Thread: Why not PC speakers?

I think stock car speakers would sound better than computer speakers put into a car......wtf would you want to do that anyway? You can get pretty good, used aftermarket speakers for dirt cheap.....and you'll actually be able to hear music with the windows open.

seriously, if you shop around, you should be able to get some wicked deals dirt cheap. I know i did. You can't use home theatre (or computer) equipment in the car because they're tuned for different environments. A house has a decently consistent sturcture (in terms of materials) and a nice, neat architecture (usually a rectnagular one) that is predictable and can be fixed. The speakers in a home theatre are 8 ohm (usually). Cars are different. You have variable materials, a complex, road and wind noise, yoru engine, a confuined space with a complex interior structure, and you're not exactly in the best of seating situatirions in your car. Because of that, they usually need a hell of alot more power, are 2-4 ohm, and are engineeered to try and overcome most of these problems. Beyond htat, they're made to acutally work with a car.

My dad used computer speakers in his car once when the stocks rotted. I've heard better sounds come out of a pair of earbuds on a 50% sale at the dollar store. To put it in persoective, there were really good stereo speakers back in the day when they were on a desk.

There are bose speakers with built in amps, but built in amps aren't everything. Just use the equipment that's meant to be used in the case of speakers and car audio. It doesn't matter where the sound sources from, in terms of head unit or computer, but it does matter from what the sound emits from. Its as simple as that.

For the most part, speakers in cabinets aren't remotely expensive speakers. It's the design that goes into the cabinet that costs $$$.

Most speakers made for cars are of much higher quality than a computer speaker in an enclosure. And if you're looking at things equally priced, the car speaker properly installed in a car should blow the computer speaker out of the water.

Originally Posted by Mandos

For the most part, speakers in cabinets aren't remotely expensive speakers. It's the design that goes into the cabinet that costs $$$.

Most speakers made for cars are of much higher quality than a computer speaker in an enclosure. And if you're looking at things equally priced, the car speaker properly installed in a car should blow the computer speaker out of the water.

That is not true

I think the main issue with using these speakers is the car environment. Car speakers have to be built from materials that can withstand repeated warming/cooling cycles, vibration, and direct sunlight.

Originally Posted by checksum

That is not true

Care to explain how?

There's a reason that a DIY home theater is much cheaper for the quality than a HTIB, it's because you build the enclosures instead of paying for them and can invest money in a quality speaker.

Originally Posted by chuyler1

The price difference has very little to do with the drivers. HTIB costs more because a) it's a plug and play solution b) the manufacturer has to assemble everything and c) the manufacturer has to ship everything all pieced together and ready to plug in. The plastic or fiberboard enclosures they come in are simply the cheapest thing they can find that is easy to assemble, lightweight, and inexpensive to ship.

That pretty much sums up most HTIB setups. There are some exceptions. Bose likes to put lots of R&D into their enclosures (ie the wave radio) but that is so they can put a small cheap speaker in an enclosure that will make it sound much more expensive to the average listener.

Now if we were discussing dedicated home audio speaker towers (the kind you would never use to watch movies with) then the enclosure has a little more impact on the price. These types of speakers are as much a piece of fine furniture as they are a speaker enclosure. Many are made out of exotic woods with premium finishes. Their design R&D fits somewhere between the slap-together HTIB and the extensive research that Bose does. The speakers are expensive and the box is taylored accordingly.

DIYers can save money by simply purchasing the drivers and using the combined effort of online forums as their R&D for buildig the idea enclosure. They can use cheap wood and just paint it. There's your savings.

Exactly...the driver involved is often a very inexpensive one w/ any HTIB.

Same as comparing say...$150 PC speakers to a $150 component set for the car. Unless the install skills of the person putting them in are serverly inadequate, the component set will blow the speakers out of the water.

You show me any car speakers, and I will show you a competing PC speaker that matches its sound quality with even more power.
PC speakers have come a long way, from stereo sound to 7.1 THX surround sound. Nowadays PC speakers can go up to 700W of power with sound quality that can compete against any major sound theater system,, and they are compact enough to fit in a car, even with the enclosure, just have to find the right way to mount it, since they all come with brakets.

To tell you the truth, I wanted to go with my 500W 5.1 PC speakers ( these speakers only cost me 300.00). but I did a lot of research and come out empty on how to power it in the car. I would need a 500W pure sine inverter wich costs around $500.00 to power it. But beside that, I don't think you would notice the difference between these PC speakers and the Car speakers.