Is there an inexpensive amp available that would let me run HW 5.25 4 ohm speakers with my 2002 8 ohm radio. Should I find a newer 4 ohm HD radio?

 

or just get some good 8 ohm speakers. i just put in some J&M 3 ways and they sound amazing. i think the ARC amp will serve you just fine, but "cheap" doesnt really go with it at all.

 

Krom nutz - As we like to say, screw it, let's ride.

Driving 4 ohm speakers from an 8 ohm radio will cause the amp to attempt to drive to double the rated power. For most systems this won't be a problem. I'd say hook 'em up and drive the volume to max. If the distortion isn't any different that now, leave 'em as is.

If the distortion is unbearable, cut the existing wiring connecting the woofer to the tweeter, attach the positive wire from the amp to the woofer, then from the neg on the woofer to the pos on the tweeter, then from the neg on the tweeter to the amp. This series wiring will create an 8 ohm speaker.

 

Thanks, I was hoping to just replace my stock speakers with these and didnt even realize they were diff. impedence. I may pick up some 8 ohm's and save these hawg wired till I can afford to do it all the way.

CW4- I am curious however to see what they would sound like , is there a chance of screwing them up?

 

Krom - what bike are you riding and how many speakers do you have? The scenario I drew out was for a two speaker system (I assumed you only had two speakers). If you have a Ultra and four speakers, all four four ohm, you can wire them in series and achieve the same effect making the connection an 8 ohm circuit.

For example, let's say you have an 8 ohm amplifier and four four ohm speakers, two speakers per side. You can run speaker cable from your positive out on the amp to the pos in on speaker one, then from the neg on speaker one to the pos on speaker two, then from the neg on speaker two to the neg on the amp and create an 8 ohm circuit. This is a series circuit.

If you did this same scenario but ran the wire from the pos on the amp, to the pos on speaker one, then from the pos on speaker one to the pos on speaker two, then from the neg on speaker two to the neg on speaker one, then back to the amp this would be a parallel circuit and create a 2 ohm loop. (The next time your at a rock concert impress your friends and tell them how cool it is that they run the tower of speakers in series and parallel to keep the circuit at 8 ohms)

The distortion value is more dependent on the quality of the amp that the quality of the speakers. If you have a good amp there won't be anything wrong with driving 4 ohm speakers from an 8 ohm circuit. If this is the case I'd wire 'em up and enjoy the extra kick you'll get from the amp and call it you "Tunes Stage II Kit".

My thoughts? Put 'em in, wire 'em up, and go rock the world.

 

the 4 ohm speakers will sound great on the 8 ohm deck and will be much louder than stock. the problem is the radio will start to get hot and will start cutting out after a few hours of constant play. dont ask me how i know this...

 

OG, Thank yall for the input. I will go ahead and install them and give em a try while im searchin for and amp, and figure out how to add some extra extra speakers to the inner fairing. I will search the threads for that one.

CW4- Stock stereo 02 RG, 2 stock speakers with new 4 ohm for replacements, ideas of adding amp and 2 additional speakers Thanks for the detailed descriptions.

 

Remember you can go up on ohms with the speaker and only lose some volume. You can use a 8, 16 ohm without a problem.
By going down on the ohms on the speaker will cause the head unit to heat and can/will cause a problem down the road. 8 ohm head unit with 4 ohm speakers.

Here is something to help you understand better.
http://www.bcae1.com/spkrmlti.htm

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