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Garage Stereo/Car system..

6K views 13 replies 11 participants last post by  86GMC 
#1 ·
Didnt know if Ishould post this here or in the Electrical but I was reading on a guy who used a Cd/mp3 head unit out of a car and mounted it in the wall of the garage then just ran wires to speakers (with an amplifier of course) and thought it would be a cool and cheap idea for my garage. Ive seen 120 to 12v
inverters, but I also read something about using an old computer power cable...? Anyone heard or done such a thing? I have 4 rockford speakers and a JBL subwoofer sitting in my attic, I could find a decent aftermarket head unit for under 100 im sure and an cheap amp off craigslist probobly also..
Thought it would look cool mounted in the wall next to the garage door openers and the thermostat:thumbup:
 
#3 ·
No, that won't work. The device in the pic says it's output is AC (alternating current). You'll need a power supply with DC output (direct current). You might be able to find a suitable power supply at Radio Shack, or as you mentioned, computer power supplies usually have a 12V DC output. You just need to ensure the power supply you use will handle the required current of the head unit. And it would be a good idea to wire in a fuse between the power supply and the head unit for safety reasons.
 
#6 ·
I got a surround reciever off ebay for 63 bucks, add an old c/d player and golden, as you already have the speakers.. hell a rca plug to a ipod or mp3 player cable is 10 bucks..
any inverter will add noise(hum) to the sound as they are not made for the power needed,(at least the cheap ones)
my 75 watt per channel surround sound (5.1 channel) was 63 bucks shipped, my ipod cable was 10. my c/d player was free I have a few extras now that dvd/bluerays play c/d's
and old car speakers..
and a senhizer(sp?) wireless headphones, for the burning the midnight oil ,
ebays your friend here.. my radioshack reciever will be plenty loud.. and last forever and for 63 bucks.. deal..
 
#7 ·
You can get rid of the hum from inverters by adding a couple large capacitors to flatten out the "ripple" in the half sign wave DC that it produces. Manufacturers do this for sound system quality power supplys.
I have a Radio shack 12 volt converter that is about 50 watts (12 v X 4.2 amps) and it has caps in it. The last stereo I hooked to it for testing was real quiet in its static condition ( on but with no signal to drive the amplifier : static condition )
50 watts may not be enough to support the stereo you have and may cause "clipping (like a brownout) in the system.
I have used freebie stereos from the junker cars I have had in the past years,at times I have used a small battery charger and a car battery to run it, but it is hard on a regualer battery.Deep cycles work well, but I dont usually run across one of those, at least for free :D
You can build your own power supply with a transformer, a rectifier setup and some big capacitors.
 
#8 ·
Sounds like the setup for our pool room. I bought a cheap SONY head unit that had MP3 and USB capability (~ $80) and used a leftover 12v DC power brick for juice. Ran wires through the walls to outdoor speakers and now have good sounds for swimming!

Russ
 
#11 ·
That is a really cool setup for a garage. I personally keep mine cheaper and simpler:

I keep all of my music stored on my computer and run the computers sound through a vintage tape/radio stereo receiver that I picked up at goodwill for about $10. You can get lucky and find some pretty powerful receivers for cheap.

I just run the audio out on the sound card of the computer via a 3.5mm stereo jack/stereo RCA cable. The stereo RCA cable plugs into the aux in on the receiver and the receiver powers my speakers in the garage. Sound comes out of a set of speakers each equipped with 2x12" drivers with a 4" mid and a 3x7" horn tweeter. Got them for $50 at goodwill as well. Gets loud enough for my neighbors to enjoy Iron Maiden with me if I want to be "that guy" :D when I'm working on my '65 and I don't have to fiddle with any cd's or ipods or any of that junk. I just play it through winamp on the computer.
 
#13 ·
At work, we had a 12 volt power supply that powers a 20 year old car stereo. for speakers we use some that were out by the curb on trash day.
People would comment about how great our sound system sounded.

About a year ago, we wanted to upgrade a little. We have all of our music stored on the computer. In order to play the music through our sound system, we had to get a more modern car stereo that had a jack to plug in the cable coming from the computer. We now enjoy music with no comercials
 
#14 ·
That is a really cool setup for a garage. I personally keep mine cheaper and simpler:

I keep all of my music stored on my computer and run the computers sound through a vintage tape/radio stereo receiver that I picked up at goodwill for about $10. You can get lucky and find some pretty powerful receivers for cheap.

I just run the audio out on the sound card of the computer via a 3.5mm stereo jack/stereo RCA cable. The stereo RCA cable plugs into the aux in on the receiver and the receiver powers my speakers in the garage. Sound comes out of a set of speakers each equipped with 2x12" drivers with a 4" mid and a 3x7" horn tweeter. Got them for $50 at goodwill as well. Gets loud enough for my neighbors to enjoy Iron Maiden with me if I want to be "that guy" when I'm working on my '65 and I don't have to fiddle with any cd's or ipods or any of that junk. I just play it through winamp on the computer.



i do the same, but everything, including the laptop, came from the local dump e-waste bins. its amazing what one can find that others see as garbage
 
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