Honda Car Forum

I know nothing about cars; I wanted to start out with that. So I do have a
question and I hope someone can help me. The other day I was listening to
a CD in my car when the stereo stopped working. Well the radio turns on
and will play CD's but no sound is coming out. I recently bought new
speakers and I had a friend check to make sure the speaker wire didn’t
just fall out or something. But the speakers are installed correctly.
Then I though a fuse, but I'm not sure if they have a fuse, and none of
the fuses in the fuse box were dead. If anyone can help me it would me
much appreciated!!

SaraKat wrote:
>
> I know nothing about cars; I wanted to start out with that. So I do have a
> question and I hope someone can help me. The other day I was listening to
> a CD in my car when the stereo stopped working. Well the radio turns on
> and will play CD's but no sound is coming out. I recently bought new
> speakers and I had a friend check to make sure the speaker wire didn’t
> just fall out or something. But the speakers are installed correctly.
> Then I though a fuse, but I'm not sure if they have a fuse, and none of
> the fuses in the fuse box were dead. If anyone can help me it would me
> much appreciated!!


------------------------------

We know nothing about cars either . . . .

At least we know NOTHING about yours, nor the stereo you put in it. :-(
Move your WebCam a little to the left, or open the curtains a bit more
so I can see if it's a two-door or four-door. :-)

'Curly'

Not enough info from what you provided.

Let me try to guess some situations for you.
First, I assume that you have a honda car with stereo head unit which has
amplifier built in. In this case, fuse is not an issue if you can still
turn on the car stereo. Maybe the amplifier section is bad and not pumping
out juice to drive the spaekers. Maybe the amplifier section is short
circuit and burnt your speaker.
Are you sue the speaker is in good condition? Did you try to put original
speaker back to check if the head unit is still working?

Second, you may have an external amplifier which is not connected correctly
or faulty cable. This is another case your speaker does not receive any
signal from amp--no sound.

On Wed, 17 Aug 2005 15:47:54 -0600, "'Curly Q. Links'"
<motsco_@_interbaun.com> wrote:

>
>
>SaraKat wrote:
>>
>> I know nothing about cars; I wanted to start out with that. So I do have a
>> question and I hope someone can help me. The other day I was listening to
>> a CD in my car when the stereo stopped working. Well the radio turns on
>> and will play CD's but no sound is coming out. I recently bought new
>> speakers and I had a friend check to make sure the speaker wire didn’t
>> just fall out or something. But the speakers are installed correctly.
>> Then I though a fuse, but I'm not sure if they have a fuse, and none of
>> the fuses in the fuse box were dead. If anyone can help me it would me
>> much appreciated!!
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>We know nothing about cars either . . . .
>
>At least we know NOTHING about yours, nor the stereo you put in it. :-(
>Move your WebCam a little to the left, or open the curtains a bit more
>so I can see if it's a two-door or four-door. :-)
>
>'Curly'

What Curly is saying is that you're very unlikely to get any useful
information from Usenet unless you include a lot of specific
information and detail. You've given the experts essentially nothing
to go on with the message you posted. They don't have crystal balls
<amateur punsters, please refrain from the obvious>.

Ron

Ok I am very sorry for the lack of info I'm just not sure what is important
or not. I have a pioneer stereo and speakers. I know that the speakers
are find b/c I bought them a month ago b/c the old ones blew and they work
in my friends car...we tries just incase. Also I’m not sure how this is
relevant to my stereo but yes my car is a Honda, its a 1995 Civic Ex V-Tec
and (sarcastically) I know this must be important Curly but my car is a two
door!! I don’t have an amp.

"SaraKat" <hxckitty@aol.com> wrote

> Ok I am very sorry for the lack of info I'm just not sure what is important
> or not. I have a pioneer stereo and speakers. I know that the speakers
> are find b/c I bought them a month ago b/c the old ones blew and they work
> in my friends car...we tries just incase. Also I’m not sure how this is
> relevant to my stereo but yes my car is a Honda, its a 1995 Civic Ex V-Tec
> and (sarcastically) I know this must be important Curly but my car is a two
> door!! I don’t have an amp.

Many times people install speakers with the wrong impedance. This bogs
down the IC amplifier. Usually before you know the IC fries and the only
replacement is to replace the audio deck or, if you're lucky, just the IC.

The impedance is usually written on the deck. 8-Ohm is a lot safer than
say, 2-4-Ohm speakers.

On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 12:55:20 GMT, "B Squareman" <Squareman@none.com>
wrote:

>"SaraKat" <hxckitty@aol.com> wrote
>
>> Ok I am very sorry for the lack of info I'm just not sure what is important
>> or not. I have a pioneer stereo and speakers. I know that the speakers
>> are find b/c I bought them a month ago b/c the old ones blew and they work
>> in my friends car...we tries just incase. Also I’m not sure how this is
>> relevant to my stereo but yes my car is a Honda, its a 1995 Civic Ex V-Tec
>> and (sarcastically) I know this must be important Curly but my car is a two
>> door!! I don’t have an amp.
>
>Many times people install speakers with the wrong impedance. This bogs
>down the IC amplifier. Usually before you know the IC fries and the only
>replacement is to replace the audio deck or, if you're lucky, just the IC.
Mismatched speaker impedance can ruin an amplifier? It decreases the
efficiency of the system, but "frying an integrated circuit?" Are you
sure?
>
>The impedance is usually written on the deck. 8-Ohm is a lot safer than
>say, 2-4-Ohm speakers.
>
>

Ron

Milleron wrote:
> On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 12:55:20 GMT, "B Squareman" <Squareman@none.com>
> wrote:
>
>
>>"SaraKat" <hxckitty@aol.com> wrote
>>
>>
>>>Ok I am very sorry for the lack of info I'm just not sure what is important
>>>or not. I have a pioneer stereo and speakers. I know that the speakers
>>>are find b/c I bought them a month ago b/c the old ones blew and they work
>>>in my friends car...we tries just incase. Also I’m not sure how this is
>>>relevant to my stereo but yes my car is a Honda, its a 1995 Civic Ex V-Tec
>>>and (sarcastically) I know this must be important Curly but my car is a two
>>>door!! I don’t have an amp.
>>
>>Many times people install speakers with the wrong impedance. This bogs
>>down the IC amplifier. Usually before you know the IC fries and the only
>>replacement is to replace the audio deck or, if you're lucky, just the IC.
>
> Mismatched speaker impedance can ruin an amplifier? It decreases the
> efficiency of the system, but "frying an integrated circuit?" Are you
> sure?

do the math. how much more current will sink through a 4ohm load
compared with an 8ohm load? and what is the formula for power?

bottom line, yes, wrong impedance can fry the ic.

>
>>The impedance is usually written on the deck. 8-Ohm is a lot safer than
>>say, 2-4-Ohm speakers.
>>
>>
>
>
> Ron

On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 11:36:21 -0700, jim beam <nospam@example.net>
wrote:

>Milleron wrote:
>> On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 12:55:20 GMT, "B Squareman" <Squareman@none.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>"SaraKat" <hxckitty@aol.com> wrote
>>>
>>>
>>>>Ok I am very sorry for the lack of info I'm just not sure what is important
>>>>or not. I have a pioneer stereo and speakers. I know that the speakers
>>>>are find b/c I bought them a month ago b/c the old ones blew and they work
>>>>in my friends car...we tries just incase. Also I’m not sure how this is
>>>>relevant to my stereo but yes my car is a Honda, its a 1995 Civic Ex V-Tec
>>>>and (sarcastically) I know this must be important Curly but my car is a two
>>>>door!! I don’t have an amp.
>>>
>>>Many times people install speakers with the wrong impedance. This bogs
>>>down the IC amplifier. Usually before you know the IC fries and the only
>>>replacement is to replace the audio deck or, if you're lucky, just the IC.
>>
>> Mismatched speaker impedance can ruin an amplifier? It decreases the
>> efficiency of the system, but "frying an integrated circuit?" Are you
>> sure?
>
>do the math. how much more current will sink through a 4ohm load
>compared with an 8ohm load? and what is the formula for power?

If I = V/R, then the answer might be twice as much. Why am I to
deduce that this will "fry" the power amp? I'm not trying to be
argumentative because I have no special knowledge of car audio, but
I've simply never heard of an impedance mismatch actually damaging
audio equipment, and the statement didn't seem intuitive to me.
>
>bottom line, yes, wrong impedance can fry the ic.

I've run mismatched speakers on home audio systems for years with no
problems at all. It can mean that you have to turn up the volume a
little and perhaps the power amp may work a little harder, but it has
never caused any damage. All the product manuals suggest matching
impedance if possible, for the sake of improving efficiency, but none
I've owned over the last thirty years has ever warned that serious
damage to the receiver may occur from the mismatch.
Are car audios that much different from home receivers?



Ron

Milleron wrote:
> On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 11:36:21 -0700, jim beam <nospam@example.net>
> wrote:
>
>
>>Milleron wrote:
>>
>>>On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 12:55:20 GMT, "B Squareman" <Squareman@none.com>
>>>wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>"SaraKat" <hxckitty@aol.com> wrote
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>Ok I am very sorry for the lack of info I'm just not sure what is important
>>>>>or not. I have a pioneer stereo and speakers. I know that the speakers
>>>>>are find b/c I bought them a month ago b/c the old ones blew and they work
>>>>>in my friends car...we tries just incase. Also I’m not sure how this is
>>>>>relevant to my stereo but yes my car is a Honda, its a 1995 Civic Ex V-Tec
>>>>>and (sarcastically) I know this must be important Curly but my car is a two
>>>>>door!! I don’t have an amp.
>>>>
>>>>Many times people install speakers with the wrong impedance. This bogs
>>>>down the IC amplifier. Usually before you know the IC fries and the only
>>>>replacement is to replace the audio deck or, if you're lucky, just the IC.
>>>
>>>Mismatched speaker impedance can ruin an amplifier? It decreases the
>>>efficiency of the system, but "frying an integrated circuit?" Are you
>>>sure?
>>
>>do the math. how much more current will sink through a 4ohm load
>>compared with an 8ohm load? and what is the formula for power?
>
>
> If I = V/R, then the answer might be twice as much.

yup. and P = I^2.R

> Why am I to
> deduce that this will "fry" the power amp? I'm not trying to be
> argumentative because I have no special knowledge of car audio, but
> I've simply never heard of an impedance mismatch actually damaging
> audio equipment, and the statement didn't seem intuitive to me.

it's not common for normal domestic use because you usually don't get
near the power limits very often, but once you get into a car, where
power is often substantially higher [cranking the stero up to cover road
noise, etc.] and temperature is often much higher, it starts to be a
problem.

>
>>bottom line, yes, wrong impedance can fry the ic.
>
>
> I've run mismatched speakers on home audio systems for years with no
> problems at all. It can mean that you have to turn up the volume a
> little and perhaps the power amp may work a little harder, but it has
> never caused any damage. All the product manuals suggest matching
> impedance if possible, for the sake of improving efficiency, but none
> I've owned over the last thirty years has ever warned that serious
> damage to the receiver may occur from the mismatch.
> Are car audios that much different from home receivers?

as per the above, it's not usually a big deal in domestic systems, but
as you approach the output limit, things get all toasty. chip life
drops dramatically with increasing temp.

>
>
>
> Ron