sarah

if the Lexus factory front speakers are 8ohms, must I
replace them with 8ohm aftermarket speakers? (direct
replacment of speakers only) I took out one of the
door speakers just to see what size it was.... there was
no indication of ohm rating.... so I took out my multimeter
and measured it... the reading came back as 7.6 ohms
I assume this means the factory speakers are probably
rated at 8 ohms?

by the way, why are the factory speakers made out of
paper???

Percy

Paper = cost savings. And their durability will definitely suffer if water gets on them. Slow rot.

Even the best Lexus / Mark Levinson audio system has shortcuts taken. Their amps and speakers aren't known for any type of longevity, despite their marketing.

IS-Fly168

iTrader: (1)

From what I heard, paper woofers are the best sound producing speakers but at the cost of longevity.

Percy

Actually they introduce plenty of distortion and coloration of sound due to the flexing. Plus as the paper wears on and breaks down, the sound also changes and breaks down with it.

I have a set of Dynaudio speakers which are made out of a magnesium silicate polymer and they're over 10 years old and going strong. The Lexus paper ones start breaking down well before then, especially if water happens to splash on them.

"Best sound producing speakers"? I'd like to find out where you got your info.

kiwi

car speakers = 8 ohms

house speakers = 4 ohms

usually

Percy

stylistic,

I took a look at the link - it's a good read, though a bit dated. The newest state of the art drivers from Dynaudio, their esotar 2 series, is THE speaker driver to beat, bar none. These are available for car audio at some fairly decent prices. 1500 for the tweeters alone, 1000 for the midwoofer pair and 1500 for the 12 inch sub. Distortion is extremely low. And their transient response is downright amazing with 1st order xovers. Many will rely on patchwork in their xover (rainbow and other companies will do this), but not dyn.

The author makes no mention of the original esotar series, the T330D tweeter. Or the M560D midrange, also by Dynaudio. What he does mention are types from the more available "hobbyist" sources. Dyn stopped becoming available to the hobbyist around the early 2000/2001 timeframe. They do produce speaker drivers that are available for the car.

Take a look at the Dynaudio site. http://www.dynaudio.com - they're THE standard and definitely one of the TOP names and are constantly improving their speaker drivers. And I've had PLENTY of other brands in my cars. MB Quart, ads, etc etc. And LOTS of flexibility in tuning with McIntosh (back then) parametric EQs. Now going to use a modded XDP4000X processor. If you're over the age of 30, you know what the processor is. But nowadays, the electronics that are available for the car just won't hold up to the stuff they had in the mid to late 90s. Even the new Alpine F#1 status won't hold up due to some shortcuts, but they can be modified.

Those that have been on the board for a while know that my goal is that of ULTIMATE sound accuracy. Even the guys at Dynaudio know this. You can do a search on my posts (old ones) and you'll get an idea of the system that I'm after. And I'm the only one who has written an entire book on the GS audio system and the aftermarket equipment available for them. Wish I wrote some on the other cars...but the owners aren't close by for me to take apart the car and put it through some serious testing. The book is no longer available though - it's about 10 years old now and the info applies just as well now as it did back then.

Paper speakers will definitely degrade in the automotive environment. You can take the pair that is currently in the car (a few years old) and measure them against a fresh new pair. Or even a new pair that has been broken in...there WILL be differences. The poly cone, especially Magnesium Silicate Polymer, PROPERLY designed and dampened, will make a far longer lasting and better sounding alternative.