An automobile is a very nasty environment for a loudspeaker. It must operate reliably through repeated cycling of extremes of heat, cold, moisture, vibration and solar radiation. Getting speakers to survive, let alone function well, is quite an exercise in itself.
Survival is the diligent mobile designers first priority. After that, price points must be balanced against performance, with performance usually taking the proverbial backseat. There are some that do a commendable job supplying all three but they don’t come cheap. This is why most mobile products sound dreadful. Also remember, to a large percentage of the mobile market performance simply means being loud regardless of how miserable the sound quality.
A loudspeaker is a rather complex device, magnet structures, cone materials, suspensions, voice coil designs etc. Designers of home or studio speakers generally make performance and price their primary balancing act. Their operating environments are far more benign and there is little reason to waste valuable time and energy (and money) to fortify the design for uncommon duty. In general, loudspeakers designed for the home will not last long in the mobile environment.
One annoying little technical difference is that most loudspeakers for home are designed with an eight Ohm electrical impedance. This is chosen because it works well with most moderately priced home electronics. Mobile speakers, on the other hand, are generally designed for a four Ohm impedance because mobile electronics traditionally have a lower available voltage range. You can run an eight Ohm home speaker from mobile electronics meant for four Ohm operation but with double the impedance (half the load) you only get half the power delivery. (This isn’t quite as bad as it sounds because a well designed eight Ohm speaker can often play louder than common four Ohm speakers even with only half the power.)
There are a very few manufacturers that intend their products to do double duty. They want to sell one product into multiple markets but rather than develop multiple products they make one that offers performance over a broad range. The companies that actually succeed are both technically clever and positioned in the market such that they can charge premium prices.
Bose is certainly clever but I do believe that they address markets directly in order to give the customer the most value. I would think that choosing one of their products that is intentionally environmentally hardened would be a better course of action than trying to use a product they meant for the bookshelf.
PC.
Hi Guest!
Hey - did you know if you click on the title of a thread it will take you to the first unread post since you last visited that thread?
but were afraid to ask: 
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Pretty Please - add it to our Events forum(s) and add to the calendar! >> 
