Using Car Audio Components?

[bighouse]

Is there a way to use car audio speakers and subwoofers to build yourself a set of speakers for a home theater?

If so, how do you do it?

[Hammie]

I had a set of KLH floorstanders in the early 90's and replaced the 12" subs with JL Audio car subs. They worked fine for me.

I think most are a different Ohms than home speakers so you may want to research or use external amps so you don't fry your receiver.

[bighouse]

How did you do that, did you have to install an external amp or rewire to whole speaker or was it simply plug and play?

[Hammie]

Originally Posted by bighouse

How did you do that, did you have to install an external amp or rewire to whole speaker or was it simply plug and play?

Honestly, I just plug and played. I then ran them off an old Sony Receiver (which I may have burned the left channel since when I replaced them, I had to bump up that channel by about 8 db to get it close to the right channel. I think it was 10 db difference between the two channels.

[naturephoto1]

For my totally rebuilt Dahlquist DQ-10 speakers the designer of the rebuild had used initially Dynaudio home speaker drivers. When we rebuilt my particular speakers Dynaudio had already stopped selling their home speaker drivers to the public and speaker companies. We used the Automobile speaker drivers closest to the home speaker drivers in the original rebuild design. They made and still make a superb performing set of speakers using the Dynaudio Automobile drivers instead of the home speaker drivers. The crossover parts had to be specifically selected for the drivers selected and the design of the speaker cabinets.

Rich

[Blu-Dog]

Originally Posted by bighouse

Is there a way to use car audio speakers and subwoofers to build yourself a set of speakers for a home theater?

If so, how do you do it?

I've done this several times, with excellent results. I built a 5 channel setup for my son, using Infinity Kappa 6.5", 4", and 3.5" speakers, wired in series for each speaker to run at 7.5 ohms. (Infinity car drivers are 2.5 ohms each).

I'll be doing a writeup for Big Daddy's speaker building threads soon, just haven't had time.

Performance is astounding. All speakers were sealed, though Infinity does provide Thiele-Small parameters for proper volume calculations. I prefer sealed for accuracy and power handling.

The fronts are comprised of two 6.5" and one 5.25" Kappa drivers; the surrounds are two 4" and one 3.5" drivers. All are multi-element.

Power handling is phenomenal, clarity is excellent, and presence is all you could want. I use solid wood, with pine "ladder frame" interiors, and redwood exteriors finished with tung oil.

One drawback is speaker dispersion - the tweeters and midrange drivers are very wide dispersion types, so it was important to use lots of drivers. Infinity Kappa drivers are not cheap, though I got most for $80 to $90 a pair. They are much higher at the usual Best Buy-Crutchfield sources.

I also whipped up some less elaborate dual Pioneer 6x9 units, using two drivers wired in series for an 8ohm load, and I'll post those up later on.

Subwoofers made from car drivers are definitely a good way to go. I've built 10" and 12" sets, and am currently working on a dual 10" box from redwood for my family room home theater.

My main home theater rigs use high end speakers - Definitive Mythos, Sonus Faber Domus, Vienna Acoustics, and other "high end" speakers. These units from car speakers are much bulkier, and less efficient in terms of power handling, but the sound on these units are at 90% of the performance of my high end units - at less than 25% of the price.

Go for it!

[NorCo_1806]

Should we presume that you already have extra car-stereo speakers with which your plan started? If so, you should list them out for us, with ohm ratings (if you know them).

I've used a car sub and specifically designed enclosure for the sub for years now. I'm even running a small car amp to power it....12-volt converter plugged into switched outlet on my AVR.

I know a guy that built custom in-walls and used several car speakers in each. He made custom frames and grills for them.....turned out very nice.

So it's possible, main thing to pay attention to is the ohm load on your amp. If you're gonna use car amps like I did, you should be fine.....though I'm sure a nice home amp or even a standard AVR would still be better.

[Chaco]

i got a free HT Jensen 12" subwoofer a few yrs back.
it sounded boomy and wasnt all that great, so when i started listening to DTS HD and Dolby True HD the driver failed.

so i went and replaced the 12" with the MTX Thunder from my car.

it was the same OHM as the Jensen, and OMG what a great difference this does. its only 100w plate amp the sub has, but it sounded 10x deeper, louder and no longer boomy.

its worked great for over a year and i really push it...

i also changed my brother's old school Verwin Vega 12" with a Infinity car sub

that one sounds even better than mine since he has a 240w plate amp on it.

IMO, they are great contenders for home audio.. just ensure the enclosure has the volume the driver requires.