This article will discuss how to connect a car radio at home, and not in a car. In fact, there is nothing complicated in the procedure. But you will need some devices, which will be discussed below. Car radios are able to provide high quality sound that does not compare with most amplifiers produced directly for use at home.
In addition, in any car radio, it is possible to connect an external signal source (TV, computer, telephone). As well as a device for reproducing low frequencies (subwoofer). But not all radios, unfortunately, allow you to connect subwoofers. This issue will be considered below.
What do you need to connect?
The first thing you need is a power supply for the car radio. It must meet all the requirements that will be discussed in this article. A quality speaker system is also desirable. Do not forget that the radio has a four-channel output. Therefore, it is easy to make a 5.1 system - two speakers from the front, two from the back and a subwoofer. Of course, you will need wires to connect a specific radio.
For normal operation, the radio must be mounted neatly, preferably in the same housing as the power supply. You can make it from any material, but it will be easier to work with wood. After manufacturing the case, you can do its design in order to achieve maximum harmony. Ideally, if all the acoustics, the case with the power supply and radio will have the same design.
Nutrition requirements
It is worth noting that before connecting the car radio at home, you need to decide on the power. One important parameter is the output current of the source. At high volume, the consumption of the tape recorder increases, therefore, you need a powerful power source. A good option is the one that is installed in computer power supplies. In addition, it has forced cooling; additional filtering of the output current is not required.
If you intend to make the power supply yourself, then it is necessary that it produces a current of up to 6 Amps. This value will be enough for the car radio to work stably. However, if you need to connect a subwoofer amplifier, then you need to act on the basis of the situation, namely, from the current consumption of the device. The power supply for the car radio must have high-quality cooling, both natural and forced. Otherwise, semiconductor elements will fail.
Acoustic Requirements
Now a little about the speakers, since it is impossible to connect a car radio at home without it. Pay attention to what speaker impedance can be connected to the radio output. As a rule, it is 4 ohms, this standard has long been used. Therefore, switching on an 8-Ohm load will not produce the expected results. The sound will be completely different, the volume will be small.
Each speaker must be placed in a separate box. And it is desirable that in one case there were three playback devices - for medium, low, high frequencies. Of course, there will be low frequencies, but not as spectacular as when using a subwoofer. And do not forget about the resonators, the sound quality depends on them.
Subwoofer connection
Now consider how to connect a subwoofer to the car radio. There is nothing easier if there is a special exit. It connects to an amplifier, and the latter with a subwoofer. But what if there is no such way out? Then you need to follow the path of least resistance and take a signal from one of the channels. But not from the output of the car radio, but from the entrance. A subwoofer requires a weak signal. It is converted several times into an amplifier. First of all, he goes to the low-pass filter.
With its help, everything that is not in the range of 20-60 Hz is cut off from the sound, for example (adjustment is made on the amplifier itself). Then the signal goes to the amplification stages. Depending on the manufacturer, there may be several. But often only one chip is installed. Since connecting the Pioneer car radio was not difficult, let's figure out what happens when the signal is amplified further. There is no need to break it into channels (the amplifier works in the “mono” mode), then the microcircuit turns on according to the bridge circuit. This allows you to double the output power. Therefore, you can connect a subwoofer and not only if there is a connector for it. The main thing is to know the essence of the processes taking place in the system of these devices.
conclusions
Now you know how to connect the car radio at home, what accessories are needed for this, as well as the basic requirements for all nodes. To improve the sound of acoustics, you need to select the volume of the subwoofer based on the size of the room in which it will be installed. And, of course, follow electrical safety precautions.