Seeking Feedback on possible speaker selection for 1958

[TX_Landman]

Thanks for that caution question. I hadn't checked that one over well, and went right happily with the Crutchfield advisor approval and that the JBP is a lower wattage amp than many at 40w (even by 8.)

To Crutchfield's credit, the did provide the Land Cruiser 1958 system notes that first identified the parallel wiring of the dash and door speakers. A critical point that can avoid amp/headunit overloading.

Here's what I found: The JBL 40 amp fuse is for full max operation at 2 ohms with 60w x 8 = 480w. My speakers are all 4 ohm, so 40w x 8max is 320w. 50% less than 2 ohm max bringing the 40 amps to 26.7 amps. (the sub does then add its fuse of 15 amps).

One the TLC side, Grok word processor is outputting a likely high alternator output that can handle much higher draw. Then again The Car Care Nut points out that there is no alternator, but an inverter. The standout factor is the 2400w power outlet in the back. The system provides for that somehow. How is the hybrid battery and electronics all arranged? A simple evaluation suggests the system is robust to power the outlet in the back. Then I remember there may be a switch to turn that outlet on?

I will be checking this out more. If need be, the center dash channel could be left out (-40w) and the sub could also be left out (-40w JBL channel and -125w sub amp). The 6x9 speakers in the front doors provide good bass. Only 6 speakers x 40w =240w.

Thanks for the reply. All of the amplifiers that I have looked at so far all have a 40 amp fuse rating. Might just go with one of those but put a 30 amp fuse on the power cable, as I will not be maxing it out. Glad to see that running the power to the rear battery doesn't seem to be an issue.

 

[Rubicon15]

I have the JBL in mine. It appears the front door is a mid bass (see pic) and the rear door is a full range. dont know the ohm, but I thought I read 4 for dash and 2 for doors If I am correct.

Here is the reply I received from Beats.

“As we've discussed, our ENA-2T3 amplifier is rated for 4-8 ohm impedance, and we haven't conducted specific testing with a 2-ohm load in your particular vehicle configuration and wiring in parallel. Therefore, we are unable to offer a definitive guarantee that the amplifier will not experience any issues or potentially affect other components in the long term when used with a 2-ohm load.

As mentioned in our previous correspondence, if you prioritize long-term reliability and want to ensure optimal performance without the risk of overloading the amplifier, especially if you anticipate further system upgrades or increased listening volumes, opting for an amplifier specifically designed to handle 2-ohm loads would be the safest approach.”

 

[Rubicon15]

Good move to contact Beatsonic.

Stock speakers rated 4 and 8 ohm and in parallel have an "AI" calculated 2.66 ohm resistance. Even these could well be trouble for a 4-8 ohm rated Beatsonic. Then could cause trouble for the factory equalizer that is downstream in circuit. I reckon it would would not affect the head unit, but do not know. Two aftermarket 4 ohm speakers lower resistance down to 2 ohms. Zip zap danger.

Crutchfield had the parallel wiring in the Install Notes, however multiple advisors missed that or didn't understand and encouraged me to install speakers that would cause these problems. One tech support person even flatly denied that two speakers in parallel would lower resistance. The next tech support person sighed and said yes it definitely would. Several Crutchfield folks have given advice that still stands as good and has been helpful, but about half of the suggestions I later discovered were misguided or even risked damage.

Grok Ai has been helpful as a "mass word processor" review tool for ideas or inquiry tool. It does make often make mistakes, but has raised new ideas I hadn't considered and so saved me from mistakes a few times.

It could be that simply installing a 4 ohm front door and 4 ohm dash speaker could stress the factory head unit and cause that to fail. Probably very expensive to replace.

I believe the Beatsonic powering upgraded front door speakers without dash speakers connected would sound great and have zero risk. I ran new door speakers on the factory head unit without the dash connected for a week and that sounded much better than stock and worked fine. Beatsonic increasing wattage from ~12.5 to 25w I am guessing would be quite noticeable in enriching the upgraded speaker sound.

That is my backup plan for good sound much improved over factory. I am aiming further with a JBL DSP4086 amp with 40w x8 channels with DSP tuning for speaker time alignment, crossovers, volume balancing, and cabin acoustics EQ correction. People online says DSP tuning takes it to a whole new level. Six factory speaker location, maybe a center dash, and a powered underseat sub (JBL BassPro SL2 fits) for a lift up in sound quality, at a fair price, for many years.

This evening I just finished new wiring install to send the factory signal to an underseat amp, then send the amped signal back into the factory speaker wires to power the 4 door speakers. New speaker wire was added alongside to power the corner dash speakers. It actually went pretty smooth with using a beatsonic BH10 wiring harness. Without a interim harness, I would have a high risk of messing up the factory wiring harness, big problem... Used Posi-lock connectors to connect wires, they were a great help and are now secure.

I was impressed how smoothly the dash trim comes off and goes back on.

The next step is to find a good ground for the amp and powered sub. The seats may need to be unscrewed and tilted back out of the way. Power wire routing seems to be worked out.

A middle complexity option was the Kicker 47Key200.4 auto-DSP amp powering 4 door speakers on factory speaker wiring, but I figured if I'm splicing and rerouting the factory signal, I might as well try to place new dash speaker wire, and that worked out to be easy. The 8 channel JBL amp also provides for a sub, and center dash if it seems worth it.

Here is the reply I received from Beats.

“Thank you for providing the additional information and the attached picture for our review. We understand your concern about potential damage to the OEM radio and equalizer, and we appreciate you bringing this data to our attention.

As we've discussed, our ENA-2T3 amplifier is rated for 4-8 ohm impedance, and we haven't conducted specific testing with a 2-ohm load in your particular vehicle configuration and wiring in parallel. Therefore, we are unable to offer a definitive guarantee that the amplifier will not experience any issues or potentially affect other components in the long term when used with a 2-ohm load.

As mentioned in our previous correspondence, if you prioritize long-term reliability and want to ensure optimal performance without the risk of overloading the amplifier, especially if you anticipate further system upgrades or increased listening volumes, opting for an amplifier specifically designed to handle 2-ohm loads would be the safest approach.”

Note the lack of testing on our vehicle and 2 ohm systems. Remember, the OEM system is 2.67 ohms ( 8 ohm dashboard speakers and 4 ohm front door speakers).