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Topic: Car speakers hooked to home audio?
Started by Toicontien Jun 5, 2007 at 2:14 pm
Last post by MEANlowGREEN Aug 27, 2008 at 8:52 am
This topic has been viewed 1608 times and has 10 replies

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Topic: Car speakers hooked to home audio?

Forums > Audio and Electronics > Car speakers hooked to home audio?

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#1 Jun 5, 2007 at 2:14 pm

Toicontien

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I've got a couple Pioneer 15' subs sitting around. My '95 skylark just doesn't have as big a trunk as my '78 Bonneville, so I don't really have the room for the speakers in the trunk. Nor do I want them in my trunk in the apartment complex I live in .

I was wondering, has anyone hooked their car speakers to their home stereo? I've got a decent surround sound system that's got pretty much any audio input/output you can imagine, but also the amp is not that great. Certainly not enough to push two 300 watt 15' subs, that peak at 600W.

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#2 Jun 5, 2007 at 3:20 pm

FordFanboi

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There may be some issues with the resistance of the speakers. I can't remeber exactly, but I think there are some issues between the speakers and amplifiers with different ohm ratings.

Maybe someone will chime in. I'd like to know too.

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#3 Jun 5, 2007 at 7:46 pm

007_SuperCoupe

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I had a pair of JL audio subs (15") that I purchased for home audio. The worked out just fine. You just need to get passive crossovers to keep the highs out. Other than that, they'll work so long as you have enough power going to them. You don't have to push the limit of the speaker, but most home stereo systems will produce adequate power for those subs.

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#4 Jun 5, 2007 at 9:48 pm

mohrt

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You will typically run into ohm impedance issues. Home speakers are usually 8 ohm, where car speakers are usually 4 ohm. I don't have all the technical stuff on hand, but you can find it all on nearly any car audio forum.

If I recall correctly, you can wire two 4 ohm speakers in series to get an 8 ohm load. Some higher end amps can handle all sorts of resistance levels, so you'll just have to do some info digging to get it all right.

(by "in series" I mean wire two speakers to a single terminal. amp negative -> speaker1 negative -> speaker1 positive -> speaker2 negative -> speaker2 positive -> amp positive.)

Understeer is when you hit the wall with the front of the car. Oversteer is when you hit the wall with the rear of the car. Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall. Torque is how far you take the wall with you.

Edited Jun 5, 2007 at 9:55 pm
#5 Jun 6, 2007 at 8:30 am

Toicontien

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Yes, they are in fact 4 ohm speakers. On the back of the magnet in giant number and greek letter is is 4 ohm.

So in series basically means attaching both negative wires to one negative terminal, and both positive wires to one positive terminal?

But yeah. I'll do some digging. I wouldn't mind having something that could drown out my neighbors upstairs when they go on a 24 hour drinking binge. Or play DDR at midnight.

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#6 Jun 6, 2007 at 10:31 am

FordFanboi

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Quote:
Originally posted by Toicontien So in series basically means attaching both negative wires to one negative terminal, and both positive wires to one positive terminal?

More like a chain.

Run a wire from the amp right channel negative to the left speaker negative
Run a wire from the amp right channel positive to the right speaker positive
Tie the two speakers together by running a wire from the left speaker positive to the right speaker negative

This means you'll only be getting audio from one channel though. I'd definitely hit up the audio forums - there may be a resistor you can connect to each speaker instead so you can retain stereo audio.

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#7 Jun 6, 2007 at 10:47 am

Toicontien

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Ok, cool.

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#8 Jun 13, 2007 at 10:20 am

mohrt

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Home stereo speakers in the back window is such a chick magnet though

Understeer is when you hit the wall with the front of the car. Oversteer is when you hit the wall with the rear of the car. Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall. Torque is how far you take the wall with you.
#9 Jun 13, 2007 at 10:31 am

Toicontien

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I definitely second the radio shack recommendation. I've got a friend who manages one, so I know a few guys But by and large they actually know what they're talking about. Prices are a bit high, but you can't go wrong with "I have a problem" and them saying "this is what you need." And then you're done.

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#10 Aug 27, 2008 at 8:43 am

MEANlowGREEN

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If you simply replace the speakers in your boxes with 4 ohm speakers it will either cause the home stereo's built in amplifier to clip or it will fry the amp. To wire the speakers for an 8 ohm load you would need four speakers, two for each channel of the amplifier wired in series. If you do this then the amplifier will see an 8 ohm load and will live a long happy life. I you connect them any other way you are almost bound to fry your amp.

I ran 2 Rockford Fosgate 8 ohm 12 inch subs in my home stereo speaker cabinets (that it one per box) for the longest time and that is the only way I recommend using car speakers with home audio equipment. That is unless you have either DVC (Dual Voice Coil) speakers or want to use four 4 ohm speakers. Best of luck!

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