Run a Sub off of an inverter?

[deerefanatic]

I might have a chance to get a Kenwood Home Audio subwoofer for a little of nothing. Small 100watt unit......... My question is, I have a 800 watt inverter wired in, could I feasibly run the sub off the inverter, or would the amp not appreciate it? I know some digital battery chargers can't be run off of an inverter........

Just wondering.........

[Hit Man X]

You're better off running mobile audio parts...

[deerefanatic]

Oh, I know.....But you see, most places have this policy that they CHARGE for the priviledge of letting you aquire mobile audio parts............... This sub belongs to someone I'm working for who might let me have it in trade........free........See?

[Whiskeydan]

It should work fine. The amp's power transformer may run a little warm as the inverter is not suppling a nice sine wave.
I'd imagine the heat, cold, humidity of the auto environment will take its toll on that sub in short time.

[mobetta]

look around at pawn shops for a small bridgable amp for your car. than you can use the sub, without running a bunch of extra crap.

[amosfella]

Should work. if it's free, why not plug it in and try?? what kind of power inverter is it??

[Emmerich]

Seeing as home stereos typically run 8 ohm impedence and car stereos run 2 ohm, you will have trouble getting a signal to drive it. If it was unpowered there is no way it would work, you could blow the amp. Not sure what this would do but I bet the current draw will melt something. Hope it isn't a car you like. You need to determine the AMPS the sub draws, the watts you quote is not the amperage.

100 watts into 2 ohms is 25 into 8. Thats why a 100 watt home stereo is not the same as a 100 watt car stereo. And this is why you don't see people scarfing up old Realistic home gear and bolting them in their trunk.

[Monomer]

Originally Posted by Emmerich

Seeing as home stereos typically run 8 ohm impedence and car stereos run 2 ohm, you will have trouble getting a signal to drive it. If it was unpowered there is no way it would work, you could blow the amp. Not sure what this would do but I bet the current draw will melt something. Hope it isn't a car you like. You need to determine the AMPS the sub draws, the watts you quote is not the amperage.

100 watts into 2 ohms is 25 into 8. Thats why a 100 watt home stereo is not the same as a 100 watt car stereo. And this is why you don't see people scarfing up old Realistic home gear and bolting them in their trunk.

we're talking about a powered sub here?

Watts is a useless measurment. It should only be used when matching amps to speakers (the 1.5x RMS rule) Cars speakers usually run 80-91db SPL, and relay HEAVELY on the 6db cabin gain the car provides. Home audio (for the most part) is rated roughly 95 db, so it's almost (or more than) double the actual "loudness" of most car audio (a 3db gain is doubling in volume.)


My PA gear runs nearly flat to 40hz with low distortion and ovewr 99db SPL. It sounds nicer than any car systems I've ever heard. Ya'll DO realize how long a low frequency wave can be, right?

[retx]

Originally Posted by Monomer

My PA gear runs nearly flat to 40hz with low distortion and ovewr 99db SPL. It sounds nicer than any car systems I've ever heard. Ya'll DO realize how long a low frequency wave can be, right?

what system are you running? by trade i am a live sound engineer/recording engineer. Ive used everything from homemade calico systems to eaw 850 to vertec to the newest line array. and although they all claim to be flat....i have never been happily satisfied with one and thier claim. even when using macscope/smaartlive/spectrafoo or any other rta. please dont say the magic stick in detroit.

[Stasis]

I've never meet an engineer that didn't tell me he was an engineer by the second sentence. I usually reply with "Really? Which railroad?" But RETX is a sound guy, and they know their craft.
A 40hz wavelength is 28 ft. crest to crest by the way. I tune the system in my Grand Cherokee by rolling the 5 windows up and down. That said, 120v home gear just doesn't like being fed 12v. In fact, it doesn't like most residential 120v! Bottom line, wait till you can put a car amp in. Odds are you'll have major noise and heat issues at best. And do you REALLY want to start clamping into an MB electrical system? Most barely tolerate their own fuses.

[Stasis]

I've never meet an engineer that didn't tell me he was an engineer by the second sentence. I usually reply with "Really? Which railroad?" But RETX is a sound guy, and they know their craft.
A 40hz wavelength is 28 ft. crest to crest by the way. I tune the system in my Grand Cherokee by rolling the 5 windows up and down. That said, 120v home gear just doesn't like being fed 12v. In fact, it doesn't like most residential 120v! Bottom line, wait till you can put a car amp in. Odds are you'll have major noise and heat issues at best. And do you REALLY want to start clamping into an MB electrical system? Most barely tolerate their own fuses.

[Benz300]

walmart has a subwoofer with amp package for about $60 these days as a promotional item. That is designed to run on 12V.
Any 120V sub, iron, etc etc draws a lot of current to work as they're designed to work that way. it's not just the voltage but the current that the converter is giving out that needs to be kept in mind.

[retx]

Originally Posted by Stasis

I've never meet an engineer that didn't tell me he was an engineer by the second sentence. I usually reply with "Really? Which railroad?"

well im not sure if i should take that as a compliment or a slap. sure soundguy is nice. engineer is correct as well. its not like im a janitor and call myself by any other name. im also a recording/mixing engineer, have my own studio, and have built plenty and studied under an acoustician. wanna read up on some physics of sound.....sorry, geeking out there.