quick question
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TECH Enthusiast
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Joined: Jun 2006
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From: Staten Island, New York
quick question hey guys, I bought 4 alpine type-R speakers which are 4 ohms. I have a 98 firebird V6 with NO monsoon. I noticed that the stock rear speakers are 10 ohms and the stock front speakers are 4 ohm. I have a Kenwood kdc-x990 in the mail but of course I dont feel like waiting to install the speakers. I figured it would be fine to switch the front ones now because the old and new are both 4 ohms, however, i wasnt sure if I could swap the back yet because of the ohm difference. Will swapping in the 4 ohm type-R speakers in place of the 10 ohm stock speakers, while keeping the stock stereo, damage the alpines before I can install the kdc-x990?
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2005
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From: Georgetown, DE
No worries about damaging the speakers. Although you might burn out the amplifier stage of your head unit if tou crank the volume too loud. Going from 10 ohms to 4 ohms, means you going to be drawing more current thru your Alpine speakers than you do with the stockers at the same volume setting. More current equals more heat that needs to be disapated by the output transistors of the head unit. Too much heat and you'll burn up the circuit.
Although it seems to me, that if the front channels can handle a 4 ohm load, the rear channels should also with no problems.
Although it seems to me, that if the front channels can handle a 4 ohm load, the rear channels should also with no problems.
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 11,328
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From: Jacksonville, FL (originally from Toronto Canada)
HiTechGent is correct (btw welcome back - haven't seen you in a while). The factory head units are 4-ohm stable and you can run those replacement speakers without problems. GM has used 10-ohm speakers in their low-end audio systems for as long as I can remember mostly because the reduced current allowed cheaper speaker wire to be used. But the current wiring is much better than it was in the 80s so it won't be a problem.
