x 2 at 4 ohms. I don't expect this to fail any time soon.


----------



## its_bacon12 (Aug 16, 2007)

I want a solid state sub amp without fans. Hence why I use a few bash amps.

Anyway, I just had a Behringer EP2500 and it was nice but the fan even with quiet fan mod was loud. I also have a QSC RMX 1850HD which does 550wpc @ 4 ohm. I want to get away from the pro amps or find a way to use it without the fan.


----------



## generalkorrd (Jan 10, 2009)

My buddy has a behringer as well. The fan is quite loud on it, you have to get a bit of volume going to beat it. The bummer about going with "home audio" over pro is the cost is SO much higher! I would look into maybe stashing the amp in a closet? Or possibly modding the fan with a better fan, perhaps from a pc? I think those amps use tiny little fans at high rpm, if you have room in the amp, a good 120mm from a pc would prolly do the trick.


----------



## its_bacon12 (Aug 16, 2007)

I was thinking about making a modified top cover that acts as a heatsink to the current tiny one inside that needs the fan. Need to research about heat transfer and stuff now


----------



## generalkorrd (Jan 10, 2009)

its_bacon12 said:


> I was thinking about making a modified top cover that acts as a heatsink to the current tiny one inside that needs the fan. Need to research about heat transfer and stuff now


I suppose you could do something like that, you would have to move the thermocouple that activates the fan from it's present position on the heatsink to your new modified heatsink. Maybe watercooling? Like in a PC?


----------



## XtremeRevolution (Dec 3, 2010)

its_bacon12 said:


> I want a solid state sub amp without fans. Hence why I use a few bash amps.
> 
> Anyway, I just had a Behringer EP2500 and it was nice but the fan even with quiet fan mod was loud. I also have a QSC RMX 1850HD which does 550wpc @ 4 ohm. I want to get away from the pro amps or find a way to use it without the fan.


Simple. Get two quiet fans. If you read around, the QSC GX3 I'm using has a bit of a fan noise problem. The original fan shroud sucks. It is a single 24V fan that causes the shroud to vibrate and produce quite a lot of noise. I replaced the single fan with two inaudible 12V fans. I can't find the picture anywhere, but it does deliver the power its rated for and doesn't overheat. 



generalkorrd said:


> I suppose you could do something like that, you would have to move the thermocouple that activates the fan from it's present position on the heatsink to your new modified heatsink. Maybe watercooling? Like in a PC?


Even water cooling for the PC uses fans. The only difference is that the massively larger heatsink is outside of the computer instead of inside. There are a few fanless solutions, but they're quite large.


----------



## generalkorrd (Jan 10, 2009)

XtremeRevolution said:


> Simple. Get two quiet fans. If you read around, the QSC GX3 I'm using has a bit of a fan noise problem. The original fan shroud sucks. It is a single 24V fan that causes the shroud to vibrate and produce quite a lot of noise. I replaced the single fan with two inaudible 12V fans. I can't find the picture anywhere, but it does deliver the power its rated for and doesn't overheat.
> 
> 
> 
> Even water cooling for the PC uses fans. The only difference is that the massively larger heatsink is outside of the computer instead of inside. There are a few fanless solutions, but they're quite large.


I understand that watercooling fans are very quiet tho, although the radiator would have to be outside the amp, that may not work to well.


----------



## its_bacon12 (Aug 16, 2007)

Yeah.. I'm probably just going to go the route of enormous heatsink on top with a very low noise fan. Very low noise..


----------



## XtremeRevolution (Dec 3, 2010)

generalkorrd said:


> I understand that watercooling fans are very quiet tho, although the radiator would have to be outside the amp, that may not work to well.


Some of them can be quiet, but if you're going to go with quiet fans anyway, why not just mount them inside the amp against the heatsink? Saves you the cost and trouble.


----------

