A question about Ohms.

[Bkord123]

Hi folks!

I just joined this forum since it seems to be the most active for car audio. I'm hoping someone here can help me.

I just bought a 2014 Dodge Dart and paid $495 for "9 Alpine Speakers and Subwoofer." I was surprised the other day when I saw the "Alpine" speakers aren't even branded as Alpines, are made of paper, have tiny magnets, and say CHRYSLER on them!

Bait and switch aside, I need to know the ohm ratings of these speakers. Crutchfield says they're 2 ohms but everyone else I've been talking to says 4. My multimeter gave a consistent rating of 2.4 on the 3.5" speakers I tested. That means they're 4 ohms, right?

Should I be pissed that these aren't Alpine speakers?

Click to read more...

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

Did you account for the resistance in your DMM leads?

 

[Bkord123]

Did you account for the resistance in your DMM leads?

No! Any explanation would be appreciated. Hadn't run across that in my research...

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

Put the leads together and see what it says. Subtract that from the speaker.

 

[Bkord123]

Put the leads together and see what it says. Subtract that from the speaker.

Wow. Thank you. Based on experience, do you think they're 2 or 4 ohm? Just looking for an opinion. I didn't think companies put 2-ohm speakers in many cars.

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

No idea. It could be anything from 2-8

 

[Bkord123]

Thanks anyway. The impedance isn't printed on the magnet either which *****. I even tweeted to Alpine more than once and they're ignoring me.

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

They probably don't have a answer for you. They make a ton of OEM stuff.

 

[Bkord123]

Should I ask Dodge about this being an "Alpine" speaker?

View attachment 26549582

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

They won't know. Just read it out

 

[Bkord123]

They won't know. Just read it out

Read it out?

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

With your DMM

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

LOL. That actually looks pretty good for a factory midrange. I've usually seen the brand name at least stamped on the magnet when you get "premium" factory sound system like that, but they could easily be Alpine.

Not sure why you're worried about impedance of those drivers though. If you're planning to add an amp you should throw away the lot of them and buy something aftermarket anyway. AND even if you did want to try to amp them, virtually any modern multichannel amp will drive 2 ohms per channel and you'd be terribly hard pressed to hear the difference between 2 and 4 ohm drivers in that application.

 

[Joseph7195 10+ year member]

When you hook the leads up and subtract the DMM resistance, just read what it says. It will be the impedance of the speaker. And lots of companies have their speakers and subs made in China and the manufacturer will just re-brand them to what the buyer orders.

So in short, there is probably 10 different speaker companies that use that 3.5" speaker, and they all have a different name, but it's the same speaker. Now if you paid for an aftermarket system that was to include higher end Alpine components, then that's different. You got taken. But $495 from the dealer for an Alpine system, does seem like you got what you paid for. Even though it might ****. I really hate dealers inflating prices to take advantage of unsuspecting consumers.

 

[Bkord123]

LOL. That actually looks pretty good for a factory midrange. I've usually seen the brand name at least stamped on the magnet when you get "premium" factory sound system like that, but they could easily be Alpine.
Not sure why you're worried about impedance of those drivers though. If you're planning to add an amp you should throw away the lot of them and buy something aftermarket anyway. AND even if you did want to try to amp them, virtually any modern multichannel amp will drive 2 ohms per channel and you'd be terribly hard pressed to hear the difference between 2 and 4 ohm drivers in that application.

I think I'd be happy if the word Alpine was somewhere on them. I'm going to find another Dart owner who didn't get the Alpine upgrade and if they have the same speakers, it's on!

Re. the ohms. The car has an amp already as part of the factory setup. I'm looking for simpler mods, so replacing the amp isn't my thing. I figured I'd replace the speakers and add some sound-deadening. The reason I even thought of ohms is because I was on Crutchfield.com chatting with one of their reps who told me I need to replace them with 2 ohm speakers since the factories are that. But in searching online, there aren't very many 2-ohm 3.5" speakers, not to mention people in the Dodge forums are telling me they're 4 ohms.