Help w/ choosing car stereo parts for home stereo

[ArcticFox]

Well I have come to the dark reality of owning my very nice Monsoon MH-505 flat panels:

They arn't loud enough
The 120w amp doesn't get loud or powerful enough
Lacks volume
Not enough wattage

So I want an audio system that will put out like a pregnant woman. My 505's work for most things, but when I did a frequency sweep I found a hole (forgot where, I want to say 20,000Hz but I don't know) where it would just cut out. I haven't really noticed it plainly when listening to music or games, but it's there nonetheless. So, I've decided I want to set up two audio systems - one for higher volumes and one for when other people are around. But the problem is that I am on a budget - I tight one. So I have decided I would like to use car speakers, a car amp of hopefully more than 500 watts, a sub, and some way to wire it up to my comp or whatnot.

I need some assistance in choosing parts. Of course I will be checking eBay and used parts places for hot deals, but if you know of new stuff send me the link. Here is what I desire:

Amp of more than 450-500 watts, even an 800 would work.
A good sub, but also one that won't break my budget. 8-10" is fine
I'll probably wind up getting Premier or Pioneer speakers
Some way to wire everything up to my PC/DVD player....
A good inverter

Can I even wire it up to my comp with RCA inputs in the first place? Call the whole thing off if I can't. But can you recommend some good brands that won't bust the bank? Also, if I need something I don't have listed here please lemme know.

Thanks!

Um. Why blow the money on car components that don't even run on AC when you can shell $300 for a really nice shelf system that'll blow the doors off your 505s? Going with car components is kind of not good.

[Darthgary]

I agree, go with a shelf system.

[Mr. Goodbytes]

BTW, I'm fairly sure 20,000 Hz is the upper limit for the frequency range that a human ear can detect. Wouldn't worry so much about anything above it. I also agree with the others. Purchase something designed for home theater. They are better designed to match the sounds that are typical of movies.

[ArcticFox]

OK well then it's 10,000Hz, my bad. But it's because car components are waaay cheaper than home theatre stuff, with more power to boot. Say, can you find me 1,000 watt amps that go in your home? BZZT! But I don't want a 1000 watt amp btw, even 500 would do but the extra power is always nice with a 600-800w.

So yeah, I won't be listening to DVD's on this (with the player I don't have, BTW, still working on that), it's just for music and whatnot when everyone is out of the house. Did I mention I don't care about multichannel? What I want is either a 2.1 or a 4.1 but no multichannel/surround. Just 2 or 4 speakers and a sub. If I want to play games, that's what my 5.1 Monsoons are for. But they arn't made for volume (trust me on this, if you are considering Monsoon speakers don't expect power, expect brilliant mid-range and a unique audio character)

Run down on my dwelling - it sucks. The walls? If they were made out of reams of paper it would muffle sound more. No, our walls were made to let you have all the doors closed and converse to each other in different rooms at normal levels. It's...annoying, when people are sleeping I can't do anything in my room except sleep, and I hate that.

So yeah, back to my original question - can someone help me? I will probably, if I go through with this project, build speaker enclosures myself because those things at Radio Shack look like something the cat coughed up. I pretty much know what sats I'd like, don't have a model number but I'll take what Premier or even Pioneer has to offer. My mom has 4 Premier speakers in her car, and her b/f has I think an all Premeir lineup in his Datsun 510 (V6 Capri motor, turbo, lowered white wagon) with a 10" sub and a 300w amp.

So, what brands are good, what inverter should I get and where do I find it?

Also, my bad, if you can find a 400 watt or so amp I guess that would work. My problem is that I'm 16, and my hearing is already going wonky from genetic problems (dad's side) and I'm not sure what else. It's not that I listen to my stuff loud, but I kind of need it louder than some people would like so I can hear everything. There is a pretty complicated story with my hearing and vision being funky involving more things than I care to mention here. I'm trying to get myself to deal with low volumes, but I just can't. I'm not a crank-it-to-11 person, I like normal people volumes except those volumes have to be raised a little for these ears. My Counter-Strike gaming is played slightly louder than your averagee Joe n00b, because it gives me an advantage to be able to hear yet another stupid CT running far away so I can swoop around and plant my AWP's reticule on his pitiful head, in which I then sqeeze the trigger and bump myself in 2nd place. Oh, so many n00bs, so little time....

[ArcticFox]

Status update - my folks just said if I returned or somehow got my money back for my Monsoon's they would fork over the extra for a set of Logitech Z-560's. Pretty sweet huh?

Originally posted by ArcticFox
But it's because car components are waaay cheaper than home theatre stuff, with more power to boot. Say, can you find me 1,000 watt amps that go in your home? BZZT! But I don't want a 1000 watt amp btw, even 500 would do but the extra power is always nice with a 600-800w.

Bzzt, you are incorrect. My eight year reciever puts out 440Watts, and it was the cheapest one Sony made at the time. There are several, if not many receiver/amplifiers that put out well over 1,000 watts. See, what happened is someone tricked you into believe that more watts = better. Sure, usually it does, but not always. Not when you start comparing car audio to home audio, there's a huge difference there.

A.) You will not get a sound you like out of a car stereo component system in your house. They aren't made for houses, they're made for cars. And yes, there is a difference.

B.) You don't need anywhere near 1,000 watts for what you want. You could walk down to Rex, or heck, Best Buy and pick up an entire stereo system with CD-changer, tape deck, and probably dolby surround sound that would blow the pants off your new Z560s, along with any sort of car audio system you could build. Don't believe me? Try it. Computer multimedia systems are built for gaming. Satellite speakers are typically too small to reproduce low-mid frequencies properly, and the subs are great, but they can't touch a 12" or 15" sub you'd get with a home audio system. I've got an Altec Lansing 641 system (hush, OuT ) and the bass thunders when I've got it cranked. It can't touch the dual 10"s in my home stereo. And my home stereo is eight years old.

C.) I'm glad you're going with the Z560s. I'd hate to see you waste your money on all the work you'd have to put into a car component system just to have it sound like crap.

Okay, I'll stop babbling now.

[Heavy_Equipment]

I agree with Whir, don't be fooled by big numbers.
Look at Harmon Kardon for an example.
50 watts per channel, and it will eat most competition.

I use a Kenwood VR-405. It was their cheapest Dolby Digital/DTS receiver when I bought it, 80x5, and a sub pre-out. It's hooked to a set of JBL SCS136SI bookself speakers, with a 100 watt downfiring JBL sub.

This system shakes the house, and is crystal clear. Total cost is roughly $400 US.

[Brainchild]

If your really on a tight budget, the word Pawn Shop comes to mind.I do a lot of shopping around in those places.You can usually tell if something has been taken care of,or thrashed.
And Whir is right,a home system will blow away anything you rig up out of car components.

[ArcticFox]

Well alright, thanks everyone for the advice. After posting here I was talking to my mom's BF and learned that car amps and speakers are expressed in PMPO, not RMS. It's retarded, so if you had a 1,000w home theatre amp and a 1,000w car amp and compared them, the car one would have, hmm, don't even know because they use the stupid PMPO rating for when it is only max volume.

Now I just hope my freind takes the bait and buys my 505's from me...hehehehehe....