Are 8 ohm speakers any good?

Question

I bought two Lightning Audio S4.12.8. subwoofers and was going to hook them up to my 1200 watt profile amp. The subs are 300 watts rms and 900 watts max power. But when I got home, my friend asked me why did I get 8 ohm woofers? I didn't think that really mad a difference cause I told the store owner what I was running it to, and he said that this what I needed for my budget. My friend also told me the lower the ohm, the better the speaker. My amp is 2 ohms, so why would he sell me 8 ohm woofers? Also, are there any sleeper name brands out there that are for a good price and are still about the same as those high priced ALPINES, AND KICKERS, AND MEMPHIS ?

Answer 1

man i don't know where alot of people get there info from but its a lot of sh** they make 8 ohm sub for car audio they was around before 4ohm,2ohm, and the dvc and the quad voice coils they sound good your amp will not be doing 1200 because its not going to be at the 2ohms that it takes but it will work if you hook them up to your amp you might get half of the power it say but look at the fuses in the amp that will tell you the true power of the amp 20amp= 200 watts of power

Answer 2

First of all, IF that amplifier is indeed 2 ohms, then it is designed for the low end of the audio spectrum. Using a higher ohm rating is not going to hurt anything. 8 ohms is a NOMINAL speaker resistance rating. It is based on the AC resistance of the speaker at a frequency of 1000 Hz. A tone at 1000 Hz is sent through the coils, and special resistance measuring equipment determines the resistance of the coil in the speaker. That resistance is going to vary as the frequncy of the music changes. That speaker resistance is known as a "dynamic" resistance for a reason. That reason is what I just described. Be very careful how you wire that speaker up to your amplifier. That 1200 watt amplifier can put out enough volage and current, or "sound" to say it a different way, to burn out the coil in those speakers. While you are at it, do not put the speakers in parallel across one of the amplifier terminal sets, because this could fry the amplifier. The dynamic resistance of the amplifier must never be made lower than it is designed for. If you parallel 2, 2 ohm speakers, you just made a 1 ohm circuit and that will overload the output of the amplifier. Transients in music can also fry speakers. A sudden burst of high frequency sound, while you may not hear it, can destroy a speaker. You also need to consider the frequency range of the speaker. A good bass speaker is going to be very sensitive to low frequencies. Frequencies in the range of 5 hertz to 500 hertz, would be a good range for a speaker. As for which speaker is better than another, it's resistance is not the issue. Where the speaker is resonant, and the frequency range of the speaker is what is important, as well as what the RMS rating of the speaker is. I know this has been a lot of technical information, but you do need to know what you are doing, unless you want a pile of scrap metal in your vehicle. The wrong connections, or insufficient power capability and you are going to fry something. As far as "sleeper" speakers go, I amsure that there are. You need to do a search for them. Look in catalogs for electronic supply companies for what they offer. Companies such as Mouser, or Newark, or Allied, companies like these that deal in small to large quantities of electrical equipment. Good luck, do some reading on what makes this stuff work, on a more technical level, and don't fry anything.

Answer 3

vehicle stereos are 4 ohms but most amps are 2 to 8 ohms or 4 to 8 ohms

Answer 4

For automotive use: since your electrical system is 12 volts, then to get lots of power thru the speaker they lower the impedance. Ohms law I= E/R, Watts= I*E anyway just hook them up and as long as you can blow out your ear drums, then they are fine.

Answer 5

They aren't necessarily designed for automotive use unless you are running enough in parallel (3 or 4) to bring the resistance down to 2 ohms.

But hook it up. If it sounds good to you, it's not going to kill your amp or your speaker.

When I was a kid, we used to use 8 ohm house speakers all the time in our cars.

Answer 6

if you bridge those in parallel, you'll be able to lower the load to 4-ohms at the terminals and that should work just fine. i looked at profile's website and (assuming you have the ap1200 california model) the lowest load that your amp can handle when bridged IS 4-ohms, therefore you have the appropriate voice coil setup. they are perfect for that application, whatever anyone else says. read your amp's manual, and it says your bridged rms output is 600W at 4 ohms, which is pretty good!

Answer 7

The more Ohms the more power needed for sound. However 8 ohms has less distortion than a 2 Ohm speaker.

Answer 8

8ohm subs are good they are the best to use if you have a 2 channel amp because you can bridge the amp so if you have a 2 channel amp keep them and bridge the amp.

Answer 9

plain and simple answer....NO. 8 ohms are home speakers. 4 ohms are car speakers. Try finding an 8ohm 12volt amp, they don't make em.

Answer 10

You gotta match speaker impedance to output impedance 2ohm to 2ohm , 8ohm to 8ohm..