Power AMp questions need some techies here

[metalj]

Need a electronics guru here.

You know those power amps you put in your car for your car stereo that are like 1500 watts, but will fit into the palm of your hand almost and weigh like 2 pounds.

what is the difference between those and say a solid state power amp that weighs like 60 pounds used for live music??

I know one uses AC current, and one uses DC, and other than the inputs and outputs being different, and there are pre-amps involved with some music ones, why the size difference?? and is there a sound difference?

if you could convert the power, could the car stereo amp that pumps out 1500 watts of power be used to power house speakers or what ever you wanted to use them for (monitors, bass amp, guitar amp). and would the conversion be cost effective?

also the car amps go for like $50, and the sound reenforcement ones go for like $2000!! could you get a quality sound from the coverted car stereo amp for lots less money??

The car stereo amp still has to produce the 20hz-20k for us hear is right? and it is amplifing the same instruments that a live music amp is. I dont get it.


I have always wondered this, anyone know the Answers in simple laymans terms?

thanks for reading my innermost thoughts of the day so far
metalJ

 

[boingoman]

Good questions, though I gotta say your price/power comparisons are pretty funny.


People have used car amps in home setups, a lot. They run them from power supplies from computers, converters, and a bunch of other stuff. It works OK for small amps.
Short answer? Get the right amp for the right job. Amps are cheap. A high-powered car amp would require a lot of special stuff to make it useful for SR or home use at anywhere near top output, at which point you would save money, space, and time buying an SR or home amp.

All amps use current and voltage to make power. An SR amp rectifies AC from the wall, changing it to DC for the amp's circuits, and also stores energy so that it can provide the 50 amp peaks needed for say, 1000W per channel stereo, each channel with two ohms, from a 15 amp wall socket.
BTW, all electronics run on DC. Anything electronic that plugs in changes the AC to DC.

A car amp, having a source of high-current DC in the car battery, can skip the rectifier, and have a much smaller storage section, if it uses one at all. Driving one from an AC source means providing rectification, and either tons more current using multiple switching supplies like computers use, or an appropriate capacitor section for storage. And all those little goodies need space, cooling, mounting, and wiring, and cost money.