Speakers for garage

[mark_k]

Hello, not sure if this fits here! But figured it had electric current involved. My question is, could I use car speakers mounted in the ceiling of my garage, or would that not be recommended? Thank you.

 

[Ilikeike]

If your receiver/amp is rated to run them, 8ohm etc...

I got some off amazon for $80 deliverd.

 

[rodsnratfinks]

You could get much better results using used home theater/stereo speakers from a thrift store or CL. Car speakers wouldn't work too well acoustically without an enclosure.

 

[dslabuda]

I thought most car speakers (subs excluded) were 4ohm?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk 4

 

[easyrider13]

I bought Polk Atrium 4 speakers to use. I got them for $80.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00378KMF0/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[Chevy-SS]

Use home speakers. If you ask some of your friends, I bet that someone has a set laying around that you can use/have for free. Use a decent amp, again - you can probably find used one cheap or free.

I connected in a laptop to my amp, and I use the laptop as a MP3 player, or I just go to YouTube and listen to various playlists. Plus, it's extremely handy to have a laptop in the garage for reference purposes.

Home speakers for home/garage. Car speakers for car.

 

[nperkins]

Agreed, use home not car speakers... Most car speakers are 4ohm, most home audio is 8... So if you are using a home AV receiver to power the speakers, might as well use home audio speakers.

You can easily find yourself a full setup on craigslist for $50. Somebody selling a home theater in a box...

I've got some klipsch bookshelfs that will be going up, just gotta hit up craigslist for a receiver.

 

[RunninOnEmpty]

Most car audio speakers are 4 ohm which will work with some receivers and not others. It also depends on the volume you try to drive them at - a receiver rated for 8 ohms will generally work with a 4 ohm speaker IF you don't try to crank the volume. If you happen to have 4 of them lying around, you could use 2 in series for each channel. If you are looking to buy some cheap speakers then no, I don't recommend car audio speakers for this.

However they are also going to be very inefficient and crappy if not at least installed into a box.

 

[Pattonky]

Receiver with amp given to me and a couple of Boston Acoustics bought at thrift store for $6. Sounds great and sounds even better when cost is thought about. So... Plus one on the thrift store advice.

 

[Honest Bob]

You could run two 4 ohm speakers per channel in series to get an 8 ohm load to make the receiver happy. By per channel I mean two 4 ohm car speakers wired in series on the left channel and the same for the right channel.

You could try and run one speaker per channel but you wont be able to push them to far before the receiver goes into protection mode/cooks itself. If kept at a moderate volume it probably wouldnt be an issue.

This site should help with the wiring schematic. I find the site to be pretty cool in general.
http://www.bcae1.com/spkrmlti.htm

 

[RunninOnEmpty]

This site should help with the wiring schematic. I find the site to be pretty cool in general.
http://www.bcae1.com/spkrmlti.htm

Yeah, BCAE is a great site to learn about electronics. Another good one is the12volt.com

 

[mark_k]

Thanks I was just wondering. I was looking at ceiling mounted speakers and they were about 100 a speaker, whereas I could get some car speakers about 100/pair.

 

[n8n]

You could get much better results using used home theater/stereo speakers from a thrift store or CL. Car speakers wouldn't work too well acoustically without an enclosure.

This.

Just keep haunting craigslist or goodwill for speakers of a brand name of which you've heard for <$30/pair and snap 'em up when they show up. Old floorstanders seem to go cheap because everyone's going to bookshelf/sub and satellite/sub systems these days. That would really be my plan, get some big old school 70's full range speakers and put them on shelves on either side of the garage. If you have a smart phone that can help you look up specs/reviews on things that look good but you don't recognize; that'll help you sort out the high end brands from the white van man stuff.

That said, the original plan of car speakers would work, but you'll probably want to mate them with a powered sub to get anything resembling decent bass response. If you don't care about <60 Hz then you can skip that, but you won't know what you're missing. If you do go that route again watch craigslist, I managed to pick up an Outlaw LFM-1 for $250 a few months back, I'm not an uber-audiophile but may be a little more picky than your average person - I highly recommend that unit as it digs deep (in an ideal world you'd want a sub that will go to 20 Hz or below, I think the LFM-1 rolls off around 23 Hz which is still pretty low compared to most offerings) doesn't sound overly boomy, sloppy, or rattly, and seems to be equally happy with music or movies.

 

[RunninOnEmpty]

That said, the original plan of car speakers would work

With an enclosure, yes. Without an enclosure you'll need speakers recommended for free air use (like in a car door that isn't properly sealed up (e.g. stock) or the rear deck). There are a few Thiele-Small parameters you can look at to determine if something should be decent in free air (such as the Q factors) but generally you should Google the speaker and "free air" or something like that.

If no enclosure and they aren't designed for this type of usage, they will sound so bad as well as be so inefficient that you would probably overload the receiver just trying to supply the power needed for a "moderate" listening level.

 

[n8n]

With an enclosure, yes. Without an enclosure you'll need speakers recommended for free air use (like in a car door that isn't properly sealed up (e.g. stock) or the rear deck). There are a few Thiele-Small parameters you can look at to determine if something should be decent in free air (such as the Q factors) but generally you should Google the speaker and "free air" or something like that.

If no enclosure and they aren't designed for this type of usage, they will sound so bad as well as be so inefficient that you would probably overload the receiver just trying to supply the power needed for a "moderate" listening level.

I was thinking of foam baffles behind them and/or homemade MDF enclosures. But yeah, I guess it bears mentioning for those not familiar.

 

[KristianS]

Get a Jambox - problem solved.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

I bought Polk Atrium 4 speakers to use. I got them for $80.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00378KMF0/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Nice catch!

Tommy

 

[Bigbandguy]

Yard sales are another good source. Lots of vintage speakers go up for sale every day and sometimes you can find really good ones for pennies on the original dollar. I have a Marantz receiver for my shed use and bought a pair of pretty nice speakers at a thrift and just mounted them in the rafters. Flat screen here we come as our next trick.

 

[RunninOnEmpty]

Yard sales are another good source.

And a step up, the flea market, for those of us who still have 'em nearby. I'm planning to check out one near me for tools come spring.. now that I more or less know what to look for. I have seen lots of old audio stuff at them.

 

[OJ Bartley]

Thanks I was just wondering. I was looking at ceiling mounted speakers and they were about 100 a speaker, whereas I could get some car speakers about 100/pair.

Monoprice is generally the go-to for entry level in wall/ceiling speakers. Or Parts Express. Both have some good options for much much less money, as long as you aren't "critically" listening (which you won't be if you were contemplating car speakers). Give 'em a look. You'll still want to build a rear enclosure for them.

 

[MTguy]

I'll second Monoprice for in-ceiling speakers. I used them for my whole home audio and home theater and they are well worth their money. I've got a pair of them for my garage that I haven't installed yet because I don't know if I want to put a hole in my garage ceiling. My concern is with fire ratings and insurance. Not to hijack, but do you think that is a reasonable concern?

 

[RunninOnEmpty]

Yeah the Monoprice ones are good for the money. For a bit more quality and a bit more money, you can go HomeTheaterDirect: www.htd.com. They are a decently well-known brand and well-liked for the money on sites like AVSForum (which is one of the go-to sites for audio/video stuff). Parts Express is also a great store that I order a lot from but I haven't looked into their in-ceilings. I've built speakers from their components and have had friends buy their less expensive speakers on my recommendation. Good stuff in general.