newbie fundamental speaker question

[[email protected]]

Hi folks......

I hope you can be patient with a newbie and answer a question or 2.

I have an Alpine CDE-7826P that I am going to install in my truck
camper. Markings on the radio chassis indicate it was made in
September of 1997. It has a decal that says "35 watts max per
channel".

I have experimented with this radio on the bench, with 1 speaker, so I
know that the radio itself is fully operational.

The wiring harness and schematic indicates that it is set up to be used
with 4 speakers.

Since stereo, hard rock, etc. is not my goal here, I want to keep it
simple and just use 1 speaker.

Sooooo.......what "nominal" ohmic value SINGLE speaker should I use?
By "nominal" I guess I mean the ohmic value stamped on the back of the
speaker.

Would I use 4 ohm speaker? 8 ohm? Or what?

What should be the minimum power rating of this speaker?

(This is a budget installation, BTW!)

Thank you so much....... Lee Carkenord

[Matt Ion]

wrote:
> Hi folks......
>
> I hope you can be patient with a newbie and answer a question or 2.
>
> I have an Alpine CDE-7826P that I am going to install in my truck
> camper. Markings on the radio chassis indicate it was made in
> September of 1997. It has a decal that says "35 watts max per
> channel".
>
> I have experimented with this radio on the bench, with 1 speaker, so I
> know that the radio itself is fully operational.
>
> The wiring harness and schematic indicates that it is set up to be used
> with 4 speakers.
>
> Since stereo, hard rock, etc. is not my goal here, I want to keep it
> simple and just use 1 speaker.
>
> Sooooo.......what "nominal" ohmic value SINGLE speaker should I use?
> By "nominal" I guess I mean the ohmic value stamped on the back of the
> speaker.
>
> Would I use 4 ohm speaker? 8 ohm? Or what?
>
> What should be the minimum power rating of this speaker?
>
> (This is a budget installation, BTW!)

Any normal 4-ohm speaker will do, just select one channel to connect it to, and
make sure the ends of the other wires are all well-insulated, so none of them
can touch metal in the dash.

I would suggest, though, if you intend to listen to music at all, you consider
at least two speakers for a stereo setup - unless you're listening to all old
old stuff that's recorded only in mono, it WILL sound more pleasant in stereo.

[[email protected]]

>>> Any normal 4-ohm speaker will do, just select one channel to connect it to,


Thank you, Matt.

What kind of MINIMUM power rating should this 4 ohm speaker have?

Appreciate it...... Lee Carkenord

[Matt Ion]

wrote:
>>>>Any normal 4-ohm speaker will do, just select one channel to connect it to,
>
>
>
> Thank you, Matt.
>
> What kind of MINIMUM power rating should this 4 ohm speaker have?
>
> Appreciate it...... Lee Carkenord

If your deck is rated 35W/ch into 4 ohms, then theoretically the speakers should
handle at least 35W, but since you don't intend to crank it up, you could
probably get away with lower-rated speakers (15-20W).

[Ericfg]

Could he hook up the hot lead from one channel and the black lead from
another to get a mono signal?
Or both hot leads to the + and both black leads to the minus?

[Matt Ion]

Ericfg wrote:
> Could he hook up the hot lead from one channel and the black lead from
> another to get a mono signal?

Unless the deck supports bridging (I've only ever seen one that did), no.

> Or both hot leads to the + and both black leads to the minus?

Not recommended.

If all he's listening to is the radio, it won't matter anyway - AM is mono (AM
stereo is rare), and FM can be switched to mono.