# Car audio specific speakers vs Home audio cabinet speakers? for car use



## digdug18 (Feb 14, 2010)

I know that the car audio industry has come a long way in design, and that car audio speakers are usually 4 ohm, shallower in profile, somewhat standardized sizes, etc. But how much different are a home audio speaker and a car audio speaker?

Can a home audio speaker be used, provided it has a crossover, etc. I realize that many of the home audio speakers use paper cones, but so did my car when it came from the factory.

Andrew


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## subterFUSE (Sep 21, 2009)

digdug18 said:


> I know that the car audio industry has come a long way in design, and that car audio speakers are usually 4 ohm, shallower in profile, somewhat standardized sizes, etc. But how much different are a home audio speaker and a car audio speaker?
> 
> Can a home audio speaker be used, provided it has a crossover, etc. I realize that many of the home audio speakers use paper cones, but so did my car when it came from the factory.
> 
> Andrew


Yes, home speakers can be used.

I was running pro-audio midbass and horns in my car for a while. Both of those are not car-audio specific. The horns were 8 ohms, too.

Just be mindful of the specific speaker and how you plan to use it. The car environment is more harsh (i.e. temperature highs and lows, humidity, moisture, etc....)


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## SkizeR (Apr 19, 2011)

a ton of people on here use home audio drivers. me included. they usually have a much better price to performance ratio. also, the paper cone speakers from the factory are most likely treated, unlike some home audio drivers


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## gijoe (Mar 25, 2008)

Yep, many, if not most of us use "home audio" drivers. They tend to offer a better price to performance ratio, assuming you can take care of the processing. There are much more options to choose from to reach certain goals (size requirements, price points, frequency response, etc.) than there are in car audio specific speakers, and you don't have to pay for unnecessary passive crossovers and rebranding costs. There is more useful data for most raw drivers, compared to car audio specific products making it much easier to predict, design, and tune a system's response. 

That's not to say that there are plenty of very impressive car audio specific speakers, there are a ton. In fact, I use Pioneer midranges, and my midwoofers are a boutique car audio brand. I just mean that looking outside of your local shop, and pre-packaged components is a very good idea.


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## digdug18 (Feb 14, 2010)

I figured that it could be done, but wasn't 100%, thanks for the info. 

I keep looking at the dayton audio(from parts express) 8" woofers for my front doors, sadly I wouldn't have enough room for a 3-way setup though.


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## gijoe (Mar 25, 2008)

If you can't do 3-way up front, you probably don't want an 8" midbass, it won't play high enough to pair with a tweeter.


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## Focused4door (Aug 15, 2015)

gijoe said:


> If you can't do 3-way up front, you probably don't want an 8" midbass, it won't play high enough to pair with a tweeter.


I won't say it will be easy, but it is possible to get an 8" that will play well high enough and a tweeter that will play well low enough. There are lots of good two way home audio speakers with 8" drivers. 

If he goes with a Dayton 8" he might even be able to get a 4 ohm version

I do question if he really has enough room for an 8" based on the statement that there isn't enough room for a three way.


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## gijoe (Mar 25, 2008)

Focused4door said:


> I won't say it will be easy, but it is possible to get an 8" that will play well high enough and a tweeter that will play well low enough. There are lots of good two way home audio speakers with 8" drivers.
> 
> If he goes with a Dayton 8" he might even be able to get a 4 ohm version
> 
> I do question if he really has enough room for an 8" based on the statement that there isn't enough room for a three way.


Home speakers are on axis, beaming isn't a problem on axis. In a car, just getting a 6.5" to play high enough to match a good tweeter can be a real challenge. The speed of sound in inches (13,514) divided by the diameter of the speaker is where beaming starts. For an 8" driver that is 1,690hz, not many tweeters can play that low and take enough power in the process. You may be able to get away with crossing an 8" at around 2kHz, but you really aren't going to get good response any higher than that. And tweeters that play cleanly that low are uncommon, and expensive.


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## gstokes (Apr 20, 2014)

I started using home speakers & moved on to car specific speakers..


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## 1996blackmax (Aug 29, 2007)

I started using car specific drivers & moved on to home speakers


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## gstokes (Apr 20, 2014)

1996blackmax said:


> I started using car specific drivers & moved on to home speakers


damnit man


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## Bayboy (Dec 29, 2010)

A big myth is that using a home audio driver automatically equates to better performance, but the truth is it can be a backwards move just as easily. Though I prefer to play with raw drivers out of curiosity, ones that have been specifically designed for car doors can not be so easily discredited. You have to find the right ones that will do the task you ask of and it will be of varying degrees like all else.


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## gstokes (Apr 20, 2014)

Mounting options come into play as well, where the speakers will be mounted has profound effect on choice..


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## Bayboy (Dec 29, 2010)

gstokes said:


> Mounting options come into play as well, where the speakers will be mounted has profound effect on choice..




Yes, for many that is a major issue as many home drivers in the 6-7" range have a mounting depth of 3" or more. Mounting rings are the usual answer, but protrusion into a door panel adds another dimension to the problem.


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## 14642 (May 19, 2008)

Performance and reliability qualification should be very different for car audio drivers compared to home audio drivers. We use more power in cars and the environment is very different. Home audio speakers don't get bounced around, aren't exposed to temperature an humidity extremes and aren't exposed to lots of UV all day long.


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## gijoe (Mar 25, 2008)

Andy Wehmeyer said:


> Performance and reliability qualification should be very different for car audio drivers compared to home audio drivers. We use more power in cars and the environment is very different. Home audio speakers don't get bounced around, aren't exposed to temperature an humidity extremes and aren't exposed to lots of UV all day long.


These are all very good points to consider, especially if you want to do a killer install, and not have to worry about changing equipment later. For many people here, equipment gets switched out constantly, so a woofer doesn't need to last 10 years, some people don't even keep them for 10 months. 

To be fair though, I don't think even most of the top car audio brands are putting in the effort to optimize drivers for cars the way AF is. I think your approach is pretty unique.


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## Hillbilly SQ (Jan 26, 2007)

I ran my Scan 5f home audio raw drivers for about a year and they were mounted face-up in the dash with vented pvc ends that gave them an aperiodic alignment. I sold them to a buddy of mine and packed them up where nothing would hurt them. He had them laying on a glass table top and picked one of them up to solder new pigtails on them and the magnet stayed on the table. Lucky for me this guy isn't your average car audio guy and he fixed it and the other one reinforced with some ca glue.


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## ChrisB (Jul 3, 2008)

I've used both in the car, raw drivers and pre-packaged car audio component sets. They both have their pluses and minuses. The major minus to raw drivers, besides their obvious shortcomings with regard to water and UV resistance, is that I tended to cycle through a bunch of them before settling on something that I liked. 

OTOH, out of the box, I really, really liked the JL Audio C5-650 set for a fairly shallow door and would buy them again! The only reason I sold my last set was so that I would be forced to use my Genesis Profile 16 component set. Now that I've installed the Genesis components, it makes me wish I had kept the JL Audio set... Oh well, I can always buy more, lol.


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## Hillbilly SQ (Jan 26, 2007)

ChrisB said:


> I've used both in the car, raw drivers and pre-packaged car audio component sets. They both have their pluses and minuses. The major minus to raw drivers, besides their obvious shortcomings with regard to water and UV resistance, is that I tended to cycle through a bunch of them before settling on something that I liked.
> 
> OTOH, out of the box, I really, really liked the JL Audio C5-650 set for a fairly shallow door and would buy them again! The only reason I sold my last set was so that I would be forced to use my Genesis Profile 16 component set. Now that I've installed the Genesis components, it makes me wish I had kept the JL Audio set... Oh well, I can always buy more, lol.


I heard the c5 set in Jon's Tahoe and was really impressed. I think that mid would benefit from the zr tweeter though for its ability to play lower. I think it can play considerably lower anyway. And you're right, it's easy to cycle through a ton of raw drivers before finding the one that works best for you. There are proven performers like the Scan 12m and 10f but even with a solid list of proven performers it comes down to the individual. I also heard that little 3" Illusion coaxial set run passive in pillars and was beyond impressed. He said very little eq was used.


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## JPOSEY (Nov 9, 2011)

You can use home speakers and find they work fine. Typically, car specific drivers typically have stiffer spiders to help eliminate vibration caused by the road though. Plus, they are designed to weather the harsher environment of a car. UV exposure and moisture exposure. In addition, they are designed to be used in infinite baffle.


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## XSIV SPL (Jun 24, 2014)

Some offerings appear to be the same for both home and car... For example, I've been told that the Esotar2 series is also used in home monitors... I haven't confirmed that these offerings are identical, but it seems plausible. Good drivers are good drivers, no?


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## Lycancatt (Apr 11, 2010)

I know the esotech series of dynaudio finds its way into there bm series monitors, I see no reason why this shouldn't be true.

scanspeak has a few car audio specific offerings, but I would wager this is only 4 ohm versions of there already great 8 ohm drivers, sometimes with a different mounting arrangement to better suit the car environment.


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## High Resolution Audio (Sep 12, 2014)

Earl Zausmer became famous (in the car audio world ) for using home speakers in his car back in 1995. Check out his install.

Earl Zausmer - 1994 BMW 540 - 1995 CA&E


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## kyheng (Jan 31, 2007)

Ever since I use home speakers in my car, I never even bother to look at speakers made for car. Just get the speakers that are cone treated and you are good to go.
If were to use normal untreated paper cone, you are looking for trouble later on.
But the funny thing is, most stock speakers are not treated paper cone.


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## ChrisB (Jul 3, 2008)

Hillbilly SQ said:


> I heard the c5 set in Jon's Tahoe and was really impressed. I think that mid would benefit from the zr tweeter though for its ability to play lower. I think it can play considerably lower anyway. And you're right, it's easy to cycle through a ton of raw drivers before finding the one that works best for you. There are proven performers like the Scan 12m and 10f but even with a solid list of proven performers it comes down to the individual. I also heard that little 3" Illusion coaxial set run passive in pillars and was beyond impressed. He said very little eq was used.


In my case, I would prefer the C5-650 woofer with my Genesis Profile 16 tweeter. Sadly, the Genesis Profile 16 woofer doesn't like power as much as the JL Audio woofer did. I had horrific power compression issues with the Genesis speakers on the MMATS-HIFI6150D until I reduced the output level to the 6.5s.


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## torchlight (Feb 17, 2016)

A buddy of mine said that he used to use high end home speakers in a car audio application. Nothing more than anecdotal, but maybe another data point for your question.


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

1996blackmax said:


> I started using car specific drivers & moved on to home speakers


So is I.


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## High Resolution Audio (Sep 12, 2014)

1996blackmax said:


> I started using car specific drivers & moved on to home speakers


Me too!


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## captainscarlett (Mar 15, 2011)

https://www.google.co.uk/?ion=1&espv=2#q=SB+acoustics+Arc+Audio+diymobileaudio

car audio using rehashed home audio drivers with a huge mark up, are more common than you think.... or in the case of AD Designs, cheap Alibaba speakers with a huge mark up! No foul, I don't expect companies to be charities, but it behooves one to do a little research. 

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/1660557-post30.html


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## Hillbilly SQ (Jan 26, 2007)

I went back to car audio specific drivers last year and my truck is sounding the best it ever has.


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## awboat (Jun 18, 2007)

The speakers in my car are "home speakers". That is a huge part of what this site was originally. 



digdug18 said:


> I know that the car audio industry has come a long way in design, and that car audio speakers are usually 4 ohm, shallower in profile, somewhat standardized sizes, etc. But how much different are a home audio speaker and a car audio speaker?
> 
> Can a home audio speaker be used, provided it has a crossover, etc. I realize that many of the home audio speakers use paper cones, but so did my car when it came from the factory.
> 
> Andrew


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## JBThompson (Oct 3, 2013)

captainscarlett said:


> https://www.google.co.uk/?ion=1&espv=2#q=SB+acoustics+Arc+Audio+diymobileaudio
> 
> car audio using rehashed home audio drivers with a huge mark up, are more common than you think.... or in the case of AD Designs, cheap Alibaba speakers with a huge mark up! No foul, I don't expect companies to be charities, but it behooves one to do a little research.
> 4
> http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/1660557-post30.html


The Arc Black 6.2 component set has an MSRP of $1099. Or you can skip that nonsense and buy the same drivers from Madisound for about $230. I understand Arc needs to make a profit like any other company but come on, who are we kidding here? Even NVX doesn't mark them up that much.


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## digdug18 (Feb 14, 2010)

Focused4door said:


> I won't say it will be easy, but it is possible to get an 8" that will play well high enough and a tweeter that will play well low enough. There are lots of good two way home audio speakers with 8" drivers.
> 
> If he goes with a Dayton 8" he might even be able to get a 4 ohm version
> 
> I do question if he really has enough room for an 8" based on the statement that there isn't enough room for a three way.


I do have enough room for a 3-way, but I'm not sure if I want the added complexity of the mid speaker. 

I haven't pulled the trigger so to speak yet, still gathering components for a proper setup.

Andrew


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