Can someone explain Watts to me - its a legit question...

[pologuy 10+ year member]

Hi:

Can someone please explain how one speaker can have a watt rating of 125 watts and 250 peak and another comparable speaker have a watt rating of 70 and 140 peak?

Example of two speakers I am looking at:

power range: 25-125 watts RMS (250 watts peak power)

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_107MM6501/Polk-Audio-MM6501.html?tp=106

2-70 watts RMS power range (140 watts peak)

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_091165VB/Focal-Polyglass-165-VB.html?tp=106

So the Polk can handle more power and go louder? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif

Thanks as always!

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[ejschultz 10+ year member]

The Focals handle less power according to their specs, however, they're a little underrated as far as what they can handle. I would assume the Polks probably handle exactly what they're said to handle. The Polks will probably be a little louder, as they are very slightly more efficient, but you'll probably get better sound out of the Focals. To answer your question about wattage, there's more than power handling to look at when you're looking for a set of speakers. Sure that as well as the sensitivity will give you an idea of how loud they'll play, but loud isn't everything when you're looking at components like these. Obviously you want some SQ too. I can personally attest for the Focals. I've got a set of 136 V Polyglass components in my car. The tweeters are a little more bright than some other component sets, but I like that. I've got a set of Polk DB651 coax speakers in my Jimmy. They sound pretty good, but they're nohing compaired to my Focals. I don't even feel it's really a compairison because the Polks are cheaper coax speakers. I'm sure their components are better, but I'd recommend the Focals.

 

[pyfocal 10+ year member]

Nice set for a good price.I have used these and I really liked the tweeters.They get plenty loud enough too. http://www.woofersetc.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=2571

 

[pologuy 10+ year member]

The Focals handle less power according to their specs, however, they're a little underrated as far as what they can handle. I would assume the Polks probably handle exactly what they're said to handle. The Polks will probably be a little louder, as they are very slightly more efficient, but you'll probably get better sound out of the Focals. To answer your question about wattage, there's more than power handling to look at when you're looking for a set of speakers. Sure that as well as the sensitivity will give you an idea of how loud they'll play, but loud isn't everything when you're looking at components like these. Obviously you want some SQ too. I can personally attest for the Focals. I've got a set of 136 V Polyglass components in my car. The tweeters are a little more bright than some other component sets, but I like that. I've got a set of Polk DB651 coax speakers in my Jimmy. They sound pretty good, but they're nohing compaired to my Focals. I don't even feel it's really a compairison because the Polks are cheaper coax speakers. I'm sure their components are better, but I'd recommend the Focals.

Hey, thanks!

The only problem is you are comparing Focal's Polyglass to Polk's DB. The better comparison, or so I am told, is Focal's Polyglass vs Polk's MM. In which case, a few who have compared them said that the Polk MM is the hands down winner. So, it gets even more confusing, LOL.

So, if the MMs are better sounding and have a higher watt rating - isn't that the way to go - or am I missing something here?

Thanks as always!

 

[SRim23 5,000+ posts]

Hey, thanks!
The only problem is you are comparing Focal's Polyglass to Polk's DB. The better comparison, or so I am told, is Focal's Polyglass vs Polk's MM. In which case, a few who have compared them said that the Polk MM is the hands down winner. So, it gets even more confusing, LOL.

So, if the MMs are better sounding and have a hight watt rating - isn't that the way to go - or am I missing something here?

Thanks as always!

that all depends on the power you can offer it. most people will buy the speakers, then purchase the amp to power them. but in some cases, once you find an amp you like and then you start switching out speakers, you are buying the speakers that can handle what power your amp can give them......

so basically, if you have an amp that can put out 125 rms, polks are the way to go, but if you have an amp only putting out 60-70 then obviously you dont want to get the polks and then underpower them.

i personally own the polk mmc6500 comps. they have been the only components i have ever owned, and they sound good to me. the only set ive heard that i can compare them too is my girlfriends type r's . mine sound much better than hers as the type r tweets are pretty harsh and mids lack midbass. my polks have pretty decent midbass and mellow tweet. hope that helps.

 

[pologuy 10+ year member]

that all depends on the power you can offer it. most people will buy the speakers, then purchase the amp to power them. but in some cases, once you find an amp you like and then you start switching out speakers, you are buying the speakers that can handle what power your amp can give them......
so basically, if you have an amp that can put out 125 rms, polks are the way to go, but if you have an amp only putting out 60-70 then obviously you dont want to get the polks and then underpower them.

i personally own the polk mmc6500 comps. they have been the only components i have ever owned, and they sound good to me. the only set ive heard that i can compare them too is my girlfriends type r's . mine sound much better than hers as the type r tweets are pretty harsh and mids lack midbass. my polks have pretty decent midbass and mellow tweet. hope that helps.

Hey, thanks, this is the amp I am looking at getting with the MMs - good choice?

MM6501 for fronts

MM521 for rear doors

MM691 for rear deck

MM1040 2 of them - 10" subs

http://www.polkaudio.com/caraudio/pa/index.php#pa1100_5

Thanks as always!

 

[ejschultz 10+ year member]

Hey, thanks!
The only problem is you are comparing Focal's Polyglass to Polk's DB. The better comparison, or so I am told, is Focal's Polyglass vs Polk's MM. In which case, a few who have compared them said that the Polk MM is the hands down winner. So, it gets even more confusing, LOL.

So, if the MMs are better sounding and have a higher watt rating - isn't that the way to go - or am I missing something here?

Thanks as always!

I know I wasn't being totally fair to Polk with my review, I'm just speaking from my personal experience. But as it was said before, you don't want to really underpower them. A lot of components come alive near or a little above their rated RMS. Once you've heard them do this, you'll understand what I'm talking about. Get the speakers that your amp can power.

 

[ejschultz 10+ year member]

I just saw the amp you're going with, go with the Polks. That looks like a pretty badass amp.

 

[RAM_Designs 5,000+ posts]

i personally own the polk mmc6500 comps. they have been the only components i have ever owned, and they sound good to me. the only set ive heard that i can compare them too is my girlfriends type r's . mine sound much better than hers as the type r tweets are pretty harsh and mids lack midbass. my polks have pretty decent midbass and mellow tweet. hope that helps.

I'm not saying that the R's are better than the MM's you have, but it's really unfair to make a comparison considering they're in two different cars, different amps, different install(more on/off axis than the other), different door deadening/sealing(if sealed, different volume of the doors), etc...there's a lot of variables. Especially when you're trying to compare midbass response, it's best to just swap out speakers in your own ride so that you can definitively say that speaker A works better than speaker B in a certain application. Otherwise, it's just guess work.

 

[SWFL 10+ year member]

polks spec the momos have a smoooth tweeter and the mid is very smooth and balanced nice midbass and very good live real sounding mid not an artifical sound to them like shiity cheap mids

 

[eharri3 10+ year member]

Watts dont mean much, at least not in the sense that alot of people think. A speaker's power handling is measured using conditions it mostly won't see during normal music: Continuous test tones. An amp's power rating is measured under similar conditions. Assuming your system is properly tuned, both the output on the amp and the power handling of the speaker are numbers you may never actually see during normal use and if you do, only for a brief instant. They are good reference points but those ratings shouldn't be a bible for matching speakers and amps. I've heard of people delivering 150-200 percent of a speaker's power rating with no damage and awesome sound. Hypothetically let's say speaker A is rated for 150 watts and amp B is rated for 200 watts and you tune it to deliver that much. The amp will only actually deliver the 200 watts at maximum volume if and when you reach musical peaks that are strong enough to generate that wattage, then it goes down again when the frequency and loudness of the music changes. The speaker doesn't get 200 watts all the time but it may get closer to 150 during moderate to moderately high volumes.

Loudness and power ARE important in an SQ system and overhead is a good thing. Your music has to get loud enough and do it cleanly for you to appreciate the detail. But other speaker characteristics such as sensitivity figure into loudness.

 

[SRim23 5,000+ posts]

I'm not saying that the R's are better than the MM's you have, but it's really unfair to make a comparison considering they're in two different cars, different amps, different install(more on/off axis than the other), different door deadening/sealing(if sealed, different volume of the doors), etc...there's a lot of variables. Especially when you're trying to compare midbass response, it's best to just swap out speakers in your own ride so that you can definitively say that speaker A works better than speaker B in a certain application. Otherwise, it's just guess work.

i know you are going to think im lying for case of argument but actually they are in the same car (she has a 04 civic, i have an 05 civic, even the same color), i installed them both, same sound deadening, tweets in the same location, same battery..... only difference is she is running old school alpine amps and i am running pdx's lol oh and she has an alpine iva d900 and i have a kenwood dnx8120

 

[MakeshiftAudio 10+ year member]

1 Watt = 1 Joule for 1 Second.