Home Speakers to Car?

Alright guys I just acquired 2 Fisher ST-830's (15" Subwoofers, 4" mids, 3" Tweeters). My question was whether or not I could use these in my car, and what I would need to hook them up if it is possible. I am incredibly cheap w/ audio and also I just don't have any money to spend.

Some of the specs. on the speakers are:
Impedance: 8 ohm
Input Power: 10-100 Watts
Crossover Frequency: 1.5/ 6 kHz

Obviously if I were to put these in my car I'd need to build a different box as the boxes are huge.

I know this is probably a weird question but if you guys can let me know, that'd be great. Thanks in advanced guys.

[stillriza]

I had asked the same question in another forum at one time, the response was, it works but the speakers may not last long as they were not designed for the bumps and such of the road.

I had a sick sub that would have the house shaking..i don't see why it wouldnt work, you would just need to wired it properly voltage wise.

[Metallman56]

things to remember.

when a manf. makes a home speaker, the box is usually tuned for those speakers. so the sound you get from the box you build, will more then likly not sound the same as the speakers in there original box.

8 ohms, and not a lot of power. make 100% sure you give these speakers 8 ohms

other then that, you should be fine. if i were you i'd just be careful, and i wouldnt expect much.

[cardude007617]

so ya, u gotta amp em somehow too. and idk of many amps that run 8ohms and if all the work to do this is even worth it. id say no, just get a box and throw some subs in it.

[heeroyue2002]

a couple years back my uncle had his whole house system in his van. it pounded real great, you could hear him from blocks away cops made him remove it

[cardude007617]

still, its called car audio for a reason. and its tough stuff

[kuecker_dj09]

Originally Posted by cardude007617

so ya, u gotta amp em somehow too. and idk of many amps that run 8ohms and if all the work to do this is even worth it. id say no, just get a box and throw some subs in it.

i havent seen an 8 ohm amp, but there has to be a way to wire it to show 8 ohms to them......any ideas ppl?

[jperryss]

Originally Posted by kuecker_dj09

i havent seen an 8 ohm amp, but there has to be a way to wire it to show 8 ohms to them......any ideas ppl?

Originally Posted by Metallman56

8 ohms, and not a lot of power. make 100% sure you give these speakers 8 ohms

Impedance is NOT determined by the amp. There is NO SUCH THING as an 8 ohm amp, a 4 ohm amp, or a 2 ohm amp. The speaker(s) determine what impedance (load) the amp will see.

If the question is, can the amp 'handle' an 8 ohm load, then the answer is probably. Any car audio amp should be able to handle 8 ohms, but the power going to those speakers will be approximately HALF of the rated amp power at 4 ohms. In other words, an amp rated 100x2 at 4 ohms will only put out around 50wx2 at 8 ohms.

It works the other way, too. If you drop the load from 4 ohms to 2 ohms you can potentially double the RMS wattage of the amp, per channel. And it may also double again when you drop the load from 2 ohm to 1 ohm (though most of the amps you see in stores cannot run at 1 ohm for any period of time).

The impedance load is determined by the impedance of the individual speakers and the way they are wired to the amp (series or parallel). But that discussion is for another day.

Also, as it's been said already, home speakers are designed and built for HOME use, and are likely not designed to take the beating they'll go through in a car.

And, as it's also been said, the boxes those speakers came in are likely tuned perfectly for the speakers inside them. You can't just throw them in another box and expect them to sound good.

Not a good idea, IMO. Save up some $$$ and get something that's meant to be in a car.

[Molson]

Originally Posted by jperryss

Not a good idea, IMO. Save up some $$$ and get something that's meant to be in a car.

this

[cardude007617]

it can be done most likely, but i really dont see y ud want to go thru all that work and money just to get something that will sound like garbage.

[sudden_impulse]

Just remember, car speakers are made to work with moisture, most home speakers are paper cones, so they don't do nearly as well with moisture. The bumps shouldn't bother it too much, but as was posted on GAOC, it's the moisture that will ruin the speakers.

[Metallman56]

just for the record i never said that he "needed" a 8 ohm amp. i said the speakers "needed" 8-ohms. you give them 4 ohms, and you can pretty much kiss them good-bye.

if you had a tailgating truck, or SUV, i could see doing this. but in a GA, its kinda pointless.

[Ajaxus]

i saw this thread title and ended up turning my head at a 45* angle and saying "O RLY?"


just thought like sharing...

oh yeh, buy some real car speakers, don't be cheap or weird..

[jperryss]

Originally Posted by Metallman56

just for the record i never said that he "needed" a 8 ohm amp. i said the speakers "needed" 8-ohms. you give them 4 ohms, and you can pretty much kiss them good-bye.

if you had a tailgating truck, or SUV, i could see doing this. but in a GA, its kinda pointless.

You're still missing the point. You can't give the speakers 8-ohms. Speakers don't 'need' 8-ohms (or any # ohms for that matter). The speakers dictate the impedance (ohms), not the other way around. It's impossible to give a speaker any # of ohms, because impedance is a result of the design of the speakers themselves and the included passive crossover, not something that an amp 'gives' them.

Most car speakers are 4-ohms, so a typical headunit or aftermarket amp is rated for a 4-ohm load (one 4-ohm speaker hooked up to each channel). It's just a rating to give you an idea of what kind of power to expect from the amp. If you hook up 8-ohm speakers to a car amp, you're not gonna damage anything. The amp will just put out less power, approximately half of it's rated 4-ohm power. Most decent car amps will also provide a 2-ohm power rating, which is what the amp will put out if given a 2-ohm load (by running a DVC 4-ohm sub with the coils in parallel, for example).

The problem comes in when you try to run an amp at a lower impedance than it was designed for. For example, most home speakers are 8-ohm speakers, and most HT amps are designed to run 8-ohm speakers. If you tried to hook up a 4-ohm car speaker to a HT amp, you may have problems because many HT amps are NOT designed to handle a 4-ohm load.

But I do agree that the whole idea is kinda pointless.

[Pitter98]

Originally Posted by jperryss

You're still missing the point. You can't give the speakers 8-ohms. Speakers don't 'need' 8-ohms (or any # ohms for that matter). The speakers dictate the impedance (ohms), not the other way around. It's impossible to give a speaker any # of ohms, because impedance is a result of the design of the speakers themselves and the included passive crossover, not something that an amp 'gives' them.

Quoted for truth.

Was gonna respond with the same thing, but you beat me to it and explained it well.

[MIAaron]

I don't think metallman is ever gonna grasp impedance. I've tried explaining it, but something about it losses him. So take it easy on him guys.

OP,
Don't do it. All you'll do is ruin the speakers and have nothing to show for it. The 15's in those speakers are woofers, not subwoofers. They were meant for the application they are in, playing a wider bandwidth of freq's. Some speakers can do it both, but not the fishers. Not only will they not have a lot of low end, as soon as you put them in a smaller box the low end will drop off even more.

You would be much better off selling the fishers and using the money to buy some subwoofers.

[cardude007617]

how is this still being added to? im pretty sure all of us have no convinced him not to put his crummy house speakers in his car which would make it even cummier.

[MIAaron]

By typing and hitting "submit reply". It's pretty basic.

[FoosedGrandam]

well actually Home audio subwoofers will work just fine in a Vehicle as a matter of Fact there is a company out called Adire Audio which thats all they build is home speakers and they are extremely badass in a car setup. the fact that they wont handle the abuse seein in a car such as vibration, bumps and other factors is completely wrong in a sence Home audio speakers and Car Audio Speakers are the same structurally... well maybe the suspension on home audio speakers may be a lil looser. also any amplifier will push them because since they are 8 ohm speakers it doesnt take much to push them. just make the right box for the speaker is the main concern

[MIAaron]

Yes, but the speakers he wants to use are woofers, not subwoofers. It's a very big difference....