hooking car audio subs to a home system

[trinidon2k]

i might not be getting an amp until september or october....so for no i have two s12l7 kicker subs are just sitting in my room......would there be any damage to the subs if i hook it up to my home audio system?

[jllphan]

Yes, don't do it. I don't care what anyone on this site tells you, it's a bad idea. I will explain more when I get home.

[trinidon2k]

even if its just for a few minutes would it do any damage?...im fiending to hear these subs :P

[bitcore]

If you have a sub amplifier, it wont hurt it cause it was made to do this. ....but if you have an amp only made to hook up to midrange and tweets, then NO. that will damage the amp.

[kassper]

Your system at home probably wouldnt have enough power to pump out what is needed for the subs to even get a picture of what it may sound like..

[jllphan]

Ok, the slightly more technical answer is, no.

A car audio sub is designed to work in a different enviornment. Most home amps output DC current (upon the switch from the step down) of a voltage and impedence that differs from that of a car amp. While the specific output of a home amp greatly differs due to a wide variance is build quality, most car amplifiers run on +12-14.4volts/20-70amps@1-4ohm. While there are extreme examples that deviate from the aforementioned, this is most common.

Beyond that, Bitcore mentions the realistic likelyhood of harmful frequencies reaching the sub. Unless those subs are crossedover at a bare minimum of 200hz, you could dammage them from that as well.

Kicker recomends 5-15 hours of break in anyway. They are very rigid (as I am sure you noticed) and will improve with regards to performance as time goes on. I ran low frequency pink noise through mine for a day prior to installation as to speed up the break in period.

Yeah it'll work, but not a great idea. Ya got a nice pair of subs, just hang on until you can toss 'em in your ride.

[wulley1]

how did you run the "pink noise" and at what frequency and power is this supposed to be done?

[Kevin325i]

From experience........ Don't do it.

[jllphan]

Had a test CD I got from Infinity. You could make your own I'm sure. With your Rapsidy, Kazaa, etc. you could find a sample. Then just burn it to a CDR and play it through an amp with an LPF set at 160hz or lower. Stick the cd on repeat and play at low volume for a while.

Not all that necessary, but I've had a few guys blow up their L7's real quick because they installed them and immediately started wanking on them. As I stated before, these are rigid subs and need a break-in period. I just did mine prior to installation.