Using car speakers in home HiFi setup

[voodooskunk]

Hi all

I was hoping to get some opinions on using car speakers in a home HiFi setup. The reasons I want to do this is purely the range available, cost and ease of acquiring car speakers - I want to go as slim as possible.

The speakers I'd like to use are either the Infinity Kappa series or the Blaupunkt ultra-flat OD series. Whichever I decide to go with, each cabinet will have its own amp and crossover.

Also, I read on the DIY High End website (http://www.diy-high-end.com/amplifier/) that mounting low frequency speakers back-to-back improves sound quality, has anyone tried this?

Many thanks.

Mo.

[hitsware]

You'd do some real voodoo if you posted the T/S parameters of your drivers. That's a big bugaboo with car drivers. No T/S specs usually supplied.......mike

[prerunnerv6]

voodoo, I've had success with using car audio speakers. I purchased 6.5" 2-way set of Presidian speakers from Radio Shack. I only wanted the boxes. They were about the volume of some car speaker pods I've read about.

I then replaced the drivers with Vifa Autosound tweeters, Crystal Mobilesound Crossovers, and some 4ohm midbass car speakers I had on the shelf. I knew they could go up to 4,000 hz.

The result was impressive. Good bass response, good power handling, and good overall balance. Thier sensitivity is higher than normal hi-fi, so they get loud quickly. It's a 4ohm load, but my receiver can handle it. I guess I would compare them to the Dayton 2-way set I have. But the car speakers get louder and need less box volume to give good bass.

Since it's hard to find T/S specs for car audio, I would look around on some caraudio forums and ask what pod volume some would suggest. Then translate that into a home speaker box.

[sushizen]

getting any adequate in-room response can be very tricky with car audio speakers. ever wonder why they sound so thin and awful on the walls of your local bigbox retailer in their "listening rooms". don't even worry about t/s. all good car stereo speakers are designed for free-air use, which means they will have very large excursions which make them unsuitable for ported enclosures. their moving masses are so high because they use such exotic cone materials and surrounds it ruins the efficiency and bumps up the mechanical q. car speakers are really best when they are right smack next to you in a tiny room i.e., car interior.

i reccomend that you look for a less-restrictive speaker to use in your setup, which might save you money too. look for OEM replacement speakers for GM cars. they are paper cone fullrange speakers which you could actually throw in a sealed box and maybe get some reasonable bass out of.

coaxials may have "flat" frequency response, however, they can sound kinda light and beamy out of their element. just like subwoofers - that 10" kappa perfect (loved that one when i had it) might sound good in your trunk or back seat, but take it out and stick it in the corner of your bedroom and the bass response becomes pathetic. that's excursion for you. misdirected energy.

sorry for the bias, just my $.02.

[Shoog]

I have used Pioneer paper cone three way car speakers(TS-1615). Infact I have a pair mounted in the wall of my work room (which is small). They sound very good. I had some whizzer cone pioneer car drivers in a Bigger is Better enclosure. I heard that the same drivers had been used in a commercial high end design. They were a bit bright. I put this down to the fact that they are designed not to fire straight at you. I tried some Pioneer drivers with the new metal type whizzers - terrible.
I tried some Kenwood which were rubbish, I was also warned off Sonys. Pioneers from the 1980's seem the best. Consider building a cab with them mounted in the top and firing at the ceiling or at a 45 degree angle. This should sort out there brightness. Paper cone would be best.

Can work well.

Shoog

[voodooskunk]

Thanks for your input.

I'll go with dedicated HiFi speakers instead! I'd like to use either the Fostex, Goldwood or Vifa. I'm having difficulty finding a supplier in the UK (besides the overpriced Wilmslow Audio), any suggestions?

Thanks.

[Bose(o)]

I remember this topic coming up a couple of years ago and you may find your answers in there. However, I don't see a porblem in what you want to do, of course, you'll have to keep the speakers away from any magnetic field sensitive devices because car speakers typically don't entail shielding.

However, a neodymium car speaker should have little stray magnetic field and should be able to work near monitors and the like, without any problems.

Mounting speakers back-to-back = bipolar. Bipolar will improve sound and depending on whether they are wired push-push (in-phase) or, push-pull (out-phase) then it will alter sound and among other things, energy to be dissipated.

[consort_ee_um]

Possible suppliers in UK
CPC
Falcon Acoustics (sale on at the moment)
But when you see the lovely range of stuff at Parts Express and Madisound in the States you could weep. I assume shipping costs are too high for the average order.