Speaker replacement

[WSEK643]

If a receiver has a 2 watt audio output to the original speaker and it goes bad can it be replaced with a 5 watt speaker without hurting anything in the radio itself?

Thanks, WSEK643

[BoxCar]

The wattage refers to the power the speaker can handle. What tou need is to match the size and mounting.

[WRYZ926]

Also double check to see what ohms the original speaker is and match it with the new speaker. Most are either 4 ohms or 8 ohms.

[WSEK643]

I was gonna replace it with a external speaker and wire it straight to the wires from the internal speaker and remove the internal speaker so it would help ventilate the radio, the tiny fan can't pull cool air in if it has no vents to allow that, it has no vent holes anywhere on it. Preventive maintenance .

[WRUE951]

1 hour ago, WSEK643 said:

I was gonna replace it with a external speaker and wire it straight to the wires from the internal speaker and remove the internal speaker so it would help ventilate the radio, the tiny fan can't pull cool air in if it has no vents to allow that, it has no vent holes anywhere on it. Preventive maintenance .

i would pay more attention to the ohm of the speaker making to to match that more than the power rating..  

[WSEZ864]

3 hours ago, WRYZ926 said:

Also double check to see what ohms the original speaker is and match it with the new speaker. Most are either 4 ohms or 8 ohms.

 

53 minutes ago, WRUE951 said:

i would pay more attention to the ohm of the speaker making to to match that more than the power rating..  

Since this is the technical forum, what you are really interested in is the impedance of the speaker, expressed in ohms (unit of measure for resistance and impedance). An impedance match (amplifier:speaker) is important to both power transfer efficiency, audio fidelity and component longevity.

"What is the pound of that pack of hot dogs?" vs "What is the weight of that pack of hot dogs?" (expressed in pounds).

I would agree with @WRUE951that it is usually more important to match impedance than max power, since most applications never need max power.

 

Answer to OP: Yes, using a 5 watt speaker in place of a 2 watt speaker is fine, although, depending on the speaker, you may require slightly more power to achieve the same sound level.

[WSEZ864]

2 hours ago, WSEK643 said:

I was gonna replace it with a external speaker and wire it straight to the wires from the internal speaker and remove the internal speaker so it would help ventilate the radio, the tiny fan can't pull cool air in if it has no vents to allow that, it has no vent holes anywhere on it. Preventive maintenance .

Sometimes the existing vents are designed to direct airflow over certain components. Seems like the fan has to be pulling air from somewhere.... If you pull the speaker, you may provide additional ventilation throughout, but you may lose an important airstream over components like the processor or amplifier. IMO, if the existing vents are clean and clear, not blocked by anything externally, that's likely the best you can do for it.

[WSEK643]

1 hour ago, WSEZ864 said:

Sometimes the existing vents are designed to direct airflow over certain components. Seems like the fan has to be pulling air from somewhere.... If you pull the speaker, you may provide additional ventilation throughout, but you may lose an important airstream over components like the processor or amplifier. IMO, if the existing vents are clean and clear, not blocked by anything externally, that's likely the best you can do for it.

Didn't think about that but I see no vents anywhere on the unit. I've got the same impedance speaker just 5 watt instead of 2. Maybe I'll rig up a computer cooling fan blowing on the heat sink and see what happens.