luskiiimj

Can I replace the factory doors (4-ohms) with Infinity Kappa Series (2-ohms)? Keeping everything else stock? I can't seem to find an answer as to what happens when you do something like that.

Zasker1

if you have the factory amp it would probably melt, what type of amp are you running?

luskiiimj

Ouch. Yes, I was hoping to keep the stock amp. I guess I can't, huh.? I'm getting more confused actually. I've asked a few people and I keep getting different answers. I just don't understand the ohms thing. Some people say you can go up, but not down, some people say down but not up. I guess I'm just going to have to pay somebody out the a** to make all my decisions for me. That's not really what I was hoping for.

If you don't mind I'd like to ask one more question. All I want to do is replace the crap factory speakers with something respectable, and that is at least as loud and hopefully just a little bit louder. What speakers should I get, or will I have to get a new amp? Thanks for the help.

Zasker1

So typicaly when you drop the OHM's from say 4 - 2 you get a huge power boost, just looked at most aftermarket amps and you can see were they will say 200w at 4ohms and 400 at 2. Howerver the amp is also designed to handle this. Your factory amp is about the size of rice and is simply not ment to handles the additional power strain. This is a good site where you can research this topic: http://forum.sounddomain.com/. This is another good site as well: http://www.carstereo.com/forum/

dmsmitty

Depending on your music choices, and what volume you listen to it, you might be okay. The chances of melting the amp are there. Impedence is a measure of resistance. Think of it like a garden hose. It can move water with little or no strain just off of the tap. Put your finger over the end, and you create resistance. The hose is strained to hold the pressure now because you've created so much resistance. With your amp, the resistance translates to heat

This is overly simplistic, and someone will probably jump in on this metaphor. An amplifier running at 4 ohms is not nearly at hot to the touch as the same amp running at 2 ohms (even if the amp is 2 ohm stable).

Another consideration is the signal from our stock head unit. The TL's radio is highly attenuated. For example, when you turn up the volume, the radio lowers the bass levels. This is to keep us from damaging speakers all the time. This is why equipment such as JL Audio's Cleansweep is so popular (and pricey). The unit removes the attenuation (as best it can) for a more consistent signal to the amplifiers. My point here is that upgrading to new door speakers may be disappointing, as they would be underpowered (by stock amp), and are more than the amp is designed for.

My is that the door speakers are alright with the stock setup. New speakers are expensive to not use at their full potential.

Just my two cents.

luskiiimj

Dmsmitty, are you saying that putting 2-ohm speakers on the stock 4-ohm amp will run cooler at a given volume than the stock 4-ohm on 4-ohm? Because that sounds like the opposite of what Zasker said? Who is right? I'm really confused.

Zasker1

No, what dmsmitty is saying is that if you take your stock 4 ohm amp and run it into two ohms for your speakers it will run must hotter than if you had 4 ohm speakers. With increase of heat you get a decrese in performance. There are alot of speakers out there that are 4ohms but I have only seen afew that run at 2ohms, outside of subs. What speakers are you looking to power? Make and Model please.

luskiiimj

Infinity Kappa Series 62.7i

Here's the link to their site where it says 2-ohms:
http://www.infinitysystems.com/caraudio/product.aspx?ProdId='KAPPA62.7I'&Ser=KAP&Cat=MEL

Like I said, I don't know anything about this stuff, but basically you are supposed to run the same ohms speaker and amp or things can get messed up. That's the main point I'm understanding.

So if I really wanted to run those 2-ohm speakers, what amp do I need to get to power them; Let's assume I replace fr and rr doors with those Infinitys. Thanks you guys.

Zasker1

So looking at these speakers you should note that in the TSX the signal to the front speakers is split between the door and the tweeters on the dash. Thus the speakers you have currently picked are only going to play mid range tones as the highs are being sent to the tweeters in the dash. If you want to upgrade the fronts you realy need to look at a componite setup such as this:
http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAu...roductID=13349

Does that make sense?

In terms of OHM's, its a good idea to get matching speakers /amp ratings for a factory amp. Howerver if you switch to an aftermarket amp they are designed to alow you mix and match thus you could get a 4ohm amp that was stable into 2 or even 1 ohm loads.

If you go the rought of an aftermarket amp, it sorta changes everything as the price goes up alot as you have to buy an amp, wiring kit, install, and do one of several conversions to get a signal from the head unit to your amp.

If you just want to upgarde you speakers you could probably do that for under say $250 for the fronts and rear but if you go to an amp setup it changes alot.

luskiiimj

Zasker1, seriously, thanks for your help. I think I'll price some speakers for the stock setup and some with an amp just to see. I'm actually leaning towards getting an amp now.

98_2.5_TL

Running 2-0hm speakers directly to a 4-ohm amplifier channel isn't good. It'll eventually ruin the speakers, whether you play them loudly or not.

I have one suggestion to make this work

If you wire two 2-ohm speakers in series, it presents a 4-ohm load to the amplifier.
My suggestion is to just buy an aftermarket 2-channel amp. If you try to wire 2 2-ohm door speakers to produce a 4-ohm load, you're not getting stereo. Running those 2 speakers on one amplifier channel will sound ok as far as power/impedance, but the setup will be mono. Make it easy and just stick with stock, or buy an aftermarket amp, almost every one of them is capable of 2-ohm stereo operation.



PS ; Impedance is a measure of DC Resistance, variable with frequency.

If you test a 4-ohm speaker with an Ohmmeter, it will read around 3.6 ohms. but that's resistance, and not impedance. 2 different things.

At 1500 HZ, the Impedance of the speaker will be different than at 500 HZ.

that's why speakers are hard to engineer.