After-market speakers on Spyder sound system

[UtahPete]

Originally Posted by robhowen
Blueknight911, what speakers did you get to replace the factory speakers? Front and rear? Any modifications required?

Rob[/ ....JBL's FRONT & REAR IN 5.25" size ..... they are 2 ohm & that makes them sound better than 4 ohm .... you would need to En-large the rear cut-out to 4 5/8th in ..... and change the mounting holes to suit ... others here have done this & loved them ..... I used GTO 528's & GTO 508c models which can only be found now on E-bay or Amazon because they were up-graded by new models ( that aren't 2 ohm ) .... look at " Beadaholics " Mod page , She posted pics & a video on this swap .... Mike



Just be aware that with the lower resistance the current draw on the amp is higher.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Originally Posted by robhowen
Blueknight911, what speakers did you get to replace the factory speakers? Front and rear? Any modifications required?

Rob[/ ....JBL's FRONT & REAR IN 5.25" size ..... they are 2 ohm & that makes them sound better than 4 ohm .... you would need to En-large the rear cut-out to 4 5/8th in ..... and change the mounting holes to suit ... others here have done this & loved them ..... I used GTO 528's & GTO 508c models which can only be found now on E-bay or Amazon because they were up-graded by new models ( that aren't 2 ohm ) .... look at " Beadaholics " Mod page , She posted pics & a video on this swap .... Mike



Just be aware that with the lower resistance the current draw on the amp is higher.

Is this a FACT or just a GUESS ??? ............ I have run these speakers for over 3 years now, some of which was @ 80% volume .... They still work great ..... JBL has been selling 2 ohm speakers for DECADES .... I haven't heard of Stereo failures due to this, but I'm open to Genuine info .......... Mike

[UtahPete]

Is this a FACT or just a GUESS ??? ............ I have run these speakers for over 3 years now, some of which was @ 80% volume .... They still work great ..... JBL has been selling 2 ohm speakers for DECADES .... I haven't heard of Stereo failures due to this, but I'm open to Genuine info .......... Mike

Stereophiles may remember when the standard system speaker was 8 ohms, and power amps were designed for that impedance. Then, someone (AR? KLH?) came out with 4 ohm speakers (probably for the same reason you mentioned - cleaner sound) and the better amps had outputs for both 4 ohm and 8 ohm. That was in the days of tubes and transistors. People who hooked up 4 ohm speakers to 8 ohm amps sometimes had a problem with overheating and / or burnt output transistors because they couldn't handle the higher current. I honestly haven't heard of any problems in modern systems with impedance mismatches, perhaps because they have better circuitry to accommodate a varying current nowadays.

So, most likely it's not a problem for the system to handle different impedance speakers, but if someone does experience a problem that would be a likely cause.

Unfortunately BRP doesn't publish specs on their head units (at least I haven't been able to find any), so I can't tell for sure. My electronics knowledge comes from 10 years as a Navy electronics tech and 20 years playing around with computers, so I'm probably not the best source for info on current tech.

[mark4Jesus]

Stereophiles may remember when the standard system speaker was 8 ohms, and power amps were designed for that impedance. Then, someone (AR? KLH?) came out with 4 ohm speakers (probably for the same reason you mentioned - cleaner sound) and the better amps had outputs for both 4 ohm and 8 ohm. That was in the days of tubes and transistors. People who hooked up 4 ohm speakers to 8 ohm amps sometimes had a problem with overheating and / or burnt output transistors because they couldn't handle the higher current. I honestly haven't heard of any problems in modern systems with impedance mismatches, perhaps because they have better circuitry to accommodate a varying current nowadays.

So, most likely it's not a problem for the system to handle different impedance speakers, but if someone does experience a problem that would be a likely cause.

Unfortunately BRP doesn't publish specs on their head units (at least I haven't been able to find any), so I can't tell for sure. My electronics knowledge comes from 10 years as a Navy electronics tech and 20 years playing around with computers, so I'm probably not the best source for info on current tech.

Great explanation. When I was into stereos, matching speaker impedance with the stereo was a function of sound quality more that potential damage to equipment.