Car speakers for home audio??? (1 Viewer)

[iamkk77]

Hi, this is my first post in the forum, and it may be naive.

I have a pair of car speakers that I got free in a deal but don't need them for my car. Here are the details from its manual -

Model - Dual XP65i 6.5" 2-way speakers

Peak Power Handling - 120 Watts IPP

Recommended Power Range - 2-50 Watts RMS

Frequency Response - 75-20K (Hz I suppose)

Sensitivity - 87dB

Can I connect them to the sound card in my computer? Is it compatible?

What is IPP and RMS watts?

 

[John Garcia]

No, you cannot connect them as is. You need an amp to power them.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

How come people are always trying to use 12-volt equipment for 120-volt applications?

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[iamkk77]

aha! thats the tricky part of my question. does the audio output through the speaker connections depend on the power input to the main unit i.e. the 120V v/s 12V.

I think (i may be wrong) that the signal that comes out through a receiver for speakers is the same whether its a 120V home audio or a 12V car audio.

Yeah, I was considering an amp. Thank you.

 

[Robert_J]

It depends on your sound card. Most cards made recently only have low level outputs to drive powered speakers. I do have a few older Soundblasters with small amps in them. Those will drive your speakers. Will they sound good? Probably not. Not only are they designed for the car environment they are Duals. Not a name normally associated with sound quality.

-Robert

 

[joseph westcott]

Speakers are a system made up of drivers, crossovers, and cabinets.

Car speakers are not designed to this standard and will not perform nearly as well as a well engineered speaker from a reputable company.

I think people underestimate the amount of testing, research, and design goes into a modern speaker in this competitive market.

Quality home theater speaker systems are worth the investment. They should last you generations, much like fine furniture. If you appreciate good audio, save up your money and step up to the plate. It is money well invested IMO

 

[JohnI]

First off dual sucks even for car audio.
Second: a speaker is a speaker. The only big difference between them normally is the ohm. Car speakers are normally 4ohm. Home speakers are normally 8ohm. But there are many home speakers that are 4ohm and many car speakers that are 8ohm or 2ohm and even 1ohm. Jl audio makes 3ohm speakers. There are many home drivers that would sound great in a car and many car drivers that would work in your house. It just depends on your application and how you implement it.
Third: It seems to me like other people on this thread are assuming your trying to power your speakers directly off of your sound card. That wont work with 99% of the sound cards out there.
But im pretty sure you meant to say: That you want to output the sound card to a home reciever which will then power the speakers. This can be done. The same way you would hook up home speakers to your computer through a reciever.
You need to buy a cord that will convert the headphone jack that comes out of your pc to the rca cords that your reciever takes. This is a cheap and common cord. Anywhere they sell ipods they should carry these. Should be around $5 It is the same cord used to plug an ipod or other mp3 player/discman/etc to your reciever. On one end is a headphone jack and the other is RCA's. Plug this into your headphone jack on your computer. Then the other side to the recievers aux input or cd input or whatever. Then plug the speakers into your reciever just like they were home audio speakers.
Things to think about:
1. if your speakers are not in boxes they will sound horrible. And there already crappy speakers so they will sound horrible anyways.
2. your speakers are 4 ohm speakers. Can your reciever handle 4ohm loads? Most likely your reciever can handle 8ohm loads at the lowest. But dont worry. If you dont crank the volume too bad it should not be a problem. However, there is a slight risk of overdriving the amp and breaking it. But i have never had that happen to me. Just dont crank the volume for long periods of time. Make sure your reciever has proper ventilation. Be extra careful on hot days.
3. they are not magnetically shielded so dont put them too close to a tube tv or monitor.

 

[ZomgTheCrapture]

sorry for the necromancy!

I was looking for a 2.1 system for may laptop.

After much thought and frustrations on deciding which 2.1 setup to go for, mostly because many of the budget (I don't want it to be too loud but it must have well rounded vibes) 2.1 systems have tiny and tinny mids, generally 2.5"

I then realized I have a decent Pegasus Split system I could try to make DIY speakers with the crossover and some sort of 2 channel receiver to power the splits, think I'm gonna give it a try.

The drivers are 5.25" which I'm hoping might give a fuller mid range, there is also of course 2 tweeters and I'll need to get some sort of 8" long throw sub for the kicks.

The only problem is the speaker enclosures. . .

Most of the 2.1 computer speakers go full out on base and shamelessly sacrifice mids, even the Logitech Z2300 System with 200 Watts RMS, it's awesome for games with it's drowning base but the mids are outright shite.

 

[Robert_J]

I don't want it to be too loud

That's why they invented volume controls.

it must have well rounded vibes

I don't have a clue what you are talking about. I assume you are saying it must sound good?

Pegasus Split system

http://www.autostyle.co.za/prodview.php?prod_id=13529&pid=sound&cid=speakers&pg=1&showall=&brandstr=&str= These? You mean component car audio speakers? Yes you can do this. Will it sound optimal as in balanced? No. The mid-bass drivers are designed to work in car doors which are not sealed. Therefore you would need extremely large enclosures. The tweeters are designed to be listened to off-axis. Listening on-axis will probably sound like driving an ice-pick in your ear drum. Finally, these are 4 ohm. Most low priced home audio only works with 8 ohm speakers. If you did find a 4 ohm stable amp I'm going to assume these aren't a flat 4 ohm load but more of a nominal 4 ohm load meaning that the impedance dips well below 4 on certain frequencies.

If you want to go DIY then use a published design that has been proven. It's better than throwing money away at some experiment.

 

[downwithdeftech]

First off I totally agree that dual's suck. That's why I use a pair of diamond audio hex series 6.5 mid bass drivers and 1 silk dome tweeters with their crossovers in a pair of sansui sp2000 from the seventies. To power these little jewels I use a BGW performance series 1 amp which is connected thru the preouts of my yammie rxv 995, with a def tech supercube 2 backing up the low end. I have had a lot friends listen to my Frankenstein speakers and they love them, even my buddy with a pair of old kef 103 reference. I do agree they are off axis since floor standing speakers back then were short and as for the mid bass drivers they love the old vented cabinets. So in the right application car audio driver can work for home use.

 

[PatriciaMoh]

Speakers are a system made up of drivers, crossovers, and cabinets.
Car speakers are not designed to this standard and will not perform nearly as well as a well engineered speaker from a reputable company.
I think people underestimate the amount of testing, research, and design goes into a modern speaker in this competitive market.
Quality Home Theater Speaker Systems are worth the investment. They should last you generations, much like fine furniture. If you appreciate good audio, save up your money and step up to the plate. It is money well invested IMO

How much testing would you reccomend?

 

[cynicplus]

Many people forget to mention the astronomical mark up in price within the speaker industry. That may explain why some of us are trying to be frugal. In this instance lower prices for car speakers than for home audio. There is much that goes into design and quality of a home audio speaker but to ignore the price issue is just wrong. In the end if you enjoy the sound of your system, why worry.