Garage amp

So my 19 year old JVC amp died the other day. Now the volume doesn't work, it clicks inside, and the speakers pop loudly. I'm guessing dead. Cleaned it out, removed the 1/4 inch of garage dust etc, no apparent leaking caps or anything, but I'm guessing a few relays are now dead.

So, fine. I'm ok with a new one. I'm pushing polk RC-70's (7" in wall speakers) inside- mainly one pair coupled with an old set of infinity box speakers (10" with tweeter sp105's?).

Suggestions? How much power do I need? I've seen some cheapos, and some higher end. I'd like to be in around $100, but certainly less than $200.

Enough?

Denon $109

Those little $20 lepai amps are impressive, they'll drive any set of bookshelf speakers pretty damn well, but not that impressive.

Why not go for the traditional garage system of a car stereo rigged up to a junked computer PSU?

ah, because it's what I've got. I've had the JVC for 20 years, don't have a car stereo handy. Didn't think the ohm rating of the speakers was similar.

I like the Denon idea.

This, screwed to the wall above the pass door, so I can hit the power switch coming and going.

Fed by this, mounted on the ceiling by the big door. It's paired to my phone where all my music is stored.

Powering a pair of these sitting high on either side of the garage.

Enough volume to piss off the neighbors, pretty good quality and you can't beat the price.

It's playing Long Train Running off The Best of the Doobies at the moment.

I stand corrected, give the Lepai a go.

In reply to Toyman01:

What is the thing on the ceiling? Is that some sort of bluetooth connection thingy? I'd love to have something like that to stream music from my phone.

I use an Adcom GFA-535ii, but, well, that's a little bit of overkill. It just happened to be what I had sitting around.

I use the Lepai amp in both my shops, and have used them in a car in the past. Get two, and a splitter cable, and power each set of speakers with a separate amp.

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/garage-audiocomputer-solution/57064/page1/

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/custom-lightweight-car-audio/58623/page1/

Hmm. For the price, I'll give the lepai a shot. That Denon seems like a fair deal though.

Slippery wrote: In reply to Toyman01: What is the thing on the ceiling? Is that some sort of bluetooth connection thingy? I'd love to have something like that to stream music from my phone.

It's a Logictech Bluetooth adapter.

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Speaker-Adapter-Bluetooth/dp/B004VM1T5S/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1404067402&sr=8-2&keywords=logitech+bluetooth+receiver

I have one in the shop and another in the house. They are paired to my phone and tablet.

I still think having a radio in the garage is nice, so something like the Denon gets my nod. Also easy to add more equipment like if you wanted to add a CD player or something like that later.

My old Sansui amp and ginormous speakers are still in Toyman's shop. I gotta get that crap out of his way.

Every thrift store there is has a pile of $10 receivers. Sometimes you can get lucky and find a behemoth late 70s Pioneer SX that doesn't need new caps and power transistors yet.

I have a DeWalt jobsite radio. It's not cheap (was a gift in my case), but it's designed to withstand dusty/abusive environments and it is easily moved. Bonus - charges my 18v batteries and will run on said battery if needed.

I prefer thrift shop specials too.

Saw this in the Parts Express sale ad I got in the mail last week. You can get The 200W Class D Lepai with built in Bluetooth now.

http://www.parts-express.com/lepai-lp7498e-200w-class-d-digital-amplifier-with-bluetooth-and-power-supply--310-298

• Lee

In reply to bigdaddylee82:

36V x 4.5A != 200 watts. Figuring 90% efficiency due the nature of Class D (and a figure I found in about 20 seconds of searching online), it's more like 145 watts max. Still nothing to sneeze at for the task at hand and having BT built in solves a problem that was asked about originally.

+1 on the goodwill stereo. The one in my shop was $15, came with 4 speakers, and has a cool joystick for balance and fade.

Toyman01 wrote:

Slippery wrote: In reply to Toyman01: What is the thing on the ceiling? Is that some sort of bluetooth connection thingy? I'd love to have something like that to stream music from my phone.

It's a Logictech Bluetooth adapter. http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Speaker-Adapter-Bluetooth/dp/B004VM1T5S/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1404067402&sr=8-2&keywords=logitech+bluetooth+receiver I have one in the shop and another in the house. They are paired to my phone and tablet.

That's great!! I did not even know such thing existed. Just ordered one on Amazon.

Digital amps that don't have digital inputs piss me off.

Swank Force One wrote: Digital amps that don't have digital inputs piss me off.

"Class D" is still an analog amplifier, it's just one that works in the same fashion as a switching power supply and which may have a digital micro controller managing it.

What speakers do recommend for driving with that small amp? Anything new that is not very expensive? I'm not looking for huge garage sound - just something respectable. I have something like this right now, and it sounds like ass when I put anything on with bass.

In reply to ProDarwin:

Computer speakers with a remote sub?

These are my garage "sound system" at the moment. They came with a old Pentium III Gateway desktop I got when I moved off to college. For some reason I still have the speakers but not the computer. Lost the A/C adapter long ago, so I use a universal adapter to power them. The signal input wire developed a short near the 3.5 mm plug, so I sacrificed an old set of head phones for their 3.5 mm plug and soldered it in place of the bad one.

I have an older Android Captivate Glide phone, stream Slacker, Pandora, or play .mp3s from my music library. I've even caught SWMBO streaming iHeart Radio on them with her iPhone while working in the garage.

They can get a little distorted if you "turn it up to 11," but they sound good at reasonable levels, and can generally be heard above all but the noisiest of garage activities, like grinding, or air tools.

Computer speakers are cheap, plentiful, and typically already have a 3.5mm plug for your typical audio sources.

• Lee