Connecting Car Speakers To PC 2.1 System?

[lettuce]

I am looking at getting a cheap 2.1 pc sound system that has a powered amp/sub combo, and will be cutting the sattelite speakers off and wireing some car speakers to the 2.1 system instead. But im not 100% sure weather i have to match up the watts or ohms so the car speakers are of similar power to that of the 2.1 system. Alos i have noticed that some car speakers are listed as 2-way or 3-way, would i be able to use 3-way car speakers, or would i have 1 extra wire left over when i try and wire them up to the PC 2.1 system?

[shfifty]

i have also been thinking about this for the cab i'm currently building. I have a set of logitech 2.1 speakers (x230 model). I also have a nice set of 4" pioneer kevlar 2 ways in a car that i'm soon selling, so i though i might as well pull them out if i'm selling the car.

2-way or 3-way generally refers to the amount speakers within that speaker. Pretty much just a fancy way to say "Speaker with a small tweeter attatched". so a 2-way will have the main speaker cone and generally a small tweeter in the centre where the speaker dome is. 3-way should have the main cone and 2 small tweeters attatched to the dome. There will be 2 connecting wires just like a normal speaker.

as for the power and ohms, i wouldnt worry too much about it. As long as the RMS power of the car speaker exceed the RMS power of the 2.1 system it should be fine, but someone correct me if i'm wrong.

anyway i'm gonna try hooking mine up over the weekend if i get around to pulling them out of the car, ill let u know how it goes.

[lettuce]

Cheers thanks for the info

[MaximRecoil]

Most car speakers are "coaxials" (2-way) or "triaxials" (3-way). There are also "component" speakers (AKA: "separates") which can be had, which are usually higher quality, more expensive, and usually require more power to drive them properly.

Coaxial and triaxial speakers are simply a 2 or 3 driver speaker system integrated into a single "speaker" package. They usually have a built-in simple passive crossover to divide and send the high frequencies to the tweeter and the lower frequencies to the midrange driver. Some of them don't have a crossover at all, and rely on natural rolloff frequencies to accomplish the same thing, albeit in a less precise manner.

Component speakers have separate drivers and a separate crossover, which is higher quality than the integrated crossovers in a coaxial speaker.

They all work the same way though. They have a positive and negative terminal, and that is all you need to hook up as far as input from the amplifier is concerned. With component speakers you also have to connect the crossover to the tweeter and midrange driver, but I doubt you will be using component speakers.

As far as impedance goes, check to see what the impedance of the original speakers are. Ideally you want your replacement speakers to be the same nominal impedance. Car speakers are usually 4Ω, while home speakers are usually 8Ω. I don't know what PC speakers usually are.

Using speakers that are of a lower impedance than your amplifier is rated for is hard on a typical amplifier, because it doubles the current flow each time the impedance is halved, given the same amplifier output voltage. However, to a point, this can be countered by using a reasonable volume level (because the volume knob controls output voltage). For example, using 4Ω speakers with an amplifier that is rated for 8Ω is usually fine, as long as you don't get crazy with the volume. I wouldn't suggest connecting something ridiculous to your amplifier like a .5Ω load however (e.g., eight 4Ω speakers wired in parallel to a single channel).

Going in the other direction is perfectly safe; i.e., using speakers that are of a higher impedance than your amplifier is rated for. This actually makes life easier for your amplifier, though you will get less power from it (half the power at a given amplifier output voltage each time you double the speaker impedance).

Don't worry about the wattage that the speakers are rated for. The Logitech x230 amplifier only sends 6 watts x 2 to the mids and highs. Any car speakers can handle that; even cheap OEM ones from like an '81 Chevette.

 

[southpaw13]

Are you using a standard monitor or LCD?  If you are using a standard monitor, make sure the car speaker magnets don't affect your screen.  Most if not all computer speakers have a magnet shield.

[lettuce]

Thanks for the indepth info. So i take it speakers dont effect LCD screen no matter how close they are, onlt older CRT monitors?

[southpaw13]

Correct

[wxman13]

Just wondering how the car speakers sounded with the 2.1 PC speaker system? , I am currently starting a cab, and would be interested in hooking up some car speakers to a Logitech 2.1 system
 

[Silverwind]

Be careful of the OHMS.  If the computer speakers are 8ohm and the CAR speakers are 4ohm, it could damage the amplifier by driving them too hard.

If you have a spare AV receiver laying around (even a yard-sale find) you can hook the car speakers up to that too.  Use the digtial or analog out from your PC to the receiver.

[shfifty]

ive been using logitech x230's with some 4" pioneer car speakers (4ohm) for the past year with no problems, still sounds good and no signs of damage after many high volume sessions. If its a high end expensive amp i would not do it but with a cheap set of logitechs who gives a crap?

[boardjunkie]

Most solid state amps are fine with 4z loads. The only exception is anything old with an output transformer (early-mid 60s). Some home audio recievers from the "silver" era don't really care for 4z loads, but they'll still run....just with increased heat dissapation and increased distortion.

For my MAME'r I just used a cheap old car EQ-booster thing rated around 10w/ch. The EQ section was noisy and didn't work well, so I bypassed it and ran signal straight to the output IC in the manner suggested by the chip's datasheet. Works fine and doesn't generate much heat. Before that I had a rack mount broadcast power amp in there and it just ran too hot for my liking. I think it wasn't designed to be operated sideways instead of the normal flat orientation, so heat from the pwr transformer/output section was building up inside the chassis.

All you guys sticking a big subwoofer in yer cabs might wanna take note that HDD's don't like a big magnet too close to them....they are magnetic media and you can erase the contents by having a large magnet in close proximity.

[boardjunkie]

I'd hope yer using a 5w wirewound and not a half watt carbon film for that. They do make a nice fuse tho....

[boardjunkie]

Dude....buddy....holmes....they go down to less than an ohm at half watt. This ain't my first rodeo...