Cheap Speaker Hack

[Lsturbo91]

I'm using 2 6x9 car speakers with a cheapo generic computer speaker amp.  Does anyone know which is positive or negative on the wiring?  Is the white wire negative?  

Are the amp on these cheapo speakers mono or stereo?

[SirPoonga]

welll, it really doesn't matter that much.  There is no standard in wire colors, they generally are red and black though.

[Dave_K.]

You will quickly notice that these car speakers are going to sound like crap when driven through a cheap pc amp.  The reason is car speakers are usually a higher impedance.  You need a real amp to drive them.  Otherwise your sound will come out very hollow sounding.

So your choices are use the original pc amplified speakers (as they are impedance matched to the amp), or buy a Radio Shack SA-155 off ebay (around $25) and you can drive Car or home stereo speaks from 6 to 8 ohms.

The SA-155 is a perfect amp for inside a cabinet as its tiny and puts out almost 0 heat (and doesn't over heat either).

-Dave

[SNAAAKE]

here is what you do.

get a cheap 3rd speaker for computer.
go the radio and get some shielded speaker(not car speaker).normal speaker.

then open you speaker box and get rid of the cheap onces in there and replace with new once bought from radio shack.
also buy the onces that has mounting holes to you can install in your cabinet.
good luck  

[SirPoonga]

And radio shack doesn;t have cheap speakers??? hehe.

[SNAAAKE]

why not???

i bought 4" shielded speakers for $3.99 each.they sound awsome.and the 3rd speaker was bought from eb.

[Lsturbo91]

You will quickly notice that these car speakers are going to sound like crap when driven through a cheap pc amp.  The reason is car speakers are usually a higher impedance.  You need a real amp to drive them.  Otherwise your sound will come out very hollow sounding.

Actually I've already tested it and it didn't sound hollow at all.  They sound wayyy louder/better than the original speakers in there.  I'm just in the process of making the soldering the connections.  The cheap speakers sounds too weak, imo.

[neuromancer]

...reason is car speakers are usually a higher impedance. ...buy a Radio Shack SA-155 off ebay (around $25) and you can drive Car or home stereo speaks from 6 to 8 ohms.

Most car speakers that i've encountered are 4 ohms.

Bob

[pcdoctor]

SNAAAKE,

Can you give me the product number of the 4" shielded speakers you purchased from Radio Shack?
Thanks!

why not???

i bought 4" shielded speakers for $3.99 each.they sound awsome.and the 3rd speaker was bought from eb.

[pcdoctor]

A guy friend just installed a 25" tv in a Virtua Fighter cabinet for me.
The 27" that I wanted was too big for the monitor frame that came with a medium resolution arcade monitor.
The 25" doesnt have svideo but I'm happy in the meantime.
I have cable hooked to the tv also.
Also, he hooked the arcade speakers to the tv amp.
It sounds great.
Now I'm just waiting for my psx kit from Red Octane so I can hook up my PS2 to the joysticks and buttons in the cabinet.
My digital camera is broken so I don't know how I'm going to take pictures.

[Industen]

If you have an old receiver(sterio/5.1 etc) laying around that puts out a min load of 6ohms per channel you can get away with wiring it up in 4 ohms(I do it). Just be safe with the volume so you don't overload the amp.

Creative labs 2.1 system puts out a load of 4 ohms and your car speakers which see about 6 watts a channel which is plenty. So if your looking for a cheaper solution to run car speakers this is a nice way.

When you hook up your speakers make sure you do it the same on each one. If both strands of wires are not marked by color coding. Listen to one and connect the +/- one way then the other. Find the best sounding situation and stick with it. Do the same with the 2nd while the 1st is playing. You will know when your speakers are "out of phase" due to the push pull effect. You want both speakers moving in unison instead of opposition. Or even easier you can use a 9-volt battery and hook each side to it. One way is incorrect which will make the speaker go in. The other way the speaker pops out which is the correct polarity mark it and your done.