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  #1  
Old 09-11-2013 | 02:02 AM
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ridedaddy
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What is the downfall to running a 8ohm speaker of of my 2 ohm head unit? Sorry if this question makes you audio guys cringe but I'm just not really a audio guy. Maybe if someone could explain speaker ohms to me it would make more sense?
 
  #2  
Old 09-11-2013 | 07:26 AM
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UltraNutZ
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i'll give you the very short version of this.

It's ok to go up in impedance/ohms but not down. So if you have a headunit that is stable at 2 ohms, it's ok to go to 4 or 8 ohms but you cannot go to something like a 1 ohm speaker. You'll toast your outputs on your head unit.

The drawback to using 8 ohm speakers is you will wind up at a much higher volume level (bars on display) to achieve the same sound you would out of a 2 ohm speaker to achieve the same sound level. What this does; because the volume level has to be turned up higher is starts to inject distortion into your audio. This is not a good thing as distortion is what kills speakers probably 90% of the time vs what most people think is power killing them.

I would at a minimum suggest a good 4 ohm speaker to put in your fairing. There are a lot of good 4 ohm speakers out there and at very inexpensive prices. 2 ohm speakers and 8 ohm speakers are hard to find these days.

I put a pair of these kickers in a road glide a couple of weekends ago and they sounded pretty decent and a much improved sound over stock. And at $69.. that cheap for decent sound.
 
  #3  
Old 09-11-2013 | 10:56 AM
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Thanks, I have a few sets of polk Dxi650 laying around and was thinking of using them till I am ready to spend some money on my audio.
 
  #4  
Old 09-11-2013 | 10:58 AM
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yeah those are good speakers as well..
 
  #5  
Old 09-11-2013 | 04:04 PM
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zion
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Originally Posted by UltraNutZ
i'll give you the very short version of this.

It's ok to go up in impedance/ohms but not down. So if you have a headunit that is stable at 2 ohms, it's ok to go to 4 or 8 ohms but you cannot go to something like a 1 ohm speaker. You'll toast your outputs on your head unit.

The drawback to using 8 ohm speakers is you will wind up at a much higher volume level (bars on display) to achieve the same sound you would out of a 2 ohm speaker to achieve the same sound level. What this does; because the volume level has to be turned up higher is starts to inject distortion into your audio. This is not a good thing as distortion is what kills speakers probably 90% of the time vs what most people think is power killing them.

I would at a minimum suggest a good 4 ohm speaker to put in your fairing. There are a lot of good 4 ohm speakers out there and at very inexpensive prices. 2 ohm speakers and 8 ohm speakers are hard to find these days.

I put a pair of these kickers in a road glide a couple of weekends ago and they sounded pretty decent and a much improved sound over stock. And at $69.. that cheap for decent sound.
That was a great, concise and clear explanation!!
 
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