Using a Car HU as a Home Audio Receiver

Blackout67

CarAudio.com Recruit
98
26
Ohio
So I have a pretty nice Kenwood units that I paid a decent amount for that's just sitting around in a box. I've also been wanting to set up a room for general music listening and got to thinking that I could use the HU as the main receiver and have a decent 4 channel (nothing big maybe 50watts a channel max). Also, the hu has a lot of great sound tuning options, very nice variable crossover selection, 6 RCA out puts, and it's just an over all pretty unit. That and I can't seem to find a quality 4 channel home audio receiver for less than $200. I've seen Pyles, but based on the reviews, they have a lot of distortion past half their rated power output.

My problem is I don't know how I'd set up a power supply for the radio. I've seen articles that say you can use a power supply from a PC. I've also seen power supplies such as the one from Massive Audio but that's expensive.

Is there anyone with experience in this field that has a cost effective way to implementing this? Don't mind if I have to do any splicing or anything like that. Or has anyone got a recommendation for a good home audio receiver that has DSP and variable crossover points?
 

Deiimos

CarAudio.com Regular
242
119
Columbus Ohio
A computer power supply will work fine. A cheap server supply as well, can get one that puts out 50 – 70 amps to power an amp as well. The fans in the sever supplies are a little noisy, but likely the cheapest solution for high current at 12v. Check your local thrift stores as well, I’ve seen tons of home receivers over the years. What part of Ohio are you in?

There are many server supplies you can use.

Example of a server supply; this will put out 12v 70 amps at 120vAC input on a single 20a breaker. However, you have to know how to wire it up, which is not as difficult as it may seem, the information is easily found to do it, and you need a plug that fits the AC input, it is not a standard PC cord. Would power a 50w 4 channel amp easily though, along with a head unit.

 

spokey9

5 time International Booty Bandit Gold Meldalist
1,885
726
NE AR
I bought my garage receiver for $10 at goodwill...it's a decent Kenwood but it's missing 1 rubber pad 😂
 

audiobaun

CarAudio.com Veteran
5,000+ posts
10+ year member
13,541
1,323
USA
I bought my garage receiver for $10 at goodwill...it's a decent Kenwood but it's missing 1 rubber pad 😂
Thats a hell of a deal on an HU man.!! I like it!!
 

SlugButter

CarAudio.com VIP
4,156
1,990
arizona