Running One Amplifier For Another?

[milesmiles]

Right now I have a 240 watt amp hooked up to my laptop, and I have to have the gain turned up pretty high to get my 150 watt sub moving. Today I accidentally threw it into thermal protect mode after having it up for a while. What I'm thinking is that the laptop and the 3.5 mm stereo jack just can't put out enough power, so I was thinking I might purchase a mini-amplifier such as this: http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.c...tnumber=248-460, and having the laptop go to that, and that go to the 240 watt amp. Would this be feasible, and would it help my sound?

[Neo_frog]

Right now I have a 240 watt amp hooked up to my laptop, and I have to have the gain turned up pretty high to get my 150 watt sub moving. Today I accidentally threw it into thermal protect mode after having it up for a while. What I'm thinking is that the laptop and the 3.5 mm stereo jack just can't put out enough power, so I was thinking I might purchase a mini-amplifier such as this: http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.c...tnumber=248-460, and having the laptop go to that, and that go to the 240 watt amp. Would this be feasible, and would it help my sound?

I would just kank the idea entirely. The headphone jack puts out enough voltage to move earbuds and maybe some little speakers. You are trying to run a sub off of it.

You will not get loud off of a headphone jack. You will get a little louder by amplifying the output to go to the other amp, but there's still input sensitivity on the sub amp which will cause problems. Plus I guarantee it won't be tuned properly and you will just end up cooking equipment.

[milesmiles]

What kind of equipment would it be best to run a sub off of? I have other things in the house, like a CD player with bigger outputs.

[BJD3]

Buy a system made for your computer. While connecting a subwoofer to you computer is possible, it just doesn't work very well.

EDIT: If you just insist on using a subwoofer of your choosing, buy a computer system, and strip it down.

While I didn't complete my project, I'd already had subs and an amp, but when I started looking into a power supply that would be able to power the sub, and then the MDF to build the box, I was spending the same amount of money on a project that probably wouldn't turn out well, as I would if I bought a proven system. I'm telling you, get a decent computer system, and don't look back.