Adding Speakers

[chrisanthony]

hi

I've got a 96 escort lx, i'm wondering if i can add 2 more speakers to the 4 that are already got in there. If so how would i go about doing that?


Thanks Chris

[Selectron]

Depends on what you're trying to achieve, e.g. better high frequency response, better bass response, increased amplitude (volume) etc. If you're looking to improve the sound at either extreme of the audio spectrum then you really need to feed the signal through a filtering network in one form or another to avoid distortion - feeding low frequencies at high amplitude through a high frequency tweeter will soon damage it, whilst feeding high frequencies through a bass unit won't do it any harm, but it won't help the sound quality either.

Beware of simply replacing a single speaker with two speakers connected in parallel, because if you put, for example, two 8 ohm speakers in parallel then you would reduce the effective impedance to 4 ohms and could damage the output stage of the power amplifier. Replacing a single speaker with two speakers connected in series is safer because if you put, for example, two 8 ohm speakers in series then the effective impedance would increase to 16 ohms. That's safe for the output stage of the power amp, but would reduce the sound level. You also need to consider speaker phasing when adding speakers, to ensure that they aren't wired in anti-phase, where one speaker cone is being driven outwards at the same instant that another cone is moving inwards. That's bad for bass response, and I think it also messes up the perceived stereo effect.

I'm a bit out of touch with all this stuff though because I haven't worked on car audio equipment for years, and I never was a big fan of in-car audio in the first place. There's a great car audio forum here on automotive forums with some really knowledgeable people so I'd suggest you post over there, let them know what system you have (factory-fitted or aftermarket, number of speakers, etc.), and what you're trying to achieve, and I'm sure they'll have the answers.

[chrisanthony]

Originally Posted by Selectron

Depends on what you're trying to achieve, e.g. better high frequency response, better bass response, increased amplitude (volume) etc. If you're looking to improve the sound at either extreme of the audio spectrum then you really need to feed the signal through a filtering network in one form or another to avoid distortion - feeding low frequencies at high amplitude through a high frequency tweeter will soon damage it, whilst feeding high frequencies through a bass unit won't do it any harm, but it won't help the sound quality either.

Beware of simply replacing a single speaker with two speakers connected in parallel, because if you put, for example, two 8 ohm speakers in parallel then you would reduce the effective impedance to 4 ohms and could damage the output stage of the power amplifier. Replacing a single speaker with two speakers connected in series is safer because if you put, for example, two 8 ohm speakers in series then the effective impedance would increase to 16 ohms. That's safe for the output stage of the power amp, but would reduce the sound level. You also need to consider speaker phasing when adding speakers, to ensure that they aren't wired in anti-phase, where one speaker cone is being driven outwards at the same instant that another cone is moving inwards. That's bad for bass response, and I think it also messes up the perceived stereo effect.

I'm a bit out of touch with all this stuff though because I haven't worked on car audio equipment for years, and I never was a big fan of in-car audio in the first place. There's a great car audio forum here on automotive forums with some really knowledgeable people so I'd suggest you post over there, let them know what system you have (factory-fitted or aftermarket, number of speakers, etc.), and what you're trying to achieve, and I'm sure they'll have the answers.

Thanks for the suggestions, i'll check out the link