Thread: FAQ: Why not Home PC speakers for the car?

I've thought about that some time ago, and I pulled out the AC extension to my car from my house, plug in my Soundblaster 5.1 and well, yes, true, it doesn't sound as nice as in the room. Honestly, at that moment, I juz couldn't explain why. I come to the conclusion because I have 4 speakers concentrated in front of me and 1 sub at the back when I am in my room. In the car, I position it in such a way, 2 front, 2 rear and 1 sub rear.
It was way louder than my Pioneer speakers (juz a pair of 3 way at the back), but the quality it was producing obviously did not come close to my Pioneer.
Get a car speaker for OEM look.
Get a PC speaker if you wanna be.........different.
But I would rather get another pair of 2 way for my front than going for PC speakers.

I've thought about that some time ago, and I pulled out the AC extension to my car from my house, plug in my Soundblaster 5.1 and well, yes, true, it doesn't sound as nice as in the room. Honestly, at that moment, I juz couldn't explain why. I come to the conclusion because I have 4 speakers concentrated in front of me and 1 sub at the back when I am in my room. In the car, I position it in such a way, 2 front, 2 rear and 1 sub rear.
It was way louder than my Pioneer speakers (juz a pair of 3 way at the back), but the quality it was producing obviously did not come close to my Pioneer.
Get a car speaker for OEM look.
Get a PC speaker if you wanna be.........different.
But I would rather get another pair of 2 way for my front than going for PC speakers.

i used a pc 5.1 amp and just cut the house speakers off and used 6X9 load anogth that the m8 gets pulled and he has surround sound btw the amp unit in most surround sound sets ups are 12v

I have a pretty sweet 7.1's 700W RMS THX certified Creative S750's, featuring titanium tweeters in each speaker (70W RMS per speaker) and a 210w RMS sub, all running at 8 Ohms

Can I use these?

sure, go for it. Post the results when you have them.

Originally Posted by Red GTi VR6

I’ll see if anyone else cares to add to this as I’m sure it will come up again in the future.

This subject just won't die!!!

Home speakers tend to be 8 or 16 ohm, car speakers tend to be 4 ohms or less. Run a home speaker off a car amp and you'll probably halve (or worse) the power out of your amp .. not always a major problem, but something to consider.

Much more importantly, paper coned car speakers are almost always "doped" to protect them from moisture.. they are designed with the effects of this doping in mind, so that their T/S parameters are still ideal. Adding your own doping to home speakers would require more knowlege or luck than most people are fortunate enough to have, and not adding it would encourage your cones to turn in to mush. Obviously metal/CF/Nomex/other types of cone don't need doping, but paper is still (subjectively) the best sounding material for a cone.

You know what PC speakers are good for in a car? In the absence of an o-scope, you can easily find the clip point of the components before your aftermarket amps by using a test tone cd and a pair of cheap, powered PC speakers. Put volume on low, plug into component first in the chain (head unit, etc) , play test tone cd and increase volume on source being tested until pitch changes....and you don't have to worry about damaging your expensive in-car speakers with nasty test-tones.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ”checksum”
You show me any car speakers, and I will show you a competing PC speaker that matches its sound quality with even more power.

Wow, I guess I should trade my 8 Kappa Series component speakers, two midsubs and single sub in for a set of Logitech Home Theater series huh? Id say that if checksum can't hear the difference, good for him, I dont have to ride in his car