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Hook a Car Sub to House Receiver?

K1

Blue-Eyed Devil...
Jun 25, 2006
5,046
1
38
I have an extra 12" Kicker cvr (4-ohm) and want to hook it up to a home receiver for use in the weight room...As I just found out from the receiver I bought that the home receivers are 8-ohm and can't handle the subwoofer.

Without having to get all into the bullshit of having to wire in multiple receivers and splicing wires to make shit work...Is there a home receiver out there that supports a 4-ohm car sub?!

I have been searching on google all morning and all I see are videos and forum posts from people that wire in all there own shit...Seems too much of a pain and/or complicated for me lol...There has to be a receiver out there that can handle the sub?!
 

Sully

AnaSCI VET / Donating Member
Dec 3, 2012
3,324
0
36
Short answer, there's very few that will drive 4 ohm loads, but they still won't work properly, and they tend to be very expensive.

Long answer, all you need to make this work is a dedicated plate amplifier. You can pick one up from parts-express.com for under $200. There's very little wiring to do or figure out. And what has to be done is super simple.

The reason you need a dedicated amplifier, besides the lower resistance of the subwoofer, is that you need a crossover for the woofer. A crossover is basically a filter that only sends the low frequency sounds to the subwoofer. Even if you found a receiver that would handle the 4ohm woofer it would still be sending the entire range of audible frequencies to the subwoofer; high notes and low notes. Subs don't like to play high notes just like tweeters don't like to play low notes. So, you have to have a crossover to filter out those high notes and the receiver likely doesn't have one. A dedicated subwoofer amplifier will have a crossover and be able to handle the lower impedance of the car audio woofer.

Go to parts-express.com and check out the Dayton SA100. For $170 it will do exactly what you need it to. The only wiring that it needs is 110 power from the wall, connecting the speaker wire to the subwoofer, and running either speaker wire or RCA wire from the receiver to the amp for signal. Couldn't be simpler. You can even cut a square hole in the back of your woofer enclosure and flush-mount it to the enclosure if you want to. If there's anything you're unsure of, just let me know and I can walk you through it.
 
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Sully

AnaSCI VET / Donating Member
Dec 3, 2012
3,324
0
36
Correction, the SA100 is only $95, with free shipping I believe.
 

Sully

AnaSCI VET / Donating Member
Dec 3, 2012
3,324
0
36
You could also get another 4 ohm sob and wire them parallel. That will give you an 8 ohm load your recever could handle

You meant series, not parallel. Wiring dual 4 ohm loads in parallel would halve the impedance to 2ohms.
 

K1

Blue-Eyed Devil...
Jun 25, 2006
5,046
1
38
Short answer, there's very few that will drive 4 ohm loads, but they still won't work properly, and they tend to be very expensive.

Long answer, all you need to make this work is a dedicated plate amplifier. You can pick one up from parts-express.com for under $200. There's very little wiring to do or figure out. And what has to be done is super simple.

The reason you need a dedicated amplifier, besides the lower resistance of the subwoofer, is that you need a crossover for the woofer. A crossover is basically a filter that only sends the low frequency sounds to the subwoofer. Even if you found a receiver that would handle the 4ohm woofer it would still be sending the entire range of audible frequencies to the subwoofer; high notes and low notes. Subs don't like to play high notes just like tweeters don't like to play low notes. So, you have to have a crossover to filter out those high notes and the receiver likely doesn't have one. A dedicated subwoofer amplifier will have a crossover and be able to handle the lower impedance of the car audio woofer.

Go to parts-express.com and check out the Dayton SA100. For $170 it will do exactly what you need it to. The only wiring that it needs is 110 power from the wall, connecting the speaker wire to the subwoofer, and running either speaker wire or RCA wire from the receiver to the amp for signal. Couldn't be simpler. You can even cut a square hole in the back of your woofer enclosure and flush-mount it to the enclosure if you want to. If there's anything you're unsure of, just let me know and I can walk you through it.

Would something like the xbox360 power cord work for the 110 power supply needed...I'll check out the site you posted and if I have any questions, I'll post up. Thanks man!
 

Sully

AnaSCI VET / Donating Member
Dec 3, 2012
3,324
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36
Would something like the xbox360 power cord work for the 110 power supply needed...I'll check out the site you posted and if I have any questions, I'll post up. Thanks man!

You don't need to add a power cable or power supply, it's built into the plate amplifier. Just plug it into the wall, connect signal and wire up the woofer. You'd have it up and running in less than 5 minutes, guaranteed.
 

squatster

AnaSCI VIP
Mar 27, 2014
3,620
22
38
Wouldn't it be cheeper to go on Craigslist and buy a great home sub woofer that some one doesn't want?
I had 3 great ones I pulled out a home some lady bought.
People sell them all the time cheep
 

Sully

AnaSCI VET / Donating Member
Dec 3, 2012
3,324
0
36
Wouldn't it be cheeper to go on Craigslist and buy a great home sub woofer that some one doesn't want?
I had 3 great ones I pulled out a home some lady bought.
People sell them all the time cheep

It might be, if you can find someone on Craigslist that isn't a scammer or a bot. A month ago, I tried to sell a mattress on there. I still get emails and txts everyday from people trying to scam me. Not a single actual buyer.
 

lycan Venom

AnaSCI VET / Donating Member
Nov 22, 2013
1,963
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Dont fall prey for the dudes driving around in vans trying to sell you a name brand expensive system for only a few hundred too!

I would go with polk audio for inside the house. To bad we cant use 4ohm subs... i have a shit load of spl competition subs laying around. Much like magnus no need for a system with popping babies out every 2 years damn it.
 

K1

Blue-Eyed Devil...
Jun 25, 2006
5,046
1
38
Here, take a look and and you'll understand what I mean.

Dayton Audio SA100 100W Subwoofer Plate Amplifier

Ordered...Should arrive this week. Will keep you posted for on how it goes or if I need anymore walk through...Thanks!

Wouldn't it be cheeper to go on Craigslist and buy a great home sub woofer that some one doesn't want?
I had 3 great ones I pulled out a home some lady bought.
People sell them all the time cheep

Because I already had the Kicker that wasn't being used and why waste it if there's a way I can hook it up in the weight room?!

Yes, your correct. It's been a loooooong time since I messed with car audio. Along came wife, yard work, tren..... FML

Same here man...Which is why I have the extra sub now lol. Getting too old for the loud bumping music in the truck:p
 

Sully

AnaSCI VET / Donating Member
Dec 3, 2012
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36
Not a problem, I'm sure you'll have it running without any help.

What kind of enclosure is that Kicker sub in? You'll get better output in a big(ish) vented enclosure than in a sealed enclosure, especially inside.
 

Sully

AnaSCI VET / Donating Member
Dec 3, 2012
3,324
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36
Yes, your correct. It's been a loooooong time since I messed with car audio. Along came wife, kids, yard work, tren..... FML

I actually do car audio fabrication work on my days off so I can afford Tren. Just finshed building my new router table a few days ago.
 

K1

Blue-Eyed Devil...
Jun 25, 2006
5,046
1
38
Correction, the SA100 is only $95, with free shipping I believe.

Thanks man...Worked perfect! Everything is bumpin' in the weightroom now...Tested it out with some Rob Baily to scare the little neighborhood kids:headbang:
 

Sully

AnaSCI VET / Donating Member
Dec 3, 2012
3,324
0
36
Thanks man...Worked perfect! Everything is bumpin' in the weightroom now...Tested it out with some Rob Baily to scare the little neighborhood kids:headbang:

Glad it worked for u. If anyone has any questions about home or car audio, feel free to hit me up. I'll never claim to know everything, but I'll help anyone in any way I can. I'm definitely more of a fabricator than I am a technician, though.

Who's Rob Baily, and why would it scare the kids?