2 Ohm Impedance

[RamminBeavers]

So, I've been shopping for new 6x9's to replace all my door speakers, and I noticed that some Polk/Infinity/JBL (and I think some Kenwoods) are operating at 2 or 3 ohms. The thinking is, that this will produce more sound from your factory head unit. Awesome, right? Well, I have been reading some conversations about it over on Crutchfield and some people are confident everything will be fine, while other believe you will certainly fry your factory head-unit.

The speaker manufacturers' point is: When running small gauge speaker you are increasing your impedance back to the radio. Essentially making your 4 ohm speakers 5 or 6 ohm. So really, when you run their two ohm speaker, your head unit sees it as 4 ohm.

My question to that would be: If my factory head unit was intended to push 4 ohm speakers with a true impedance of 6 (due to the small gauge wire), then wouldn't I be still be decreasing the impedance and increasing strain on the head unit's amp? Meaning the new 2 ohm speakers wouldn't be balancing out anything. They would still be operating with lower impedance than stock.

I have the base 6 speaker system, and from everything I've seen, we have 4 ohm / 15 watt speakers (please correct me if I'm wrong). And that the Alpine package has 2 ohm speakers in the doors.

So, is the 8.4AN the same head unit in trucks with the Alpine system and the ones with the base? If they were different, they would have different part numbers, no?

So then, if they are the same head unit, and the Alpine upgrade has 2 ohm speakers, wouldn't it be safe to assume that 8.4AN is 2 ohm stable?

Thoughts?

 

[CherryRed]

I doubt you will run into trouble unless you like your music loud. It's when you pump up the volume and work the amp hard, hence heating it up, that you run the risk of burning something out.

 

[troutspinner]

It is not safe to assume that since they are the same part number that they work the same way.

Non-Alpine systems feed the output power from the head unit to the speakers. Alpine units however feed the power from the head unit to the Alpine amp. The Alpine amp does it's "magic" and then feeds power to the speakers. In each instance, the volume knob is controlling it's independent source, the head unit or the amp.

To address the impedance. The head unit is putting out a signal.....note I did not mention an impedance. In a 6 speaker system (non-alpine) the front doors and the dash are fed the front signal and the rear doors are fed the rear signal. The front doors and the dash are 4 ohm speakers ran in parallel, effectively reducing the impedance to 2 ohms +/-. The rear doors however are 4 ohm +/-. I use +/- as 2 or 4 is not really a true impedance, in our instance, our speakers run about 3.85 ohms.

So, will all of the channels run at 2 ohms, they sure will but you have to remember that the front doors and dash are running off of the same channel so if you throw 2 ohm speakers at that channel, both door and dash, you are reducing the load to 1 ohm which may or may not be stable.

Further, if you are thinking that a 2 ohm replacement speaker will get you some benefit over a 4 ohm replacement, you are reaching for the stars. There will not be a worthy audible difference, not worth the risk of frying your head unit. If you really want some power out of your system, an external amp is a must, other wise, live with it as it is.

 

[Etroze86]

^^^^ 100%, There are many configurations where you can make it work but in the end if you are doing a factory upgrade just replace with the same ohm speaker.

 

[Graygoose]

If HU wants 4 ohm, feed it 4 ohm.

 

[ou812]

This is nothing but a marketing ploy on the behalf of Harman.

 

[woojyee]

So, I've been shopping for new 6x9's to replace all my door speakers, and I noticed that some Polk/Infinity/JBL (and I think some Kenwoods) are operating at 2 or 3 ohms. The thinking is, that this will produce more sound from your factory head unit. Awesome, right? Well, I have been reading some conversations about it over on Crutchfield and some people are confident everything will be fine, while other believe you will certainly fry your factory head-unit.

The speaker manufacturers' point is: When running small gauge speaker you are increasing your impedance back to the radio. Essentially making your 4 ohm speakers 5 or 6 ohm. So really, when you run their two ohm speaker, your head unit sees it as 4 ohm.

My question to that would be: If my factory head unit was intended to push 4 ohm speakers with a true impedance of 6 (due to the small gauge wire), then wouldn't I be still be decreasing the impedance and increasing strain on the head unit's amp? Meaning the new 2 ohm speakers wouldn't be balancing out anything. They would still be operating with lower impedance than stock.

I have the base 6 speaker system, and from everything I've seen, we have 4 ohm / 15 watt speakers (please correct me if I'm wrong). And that the Alpine package has 2 ohm speakers in the doors.

So, is the 8.4AN the same head unit in trucks with the Alpine system and the ones with the base? If they were different, they would have different part numbers, no?

So then, if they are the same head unit, and the Alpine upgrade has 2 ohm speakers, wouldn't it be safe to assume that 8.4AN is 2 ohm stable?

Thoughts?

My initial plans for my upgrade was to replace the factory speakers with RFs and kickers in the dash and go with a Kicker SubStage. The issue I ran into was, the factory dash speakers were 8-ohms and the Kicker replacements were 4-ohm. Since the dash speakers were now drawing more power, they became overbearing. If you do decide to replace your speakers with 2-ohm, I would go with 4-ohm in the dash to maintain the balance. Troutspinner mentioned his were 4-ohm dash, mine were 8 so I would verify what yours are before buying some.

 

[RamminBeavers]

Thanks for all the input. I've decided to go with Kicker KSC694's in all four doors. I cut 3/4" spacers out of MDF to make the fronts fit. I also bought a Pioneer GM-D8604 amp. My hope is that with the amp taking 2 high level inputs and converting them to the 4 outputs, I'll be able to retain fade and balance control from the factory HU (the outputs are LR, RR, LF, RF). I worry about losing signal all together though. I've seen a couple other threads where people were losing the entire signal when tapping into the speakers for input.

I get my truck back from the body shop this week, and can't wait to get it all installed. Again, thanks for the help.