Hi there, Thank you so much for all the information you've provided for me (And everyone else.) I understood most of it but what got me was the ohms part. I don't really have much knowledge on car speakers and I'm just a bit worried I'd blow my amp with the speakers I have purchased.

What I really want to do is replace the drivers side and passenger side speakers and the far back speakers. (Ones on the trunk on the sedan version.) I don't have much money and i'd preferrably like to not have to purchase a new amp or head unit, just stick with the four speakers as long as it doesn't set anything on fire in my car. Lol.

To make this really simple I'll just post the speakers official website so you could see it along with some of the base information. If you do end up replying to this I greatly appreciate it. Either easing my mind on hooking them up or saving me from having to extinguish a fire.

Here are the speakers I have purchased.

Pair of driver side and passenger side door.
JBL 5.25
Size 5-1/4
Nominal Impedance 2 ohms
Power Handling (Peak) 135W

http://www.jbl.com/estore/jbl/us/products/...ularProductOnly


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Pair of far back speakers (On trunk of Sedan)

Size 6" x 9"
Power Handling (Peak) 300W
Power Handling (RMS) 100W
Nominal Impedance 2ohms

http://www.jbl.com/estore/jbl/us/products/...ularProductOnly

There is also quit a bit of information on the sites as well if you feel like looking. I appreciate it!

 

2 Ohm speakers are to low. Get speakers with no less than 4 ohms.

 

Seeing how I've already orderd the speakers online. What would I have to get to make it work, would it have to be a new amp? If so, would you have any recommendations on a cheap amp that would do the trick?

Appreciate the reply!

 

Return the speakers and get the correct ones. A cheap amp is gonna sound.... like a cheap amp. And I doubt you're going to find a cheap amp that is 2 ohm stable.

The factory amp sounds pretty dang good with 4 ohm speakers all around.

 

I'm not sure if I'm going to have time to return the speakers and have the other ones shipped to me within' time for the trip I'm going to be going on within' the next couple weeks.

I went to my local audio store and he was recommending that I purchase a 4 channel amp and hook them up each on their own channel.

That would power the 4 new ones I have, and I was thinking if it is possible I could keep the existing amp hooked up for the two in the back seats and the ones on the dash. (only one on the dash works, and hardly at that.)

If I wouldn't be able to do that, or it'd be to much of a pain I'd just use the 4 new speakers I have and keep the rest un plugged. I don't know how much of the back seat side speakers I'll hear so I'm not sure if that'll be much of an issue or not.

I'd just buy a used one to try to get them a little better then if I got them new.

 

Would something like this work?

Boss Audio Chaos CX800 1600 Watt 4 Channel Amp Car Stereo Amplifier Remote 791489107969 | eBay

 

My friend just gave me this head unit, Kenwood - KDC-X493

If I replaced my head unit with that one, and possibly got a 2 channel amp for my two 6X9's and unplugged the rest of my speakers would that be okay?

 

IMO, it's time to take a deep breath, take a step back, and re-analyze your situation here.

There's a lot of information that is needed to give you an accurate direction as to what you can do, and the most efficient way to do it.

The absolute easiest and cheapest route should be to find 4 speakers of the same impedance and size as original that you can just drop in the OEM locations, use the original head unit, wiring already pulled in the car chassis, etc.

Anything beyond that adds complication and expense.

What head unit do you have? Do you have a factory amplifier, or are the speakers powered by the head unit? Is it a Volvo OEM headunit, or something aftermarket?

I was able to run to my local best buy and grab speakers that I was able to fairly easily install in my 97 850R wagon, using the factory head unit and the factory amplifier.

Do a little research, and figure out ohms law. Make a plan. If you are in a hurry, walk into a car audio store, and tell them I need speakers that are for x size opening and are x ohms - and let them show you what they have.

If your car has a factory head unit and amplifier, you will need an adapter cable to adapt the signal from the head unit to an aftermarket amplifier.

I fear you are going to continue to add layers of complication to this until it's so far from the original intent that you're going to end up spending lots of money to do this in an inefficient manner.

In my past experience, anything made by Boss Audio has been a fairly low end quality product. You don't have time to return the wrong speakers and get the right ones, but you have time to buy an amp, install it, rewire the car, etc?

If you're going to go to the level of hacking an aftermarket amp into a factory head unit, wiring it all up, etc, you might get better sound by setting a boom box in the passenger seat.

 

I'm replacing the door speakers in my '95 855R with these ( ).

The speakers are actually original in my wagon and I'm not gonna bother replacing the head unit or stock amp right now.

My question is whether or not this is gonna work ohm-wise. I've read conflicting info on what ohm's the door speakers are in the wagons. You mentioned you kept the stock head unit and amp as well and just replaced the speakers. Did you grab some dash ones too (I'm assuming you left the rear column tweeters as-is)? Was it a worthy upgrade/factory amp provide enough power?

 

Yep, the problem you need to address here is the total impedance for the output circuit. For example, if your front side of the fader has both dash speakers and door speakers, they are on the same circuit - so if you have 2 8 ohm speakers in parallel, you have a 4 ohm circuit. if you have a 2 ohm speaker then your circuit impedance goes down to 1.too low... The important of the circuit impedance is that creates a load for the amp - the greater the impedance the lower the current for a given voltage (ie volume = voltage). Amps distort when the output transistors go into current saturation (and that also adds up to more heat - which is what fries the amp...) So the goal should be to have a total circuit load in the 3-4 ohm range total -which says if you want dash+door speakers on the same circuit, they should be 6-8 ohms - 4 ohms minimum. When you shop for amps, the high quality amps will show a spec like "stable to 2 ohms" - so in that case you can run 2x4 ohms. If you are unsure, then I'd say if you don't plan on popping out your window glass listening to "Turn down for what", you should be ok with 4 ohm speakers...

 

If I was intent on popping out the glass I would def be looking to replace more. I just want to make sure I'm not going to damage my stock amp/head unit with going with all 4ohms for the doors. And that it's not going to just be a complete mess. If I disconnected/cut the wires to the rear column speakers would it help balance out the ohm load?

I still have never seen anything definitive on the stock wiring and ohms for the 850 wagons. Or at least I don't recall.

 

JW, net-net, best to use 4 ohms in the front doors and leave the rear's plugged in. I did get a bit curious about how 850s are set up and from what I can tell, Volvo uses different impedance ratings for different speakers! Other posts have noted the front doors are rated at 4ohms, the rear doors/deck are rated at 8 ohms and the dash midranges are rated at 8ohms. I didn't note what "factory" amp you have installed but the 25 and 50W versions are rated at 4 ohms output - which explains why they use 8+8 for the rears (bigger speakers with deeper base can sink more power). So the simplest way to go is use 4 ohm or more for the front doors, and 8 ohms for the bigger speakers. I don't think there's a benefit in disconnecting the rears as the amps have separate front/rear output stages (ie they are 4x25 or 4x50) so you'd still overload the front half of the amp. Besides, the rear speakers are where the bass comes from, so disconnecting will make the set up sound tinny. when it comes to sound systems, the high frequencies are directional (ie why the dash speakers can be so small - yet effective in creating a sound field) low frequencies are not (why you can put a kicker in the trunk ) so the optimal set up is dash/door for your mid/treble and rear door/deck/trunk for your mid/bass.