Can I use 4 Ohm speakers where 8 Ohm ones used to be?

[elixer]

The subject pretty much says it all... I installed two 4 Ohm clarion speakers in the back of my Echo, where two 8 Ohm speakers used to be. When showing the new speakers to my gf it suddenly started making a wiffling noise like the speaker material had blown apart... prior to this, the system worked fine for about 20 mins. and upon inspection I don't visually see anything wrong with the speakers, but I'm wondering if I just "blew" them, or did they fry because of the difference in Ohms? Also, might the problem be because I wired the terminals up backwards? Any help would be greatly appreciated...

-Depressed

[The Wolf]

Yes, wiring the terminals WILL roast the speaker.... if you reverse them PDQ, it proably won't do any permanent damage. But replacing stock 8 ohm speakers with 4 ohm aftermarket should be ok, someone else might want to confirm this for the echo, but it held true in my Camry, LeSabre, and Accord. Just remember, positive to positive and negative to negative....

[battlekat49]

yeah running 4 ohm speakers where there used to be 8 ohm speakers wont hurt the speakers but may damage the unit powering them. if the are too low of a resistance the speakers may draw too much current for the signal unit to supply and it may damage the amp or stereo that is running the speakers. as the wolf said positive to positive, negative to negative.

[elixer]

the clarion speakers i put in don't have any distinguishing marks on the terminals what so ever, and the wires i've got are red and black...

[battlekat49]

one of the tabs is usually larger than the other, im pretty sure the larger tab is the positive side. and as always red is positive and black is negative.

[20ValveMR2]

If you wanna hook up 4 ohm speakers to an 8 ohm amplifier output you can blow the outputs. The only way to get around this is buying 8 ohm speakers or by wiring the speakers in series so the impedance adds together to give 8 ohms