I had this idea for a summer project to keep me entertained:

I have been reading about making home stereo speakers.

I want to do this using car speakers, not traditionally hi-fi speakers,
anyone tried it?

I like the look of Kenwood and Sony models, and I have my eye on the
KFC-1758S and XS-V1633.

It's just an idea for a project for the summer. I have a stereo amp which
will switch between 4 (cars) and 8 (Hi-Fi) ohms. I want to use this to drive
car speakers but
someone has told me that it won't work as cars fun on 12 volts (which I
knew). But thinking
about it and applying Ohms law (V = I x r) I don't see why the 12 volts
supplied by the battery
matters.

I am aware of the 4 ohm (car) and 8 ohm (hi-fi) difference. Any other
problems? Anyone have any experience?

Also, are all car speakers 4 ohms out of interest?

Thanks

Whoever told you that it won't work is wrong...

The 12v that powers the radio/amplifier/etc in a car has nothing to do with
the speaker impedence...

You can certainly use 'car' speakers with a hifi system, if the terminal
impedence is acceptable for the hifi amplifier.

Most aftermarket speakers are 4-ohm, except some subs that are 6-ohm or dual
voice coil. A sub with two 4-ohm voice coils can be wired to present a 2-ohm
or 8-ohm load.

David
UnderTheDash.com


"Forest" wrote in message
...
I had this idea for a summer project to keep me entertained:

I have been reading about making home stereo speakers.

I want to do this using car speakers, not traditionally hi-fi speakers,
anyone tried it?

I like the look of Kenwood and Sony models, and I have my eye on the
KFC-1758S and XS-V1633.

It's just an idea for a project for the summer. I have a stereo amp which
will switch between 4 (cars) and 8 (Hi-Fi) ohms. I want to use this to
drive
car speakers but
someone has told me that it won't work as cars fun on 12 volts (which I
knew). But thinking
about it and applying Ohms law (V = I x r) I don't see why the 12 volts
supplied by the battery
matters.

I am aware of the 4 ohm (car) and 8 ohm (hi-fi) difference. Any other
problems? Anyone have any experience?

Also, are all car speakers 4 ohms out of interest?

Thanks

I had this idea for a summer project to keep me entertained:

I have been reading about making home stereo speakers.

I want to do this using car speakers, not traditionally hi-fi speakers,
anyone tried it?

I like the look of Kenwood and Sony models, and I have my eye on the
KFC-1758S and XS-V1633.

It's just an idea for a project for the summer. I have a stereo amp which
will switch between 4 (cars) and 8 (Hi-Fi) ohms. I want to use this to
drive
car speakers but
someone has told me that it won't work as cars fun on 12 volts (which I
knew). But thinking
about it and applying Ohms law (V = I x r) I don't see why the 12 volts
supplied by the battery
matters.

It matters because it simply will not turn on if you provide 12 volts DC to
an amplifier that needs 110 volts AC to run.

I am aware of the 4 ohm (car) and 8 ohm (hi-fi) difference. Any other
problems? Anyone have any experience?

Also, are all car speakers 4 ohms out of interest?

No, not all. But most.

no problems at all if your home amp likes the car stereo
speakers 4 ohm impedance... (most will work just fine)

I have car woofers in one pair of my home speakers and
they sound great!

Several years back at the CES show in Vegas John Durbin
(DEI car audio) had some nice looking home speakers in
a very nice listening area (which is common in all the booths
with home stereo) but suprise suprise they were car audio
speakers... I guess John was trying to show the *car speakers*
were capable of competing with the big dogs in a home audio
industry.... It was an impressive suprise for me, a demo
asking for contoversial comments and not to be easily forgotten...

Eddie


Forest wrote:

I had this idea for a summer project to keep me entertained:

I have been reading about making home stereo speakers.

I want to do this using car speakers, not traditionally hi-fi speakers,
anyone tried it?

I like the look of Kenwood and Sony models, and I have my eye on the
KFC-1758S and XS-V1633.

It's just an idea for a project for the summer. I have a stereo amp which
will switch between 4 (cars) and 8 (Hi-Fi) ohms. I want to use this to drive
car speakers but
someone has told me that it won't work as cars fun on 12 volts (which I
knew). But thinking
about it and applying Ohms law (V = I x r) I don't see why the 12 volts
supplied by the battery
matters.

I am aware of the 4 ohm (car) and 8 ohm (hi-fi) difference. Any other
problems? Anyone have any experience?

Also, are all car speakers 4 ohms out of interest?

Thanks

Which amps need 12 volts DC, and which 110 volts AC?

If you have a speaker of 4 ohms, and you gradually turn the volume up, the
current through the speakers would presumably increase, and the voltage
would adjust. Would it?

What would happen if u used a hi-fi amp to drive car speakers then?


"Mark Zarella" wrote in message
...
I had this idea for a summer project to keep me entertained:

I have been reading about making home stereo speakers.

I want to do this using car speakers, not traditionally hi-fi speakers,
anyone tried it?

I like the look of Kenwood and Sony models, and I have my eye on the
KFC-1758S and XS-V1633.

It's just an idea for a project for the summer. I have a stereo amp
which
will switch between 4 (cars) and 8 (Hi-Fi) ohms. I want to use this to
drive
car speakers but
someone has told me that it won't work as cars fun on 12 volts (which I
knew). But thinking
about it and applying Ohms law (V = I x r) I don't see why the 12 volts
supplied by the battery
matters.

It matters because it simply will not turn on if you provide 12 volts DC
to
an amplifier that needs 110 volts AC to run.

I am aware of the 4 ohm (car) and 8 ohm (hi-fi) difference. Any other
problems? Anyone have any experience?

Also, are all car speakers 4 ohms out of interest?

No, not all. But most.

Which amps need 12 volts DC, and which 110 volts AC?

Car amps need 12vdc and home amps need 110vac.

If you have a speaker of 4 ohms, and you gradually turn the volume up, the
current through the speakers would presumably increase, and the voltage
would adjust. Would it?

No, the voltage at the output is (relatively) independent of the load
presented. Decrease the impedance of the load and you'll increase the
current (and thus the power) delivered to the load.

What would happen if u used a hi-fi amp to drive car speakers then?

It will run car speakers fine. You said it was stable at 4 ohms.

Thanks Eddie, at least there is hope!


"Eddie Runner" wrote in message
...
no problems at all if your home amp likes the car stereo
speakers 4 ohm impedance... (most will work just fine)

I have car woofers in one pair of my home speakers and
they sound great!

Several years back at the CES show in Vegas John Durbin
(DEI car audio) had some nice looking home speakers in
a very nice listening area (which is common in all the booths
with home stereo) but suprise suprise they were car audio
speakers... I guess John was trying to show the *car speakers*
were capable of competing with the big dogs in a home audio
industry.... It was an impressive suprise for me, a demo
asking for contoversial comments and not to be easily forgotten...

Eddie


Forest wrote:

I had this idea for a summer project to keep me entertained:

I have been reading about making home stereo speakers.

I want to do this using car speakers, not traditionally hi-fi speakers,
anyone tried it?

I like the look of Kenwood and Sony models, and I have my eye on the
KFC-1758S and XS-V1633.

It's just an idea for a project for the summer. I have a stereo amp
which
will switch between 4 (cars) and 8 (Hi-Fi) ohms. I want to use this to
drive
car speakers but
someone has told me that it won't work as cars fun on 12 volts (which I
knew). But thinking
about it and applying Ohms law (V = I x r) I don't see why the 12 volts
supplied by the battery
matters.

I am aware of the 4 ohm (car) and 8 ohm (hi-fi) difference. Any other
problems? Anyone have any experience?

Also, are all car speakers 4 ohms out of interest?

Thanks

That is pretty much what I have suspected for some time. Car speakers not
only look nice but they are reasonably cheap. As my friend makes coffins I
thought he could make my the box.

It might actually work!

The 4 ohm thing may still be a problem. Althought my present amp has a
switch for 4 ohm output:

http://www2.lut.fi/~tohmo/amplifier.html

I have never seen another hi-fi amp which will do it. Normal hi-fi speakers
have 8 ohm impedance and amps will tolerate 4-12 or 16 but i think starting
with 4 would be pushing it. The amp may heat up etc.

What do you mean when you say 'a sub with two 4-ohm voice coils can be wired
to present a 2-ohm or 8-ohm load' and how would such a wiring system work?

I was planning either to buy:

1) 3 or 4 pairs of fairly cheap speakers and parallel wire them all the same
2) 2 pairs, one mid/sub and one tweeter and use a cross over to make them
more like convential hi-fi equipment.

I really like the look of:

http://www.cheap-car-audio.co.uk/pro...dio=264df1439e
ca852575f995127c649e53

but they are a bit pricey.

Where do people from the UK buy their car speakers?

Thanks for the help folks

Jon

"David" wrote in message
...
Whoever told you that it won't work is wrong...

The 12v that powers the radio/amplifier/etc in a car has nothing to do
with
the speaker impedence...

You can certainly use 'car' speakers with a hifi system, if the terminal
impedence is acceptable for the hifi amplifier.

Most aftermarket speakers are 4-ohm, except some subs that are 6-ohm or
dual
voice coil. A sub with two 4-ohm voice coils can be wired to present a
2-ohm
or 8-ohm load.

David
UnderTheDash.com


"Forest" wrote in message
...
I had this idea for a summer project to keep me entertained:

I have been reading about making home stereo speakers.

I want to do this using car speakers, not traditionally hi-fi speakers,
anyone tried it?

I like the look of Kenwood and Sony models, and I have my eye on the
KFC-1758S and XS-V1633.

It's just an idea for a project for the summer. I have a stereo amp
which
will switch between 4 (cars) and 8 (Hi-Fi) ohms. I want to use this to
drive
car speakers but
someone has told me that it won't work as cars fun on 12 volts (which I
knew). But thinking
about it and applying Ohms law (V = I x r) I don't see why the 12 volts
supplied by the battery
matters.

I am aware of the 4 ohm (car) and 8 ohm (hi-fi) difference. Any other
problems? Anyone have any experience?

Also, are all car speakers 4 ohms out of interest?

Thanks

I take it you are from the States, we use 240 volts here but i see your
point. I am not planning to use a car amp at all so the volt problem isn't
relavent

Thanks, J

"Mark Zarella" wrote in message
...
Which amps need 12 volts DC, and which 110 volts AC?

Car amps need 12vdc and home amps need 110vac.

If you have a speaker of 4 ohms, and you gradually turn the volume up,
the
current through the speakers would presumably increase, and the voltage
would adjust. Would it?

No, the voltage at the output is (relatively) independent of the load
presented. Decrease the impedance of the load and you'll increase the
current (and thus the power) delivered to the load.

What would happen if u used a hi-fi amp to drive car speakers then?

It will run car speakers fine. You said it was stable at 4 ohms.

"Forest" wrote in message
...
1) 3 or 4 pairs of fairly cheap speakers and parallel wire them all the
same
2) 2 pairs, one mid/sub and one tweeter and use a cross over to make them
more like convential hi-fi equipment.

You cant parallel wire 3 or 4 pairs of 4 ohm speakers together and still
have a 4 ohm load. If you ran 4 you could series each set and then parallel
the two sets for a 4 ohm load.