I'm setting up a sound system for my dorm room and I want to use a car's head unit to power the speakers. The head unit requires a 12V input, and I'm considering using a solid-state step-down transformer to make this happen. To keep costs low, I'm interested in finding "broken" appliances or items that have the 120-12 transformers capable of delivering over 5 amps. Any suggestions on what to look for? Thanks in advance!
3 Answers
Just a heads up, make sure to specify solid state in your description if you're looking for that! Looks like there's a typo in your original post.
If you're looking for something reliable, a PC power supply could work, but for audio applications, a non-switching supply would be better to avoid noise issues.
You might want to check out those power bricks from laptops. They often output around 14VDC at 5A, and they're usually pretty easy to find and cheap!