I know the car speakers are 4 ohm and home ones are 8 ohm but can I use car speakers at home with regular amp?

Question

I know I can add the speakers in series of 2 to get 8 ohm for each two but would it have any negative effect on my speakers and or on my amp if I do that?

Answer 1

Adding them is series will work, may not be that efficient though. Many newer amps/receivers are stable to 4ohms, some even lower. My amp will drive 2 ohm's mono bridged (I hate receivers).

on a side note the ohm rating is a little misleading, more like an average, thought that's kind of a weak answer. A speakers impedance (resistance in ohms) varies dramatically through the frequency range. A speaker may be 7 ohms at 800Hz and 3 ohms at 10kHz.

Answer 2

YES...the ohm rating on speakers is simply the level of electrical resistence, sorta like the sensetivity rating (with respect to the level of power output needed to product sound). Although it may not be recommended, I use a Denon A/V receiver (@ 8 ohms) to drive 4 ohm tower speakers, works without a problem.

Answer 3

Not all amps are created equal. ideally you want to match the output impedance to the load (speakers) to get the best results. Look at it from point of view of a bow and arrow. If you match the weight of the arrow to the bow it will go the straightest and furthest. If you increase the weight it goes less distance, and if you decrease the weight the arrows get squirrely and if you dry fire it (no arrow) you can break the bow. If you crank your amp with too low of a load you can damage the outputs. Like if the speaker wires were to short, etc. But like I said not all amp are created equal, some can detect a short and shut down saving the electronic components.

Answer 4

no