Speaker ohms

[James Goforth]

Does anyone know what the speakers' resistance rating should be for
the factory AM/FM/casette in an '88 Cavalier? It's nothing fancy and
probably has somewhere around 3 watts/channel.
It works good enough for what I use it for, but the rear 6X9's are
missing. I actually have several 6X9's lying around but the ohms
ratings marked on them vary from 4 ohms, to 10.
The radio itself doesn't have any recommended speaker ohms listed on
it.
I could take a front one out but they don't come out too easily -- I
figured this is probably pretty common knowlege for the guys in here --
like they're pretty much all 4 ohms or something.
Or is there even much difference what ohms speaker you run -- 4, 10,
etc -- as long as they're not some really high resistance?
What would be the consequences of running speakers of different
resistance than this low-power amp was intended for?

[Clive]

In message <3228-49FE...@baytvnwsxa002.msntv.msn.com>, James
Goforth <jamieg...@webtv.net> writes

> What would be the consequences of running speakers of different
>resistance than this low-power amp was intended for?

Speaker ohms greater than specified would just reduce power from the
radio, lower ohm speakers could destroy your radio.
--
Clive

[PeterD]

Probably 4 ohms. But that is a WAG, based on experience. Issue is
power, with low performance audio equipment, the maximum voltage for
the speakers is about 12 volts, so 12 volts at 4 ohms is 3 watts.
Slightly better performance equipment uses about 24 volts (by bridging
circuits) giving about 6 watts. Any more, and the equipment must have
an inverter to convert the low battery voltage to a high (about 40 to
80 volts) voltage.

[Sharky]

Almost all car audio speakers made today are 4 ohm. Unless you start
talking about subwoofers, which can range from 4 ohms to 1 ohm. Anything
over 4 ohms is going to require more power from the amplifier, anything less
than 4 ohms, unless the amplifier is capable of outputting 2 or less ohms,
or is 2 channel bridgeable, is going to cause overheating. Especially on a
factory '88 GM cassette deck, trying to drive a speaker at less than a 4 ohm
load is going to cause damage to the internal amplifier.

Sharky

[Paul]

GM's are typically 10 ohm for standard amp and speakers.

[pj]

Yes! In the '87 thru '89 models, Chevvy,
Pontiac, Olds and 'vette (except for the Bose
systems) all used 10 ohm speakers.

If you can't find any inexpensive 10 ohm
speakers in the current market, you might hook a
couple of 4 ohm speakers in series for each 10
ohm speaker you're replacing. That gives 8 ohms
which won't seriously 'overload' the radio's
amp. (Don't any of the hot-dog audiophiles come
at me with a 'poor damping factor' argument.)

Important note. That vintage of GM sound system
used speakers that weren't grounded. If one of
the "new" speaker terminals is grounded to the
speaker frame, you'll wipe out the radio.

--
pj