PERRYinLA

Since one of them no longer works for some reason, I am looking to replace the rear side 4" Nakamichi speakers of my 1992 SC400.

There is a discussion currently going on in the SC300/SC400 forum about what sort of speakers to use, with Taka saying he installed 4-ohm MB Quart speakers in his front doors. But I could have sworn I saw a discussion on this issue a few months back where the Nakamichi system was said to be 2 ohms, and that most aftermarket 4 and 8 ohm speakers would not work with the Nakamichi. Unfortunately, older discussions don't seem to be accessable anymore, so I can't check it.

Of course, in my home systems, I never much paid attention to the 4 vs. 8 ohm issue, so maybe that is the case here. I am wondering if anyone has some experiences with using aftermarket 4 ohm speakers with the Nakamichi amp. Since I don't want to clog the forum with "thank you" postings, here is an advance "thank you" for any respondents.

The Lex

Hi Perry,

I'm not the technical expert on this issue but one thing to consider is that a speakers ohm is variable depending upon the frequency being reproduced. I will not claim to know if car speakers are the same as home speakers, but most home speakers do not exhibit a flat resistance. The resistance is measured at a certain frequency response.

A bigger issue would be if you are replacing a single speaker, that speaker should be the same or very similiar to the ohm of the one on the opposite channel. Otherwise if the resistance is different on one side, one side will sound louder than the other.

I hope that make sense and helps a bit.

Percy

PerryinLA,

The 4 ohm speakers should work out fine. Only the PIONEER/Premium system uses 2 ohm speakers.

The Lex,

You're thinking of the impedance curve. It's the resistance of what the speaker will produce when a certain frequency is applied. Thus this is why crossovers (better ones) use a Zobel network to balance out the impedance. It's a bit different than the "static" ohm measurement where no frequency is applied and only a resistance check (dc) is performed. In short, you're thinking of a speakers AC characteristics. The simple resistance is the speakers DC characteristic.

Percy

The Lex

Percy, thanks for that info. I stand corrected. This is why I like to lurk here on the forum. There's so much info to be had.

BTW, I happen to have the Pioneer premium system, and hence the 2 ohms speakers. Will I run into problems trying to add a new cd changer and sub to this existing system, or am I better of just starting from scratch and going with new speakers, HU, wirng, and sub?

Percy

You're better off with the second option. It's pretty hard to bolt on anything other than speakers/sub with the Pioneer/Premium system.

Percy