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CB amp speaker question

Posted by Chuck Davis on February 16, 2015 at 6:26pm in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion

Looking to do my first amp project and have a noob question. 

I've been looking at a lot of designs for ideas on the interwebs and have noticed that nobody ever uses a 2 or 3-way car speaker in their amp builds.  Does it always HAVE to be a full range speaker?  Does it have something to do with crossovers that complicate matters?  Just wondering because I have functioning car speaker, just not full range ones.

Thanks in advance!

Chuck

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Replies

  • Tom T February 17, 2015 at 7:25am

    Your car speaker is probably 4 or 8 ohms. With that out of the way, I say "Give it a try" Since you already have the speaker, hook it up to your amp circuit, plug in your CBG and try it out. I did that before building a cabinet and found that the two 3-way car speakers I had sounded pretty good with the cheap low watt amp circuit board I found on ebay. After that I built the cabinet and moved on to other projects.

    Now, this isn't a stage-level amp, but is great for practice in the garage.

  • John Sawyer February 17, 2015 at 12:54am

    I have successfully used cheap car 3-way speakers, but I have found that, so far, my old paper cone JBL 6.5" full range speakers sound the best on my cheap DIY amps...

    They work, but a lightweight paper cone is hard to beat.   Go down to you local car stereo shop, they will have pulls from car installations... Most will let you have old speakers for very little, if not free...

    John

  • Chuck Davis February 16, 2015 at 9:11pm

    Thanks everyone for the ideas and guidance.  It's not that I'm opposed to using something other than car speakers, it's just what I already have lying around.  I like the TV speaker idea. 

    I'm also thinking of building a small cab and running a 5 watt Hotone Nano head through it.  It runs 4-16 ohm speakers, but then again, it's just 5 watts.

  • Scott aka Farmer Ted February 16, 2015 at 6:50pm

    Most important is to match the speaker ohm rating to the amp circuit. Most cbg amp circuits require either/or a 4 or 8 ohm speaker. But I have seen a few cbg amps on Youtube that were made with car speakers. Another consideration is the watt rating. A car speaker that is rated for 50-300 watts really needs the extra power to operate at optimum performance and sound quality. Most cbg amp circuits are rated for 1/2 to 5 watts, with some alternate all-purpose amp circuits available online that are rated at 25 watts or so.

    • Scott aka Farmer Ted > Scott aka Farmer Ted February 16, 2015 at 8:37pm

      To add to this, I have used full range speakers from a 6" stereo speaker rated as high as 20 watts with good results. So you're not limited to speakers in the 5 watt or under class.

    • Chuck Davis > Scott aka Farmer Ted February 16, 2015 at 8:16pm

      Thanks for the quick reply!

      So even if I can match the ohm rating to the amp circuit, chances are I'm not going to find a car speaker that will work well with the 5 watts or less amps from Guitar Fuel, etc. 

      Correct?

       

      Chuck

      • Scott aka Farmer Ted > Chuck Davis February 16, 2015 at 8:33pm

        You'll likely get some sound. But the higher the car speaker's wattage rating, the further it will get from sounding good.

        You can always connect the amp circuit to the speaker BEFORE installing it into a box to see what it does do. If you like it outside of the box, chances are it will sound even better inside the box, since the enclosure helps with the overall tone f the whole package.

        A good and reliable option is to try a thrift shop. Always find used stereo speakers in the 3-6" range, 2-20 watts and 4 or 8 ohms that will only set you back about $3 to $5, maybe even for a pair.

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