Hi I've got a 400watt car amp and i want to hook it up to my home stereo. People are saying to use an ATX Computer power supply. I wanted to know if you can use any type of computer power supply or does it have to be an ATX? Is there something about the ATX that is different to the rest? Could someone please help me with this? Thanks!!
i'm not sure but i don't think you could hook it up in your home because it runs on a 12-14 volt system and to turn on, the on/off switch requires a 12-14 volt pull on the amp.
I think that ATX power supply would last till you turn it up about 1/4 of the way. that is a lot of power on one rail of that power supply.
there is multiple rails on that power supply. the watt load of all the rails add up to the total wattage. a 400 watt Power supply might only have a 200 watt capacity on the + 12v rail.
BTW ATX is a standard, There is not really a whole lot of other options. Also, be prepared to spend some money to get a decent one.