[50/50]

.....just woundering, if you could put in a 500+ watt computer PSU in an amp and make it really powerful

Obviously the voltage and ampere output of the psu would need to be regulated.. but is it accually possible ?

I dont know alot about amps, but doesnt distortion happen becuase the powersupply is giving out "dirty" power ?

[deckard]

Can't answer that directly, but I do recall a couple of threads a while back where people were suggesting using computer UPS's to supply 'clean' mains power - it all sounded a bit complicated though for my humble grey matter...

[ReTrO]

You'd need the rest of the amplifier to be capable to handel the 500w power also, otherwsie it would burn out when at high levels.

The PSU would also need to be outputting the correct voltage levels needed by the amplifier ciruitry, and lots of other little things.

It'd be very complicated, and not worht trying, but I suppose in theory it would be possible.

Not sure if it would sound very good though. PC PCU's are notoriously noisey, especially compared to the switch-mode designs used by Linn etc.

[RichardH]

Surely it's the power handling of the amplifer modules that are the limiting factor. A power supply just supplies power to the modules, and must be able to give enough power to the modules to allow them to reach their designed amplification.

So I could have a beefy transformer (which is really what the computer PSU is), kicking out 500VA, but if the power amp modules are limited to 25W, then that's all they'll give.

[50/50]

hmm.. but surely components are not used to there full potential.

For example. My CPU in my pc is origianaly clocked at 800mhz, and I have overclocked it to 1100mhz. It has been running pretty much 24/7 for the last 2 years without a problem.

So maybe that 25w module, cant acheive 50w if it supplied with clean power.

Im not an expert , I have only done an alevel in physics....

Switched mode power supplies are incredibly noisy (electrically, which you can hear), and not as powerful as you might think. That 300W computer power supply is actually a series of power supplies operating at different voltages, none of which is greater than 12V. They also are limited to about 100W per voltage (if that), so no use powering a serioulsy powerful amplifier.