I have a Polk Audio Powered subwoofer (Model Number: PSW 111, 110 volts) it's a nice little 8inch box with big sound. It bumps really good. I plugged it into a wall outlet in my house and it sounded very good. But I would like to know how to install it in my Hhr to the stock radio that's already in there. But it tripped me out because it requires a wall plug, but I was told that it can be done. So can someone please tell me what I would have to buy in order to make this work?? Please oh please. Thank you so much it is very much appreciated

 

Well.......... putting a home subwoofer in a car does not make a whole lot of sense first off. That sucker is HEAVY, and like you said, it requires 110V (house current). Being heavy means you will need to secure it inside the vehicle as obviously you don't want a 20 lb missile inside your car in an accident or even in heavy braking.

So you either have to use a long long long power cord , or determine how many watts it will draw on 110v (its not the same as the wattage of the speaker), and buy a suitable 12 power converter that can handle the current draw of the speaker with a little extra headroom. then you have to find a place to mount the converter and mount it securely.

Then unless you want to get into buying some fancy adapter cables that MIGHT work, you will have to cut the front speaker wires and run them into the INPUT on the subwoofer. Then run wires from the output side of the sub back to the front speakers.

Does it sound like something you still want to do now?

 

Infinity and MTX make similar units that are 12V and come with mounting hardware.

 

I kind of like the idea of a really long extension power cord.

 

Enjoy the Polk subwoofer at home, and get a subwoofer designed for automotive use. Because some things just aren't meant to leave home

 

Oh my. That is alot. This is my first car and everything, I was just happy to get a Sub. But I am not going to put that in, guess I'll just have to buy MY own. Thank you for your Help though. Any other ideas or suggestions?

 

Sorry that we let you down, but running AC powered equipment in any vehicle can be a royal pain, AC to DC converters are a compromise and they can put a heavy load on the electrical system.

Check out our Classifieds forum because Subs and other car audio equipment does show up there, plus there's e-bay too.

It's just one of those "more trouble than it's worth" deals, you might even want to check with some car audio places in your area, they might give you a good deal on swapping the Polk Sub for something more suitable.

 

Congrats on the first car - that is a great feeling isn't it? Sorry to disappoint you on the compatibility of a home sub in a car. It's just not worth the trouble, and is just impractical at best.

843de has notes some good options for you there - even check out flea markets, swap meets, and garage sales if funds are kinda tight.

If you haven't already done so, browse some of the other threads in this Audio and Video section - there is a lot of good info here, and some very experienced home builders here that have put together some awesome sound systems in their HHRs. If you have access to some wood working tools, you could build your own Sub box, and pump it with an automotive 12v amp.

Even replacing the stock speakers in the doors can really help - and a number of members here have done that, and you might want to consider that as step 1 in improving the sound.

Keep in touch, and let us know how it works out for you.

:)

 

I'm an amateur radio operator and have a lot of experience working on things electronic. If you are not experienced with these things I don't suggest you do this

The chances are that your sub woofer has 12 volt circuitry inside it. You would have to open it up and see where the power transformer is, then use a VOM {volt ohm meter}[ most 12 volt devices are fine between 9 and 17 volts input] to determine what the output power of the power supply is.

It may be written on the circuit board. If it is 12 volts {plus or minus a little} you could probably power it directly with the 12 volts in your car.

I have a KLM, 10” powered sub woofer hooked up to my television setup. It has a plate amp rated at 400 watts RMS and it kicks serious butt when I turn it up a little. I got it from my brother in law because it had stopped working for him. The power supply had some burned up diodes in it and a bad capacitor so I rebuilt it and it has worked just fine for the last several years now.

I rarely ever turn it off because it is not real convenient to get to and the power switch is mounted on the back of the box its in.

The plate amp in my sub woofer requires 15 amps of current to work correctly so you would have to install at least a 15 amp fuse to run it.

Altec Lansing makes a pretty decent little powered sub like this one;

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ALTEC-ACS-Multimedia-Computer-Speakers-Surround-Subwoofer-TESTED-/111321632435?pt=US_Computer_Speakers&hash=item19eb494eb3
This one does have a built in power supply but you really don't need to use the satellite speakers with it to control the volume, it has its own volume control on it.

I have a set of these lashed up to my laptop docking station and they sound pretty decent. They will run with a cheap and cheesy 75 watt power inverter I bought at Walmart, that I can plug into the cigar lighter/power socket in the car.

All you would need to do is tap into the speaker wires in your car and make a patch cord to run to the sub. The real problem with a setup like this would be tearing up the wires with the sub just floating around inside your car.

I'm not sure about all the different stereos they might have put in HHR's, mine is a six disk changer but it does not have any sub ports built in. This is fine with me I am well pleased with the speakers in the doors.

Naturally you will not be winning any sound system competitions if you are using a computer sub, but a little extra bass might be just what you need.

 

Thank you Much for all of your guys help. I think I will see if I can trade in the sub for something else. And since funds are rather tight, I guess I'll hold off on the sub, I'll just try to find a good deal. But I will get a tint job, ima get limo tint on the 7rear Windows