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Will OEM radio head unit work with aftermarket speakers

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    Will OEM radio head unit work with aftermarket speakers

    So I when I purchased my e30 it came with horrible aftermarket speakers and a pioneer head unit. Ive since replaced the rear speakers with alpines which are 6.5s and am about to replace the fronts with 5.25s but I cant stand the look of the aftermarket head unit and want to replace it with an oem head unit, will it work with aftermarket speakers though???

    #2
    it will work.

    but it will sound like ass when you turn up the volume.
    Boris - 89 E30 325i
    84- E30 323i

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      #3
      get an amp
      Originally posted by wholepailofwater
      Q
      :devil:


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        #4
        Wire it up mate, she'll be right. See if it sounds alright. you might as well give it a go.

        Amplifier is a good suggestion but for the same price you might as well buy a modern head unit that has some modern features that will also drive your speakers good enough that you like. Whatever works for you. I have an alpine unit that is all red lights with basic LCD display. looks alright in the car compared to the horrible pioneer unit with the stupid animations and connects to my phone for bluetooth music and phone calls:) Drives my ~6" splits in the front very nicely without an amp.

        Using an amp with the oem headunit means you will have to run the speaker outputs from your headunit into the high level inputs on the amp. Which does work but i always prefer to run low level RCAs into the amp.

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          #5
          Ultimately, all head units are going to sound the same. They all have the same limitation, namely power output. Yeah yeah, some claim 50W x 4 channels, but that is misleading. All head units' internal amp chips are powered by the car's 12V system. Let's be generous and say that it actually gets 13.8V while running, and you put in 4 Ohm speakers.

          Electrical power is V^2 / R, or (13.8 * 13.8) / 4, equaling 47.6W. Except that this only has any meaning at some small instant when the output peaks. The RMS output power, which is what actually matters, is going to be at MOST ~71% of the peak (this assumes a pure sine signal), so 33.7W RMS max into 4 Ohms. Well, not really. The amp chip can't actually output voltage all the way to its supply level without SERIOUS distortion. Really, from what I have seen in amp chip datasheets, you will basically get ~10V of clean output range with a 14V source, and 71% of (10 * 10 / 4) is 17.6W RMS. Once you go above that, distortion goes through the roof and things sound like ass.

          OK, nerd lesson is over. Hopefully it makes a little sense. If you actually want better sound, get an amp and maybe just keep the stock HU. You can probably get a 2 channel unit and power the fronts from it, skipping the rears entirely. Nobody listens to music from speakers placed behind them at home, and there's little reason for them in a car IMO. And if you want better speakers up front, get a coax kit which includes the crossover, which a 2 channel amp can power just fine.

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