Does Sound quality rely on RMS?

[Golden_Oozarū]

I hope there is someone here who will actually read through this detailed topic and give me some good advice! Here is my situation. I have a 2011 Toyota Corolla Le. Its stock system consists of 6 speakers; 2 tweeters, (2) 6 3/4" speakers, and (2) 6x9" speakers. I have a 12" rockford fosgate P2 and an eclipse mono amp that can push it, but they are just sitting in my garage. My plan is to buy the sony single din reciever MEX-XB120BT which has a class D amplifier built into it and it produces 45 watts of RMS to 4 channels @ 4 OHMs. I want to use it to power new speakers so I don't have to spend hundreds more on a separate amp and wiring kit. My previous ride had a jvc aftermarket double din reciever pushing 14 watts RMS with DS series kicker speakers( four 6 1/2" speakers ) and it sounded good, but not amazing. So I am wondering if pushing the speakers closer to their max RMS wattage actually makes the speakers sound noticeably better. With the new sony receiver I plan on buying (2)JBL GTO 629 and  (2) JBL GTO 939. The 629's RMS watts are 60 at 3 OHMs with 93DB rating and frequency response of 53-21,000 HZ . The 939's RMS watts are 100 watts at 3 OHMs with 94DB rating and frequency response of 46-21,000HZ. Or I plan on buying speakers that max out closer to the Sony's RMS output wattage such as the NVX N series speakers. The N series 6x9" RMS watts are 55, frequency response 58-20,000HZ, and 89DB. The 6 1/2" N series speakers RMS watts are 40, frequency response 70-20,000HZ, and 89DB. So basically, I'm looking for quality sound and im not advanced in this knowledge enough to make a decision yet. Just reading the details the JBLs are much better speakers. But, from the choices i gave you, would the JBLs still sound better then the NVX speakers even though I won't be able to push the JBLs to their full potential? P.s. I plan on throwing in the p2 sub and eclipse mono amp for bass and unplugging my tweeters.

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[ThxOne Premium Member]

My 2 cents: What you have listed will get you going, will power your speakers and should make you smile. I would stick with the JBL speakers with the higher sensitivity. Do yourself a HUGE FAVOR... add to your list some quality sound deadening for the doors and anywhere you mount speakers. If you can, over do the sound deadening. This will help the output of the speakers. I have owned a 12" P2 and I will tell you this. It WILL overpower the JBL's if you run them on head unit power. Just a heads up. One last thing. Run RCA's for ALL the channels when you install that head unit. That way when you are able to grab a 4 channel amp in the future, and I think you may, you will already be a step ahead. There is no reason the JBL's won't sound good... but you may have to back the sub down to have it all blend together better.

JBL and Infinity make decent amps at decent prices as well. The good thing about car audio is you don't have to do it all at once. Buy what you can and enjoy it until you are ready to add to or upgrade your system... or, if you are content, you're done.

 

[ThxOne Premium Member]

Or what Jeff said in the other post lol.

 

[fithwheel]

My .02 sound quality depends on install set up tuning crossover points and equipment more then RMS ratting. Also, my guess but that sony head unit might not like the 3 ohm load from the jbls. I'd throw a budget class a/b on the jbls. I'm still not convinced a budget class d sounds as good as a budget class a/b especially on a lower ohm load but maybe I'm too picky. But yeah id do some research and see if that sony can handle a lower ohm load (I have my doubts) or go with different speakers. Do not skip sound deadening.
Honestly id go with separate components up front, raw drivers from parts express or madisound. Use a hu with a 3 way crossover. Forget about the rears. They're not necessary. I've got rears in my Honda and I keep them turned down to almost nothing to where you cant even hear them up front. Sounds much better with them turned down. Replace the factory tweeters with a similar sensitivity rating of the mids something that'll fit in that location or install in a different location which ever makes most since for sq. Even off deck power your front stage would sound better then what you're planning imo. amp power is always going to be cleaner then deck power even with that sony. later on you'll probably want to add an amp to power your mids and highs.
For SQ I'd go with some soft dome tweeters. I like the Dayton aluminum cone reference series woofers for sq. I put a pair of the 6" in my step son's car with excellent results. However they have a lower sensitivity rating so they probably do better with amp power vs typical hu power.They're are a lot of good choices to go with. Lot of people like the silver flutes from madisound.

 

[winkychevelle 10+ year member]

In short no sound quality does depend on rms or woofer xmax.

But you may find you are limiting your output buy adding distortion before you reach the neccessary volume. You may also notice that some songs arent as dynamic since your amp does have enough headroom to throw the extra power for that split second.

As far as xmax th depends on enclosure design more than anything but as you increase the volume you will likely need more xmax as you near the mechanical limit of the driver.

Getting close to the clipping point of an amplifier of close to the mechanical xmax of a driver are easy ways to degrade sound quality. Most people wont notice either unless it's really bad.

Overall proper eq, time alignment, individual driver level, and good clean power will go a long way.

Beyond that proper sound deadening and sound absorption treatments will help more than throwing power at the speakers

 

[Jcsaudio]

I had that Sony deck with built in 40 wpc (back then) in my wife’s previous van driving some Pioneer speakers and was impressed over the deference that power made for those speakers. I think you willl be happy with it. Most of the power demands come in at the lower frequencies so using a HP filter at around 80 Hz in conjunction with a subwoofer will really help out with the sound qaulity and not tax the amplifier as much on dynamic peaks. It also depends on the volume you listen to music too. As mentioned above, try to buy as efficient a speaker as you can get to maximize the available power. I would also recommend running a seperate 10 ga power and ground for that Sony deck to give the internal amplifier the best possible amperage it can get so it runs as efficiently as possible. 10 ga wire, even ofc wire is cheap.