Another speaker thread

PeteB · Post by **PeteB** » 18 Mar 2016, 10:51

The thing about buying speakers is that often they just make up numbers and
do not provide any sort of tolerance. Professional and expensive types from
well known brands are sometimes better. But even JBL and Infinity make up
numbers for their auto sound products.
What is your budget?
Crutchfield doesn't seem to have anything under $40 in the 5.25" but since
you've opened it up there are probably many more options in the 6.5" size,
or was that 6"?

Baker7 · Post by **Baker7** » 18 Mar 2016, 12:23

I already spent $50 and I was originally thinking $25 or less. I just want some sound coming from the rear that's louder than something from a 1" speaker. I've put so much money into overhauling the entire car I don't want to spend anymore on it.

Edit:
The thing is I got 4 Ohm 2.5" (I think) speakers to replace the dash, and the front door speakers are stock. And the front sounds wonderful. It's loud, lot of base, very clear. I couldn't ask for anything more. It's just the rear that's the problem. The speakers in the rear pillars were shrieking highs and killed your ears so I disconnected them.

I would like the fader to be set in the middle and be able to hear sound coming from the rear. I don't know why this is such a difficult thing to achieve on a Volvo. This is like the hardest thing in the world to do with new set of speakers.. without spending an arm and a leg. (I've spent over $3k in parts alone and many hours putting them on, so to me anything over $50 for speakers is an arm and a leg.)

PeteB · Post by **PeteB** » 18 Mar 2016, 12:38

OK, I was going to say that if you have $50 to spend call Crutchfield to see
what they suggest.

Pulls from the junk yard are probably the best.

Baker7 · Post by **Baker7** » 18 Mar 2016, 12:43

Ozark Lee wrote:The problem isn't the impedance,... There is a big impedance mismatch from the factory if you have rear door speakers anyway.

...Lee

What does this mean?

PeteB · Post by **PeteB** » 18 Mar 2016, 14:00

Do you have a wiring diagram?
Usually rear speakers have dedicated amp channels, what Lee is suggesting is
that they somehow combine the front and rears on one amp that is the only
way for rear speakers to cause "a big impedance mismatch".
But this doesn't really makes sense since it is hard to do a front rear balance
control without dedicated amps.

Baker7 · Post by **Baker7** » 18 Mar 2016, 16:07

No, i dont have a wiring diagram. Would speaker on one side not working have anything to do with power output? I was going to get to the other side later to do the door panel mod, and I realize the stock speaker on that side is dead.

Even with the midrange speaker such low volume and output seems really strange. I used to diy car stereos, amps and speakers all the time when I was a kid and never ran into such an issue. Esp when this car requires 8 ohm and I put in a 8 ohm speaker.

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 18 Mar 2016, 18:21

The rear deck speakers and the rear door speakers are wired in parallel from the factory. If you have 8 Ohm OEM speakers once they are lumped together they present a 4 Ohm load to the head unit (or the amp if you have one). I put a full set of Infinty speakers in my 850s and they are spec'd as 4 Ohms so the rear circuit winds up a 2 Ohms after they are paralleled. One of the cars has an amp and it didn't care nor did the cars that didn't have an amp and they all got the same Infinity speaker setup and thus the same impedance characteristics.

Impedance is essentially the resistance of the speaker although it is a bit more complex since it is frequency dependent and it has real and imaginary components. The impedance if a speaker has nothing to do with what it sounds like to your ear, it is simply the load presented to the amplifier be that the amplifier in the headunit or an external amplifier. Older (1970s vintage) amplifiers were discreet transistors and they were very picky about the load that was presented to them. Modern amplifier designs (late '80s and on) are much more forgiving about the speaker impedance.

...Lee

Baker7 · Post by **Baker7** » 18 Mar 2016, 20:53

Since they are forgiving I should just go with 4 ohm then? Why is the fronts so robust sounding and the rears so anemic? I literally have to have the fronts at fader volume level at 1% compared to rears to hear the back speakers. And I don't think it's because they are mids.

Can the rear part of the stock amp diminish in power and leave the fronts alone? This seems unlikely as well..

Or you're saying just ditch the 8 ohms all together and just go with 4 ohm set up? I read from your other posts that it would overheat the amp, if I remember correctly.

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 18 Mar 2016, 23:34

From personal experience I have had no trouble whatsoever running 4 Ohm speakers in all positions, including the rear doors. The industry seems to have standardized on 4 Ohm and the selection available for 8 Ohm speakers is pretty slim. The only caveat is if you have some odd aftermarket amplifier in the system.

...Lee

PeteB · Post by **PeteB** » 19 Mar 2016, 07:32

Lee has confirmed that they are wired in parallel and that the amp can take
the 2 ohm load if you used 4 ohm all around.
You mention a fader? If there is a fader in series with the wiring to the rear
speakers then it is possible that the fader was damaged at some point so
that very little power is getting to the rear speakers. It is hard to know the
exact problem without having a wiring diagram and using a meter to check
things out.
You could move the front speakers to the back to see if there are any problems
with the wiring - not sure how hard it is to get the fronts out.

Madisound people say that these are very popular for auto sound applications:
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/a ... ne-woofer/

Another that might work well:
https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/p ... ds-woofer/

I have no idea if they will fit or match up well with your fronts, they are
woofers only as you can see.

Another speaker thread

Re: Another speaker thread