good idea to push speakers at max rms rating?

[gotskill10 10+ year member]

Hey guys,

I was wondering whether it was a good or bad idea to push my 6x8 audiobahn 100w rms speakers at a consistent 100w rms form the amp?

I mean, I personally can't tell the difference from if I was pushing them at 60w.

Im just wondering if Im shortening the life of my speakers for no reason.

ANy opinions would be good, thx.

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[johnecon2001 5,000+ posts]

they're audiobahn's... who cares if you blow them.

If they were better speakers I would say no. Power them at what the manufacturer recommends you power them at. But since they be bahns.. who gives a flying fvck.

 

[Echo42987 10+ year member]

yeah the bahns ****

But if you keep your gains down you'll be just fine.

 

[Hades2004 10+ year member]

The speakers that I have they are 50 watts RMS and i'm getting an amp that does 120 watts RMS x 4 channels. So I have no idea if i'll blow mine or not. I have Alpine speakers.

 

[gotskill10 10+ year member]

well, the manufacturer recommends 100w rms i guess, but my question is if they would last longer if i powered them at a lower rms.

My audiobahns may ****, but my wallet will care if I blow them. =(

 

[gotskill10 10+ year member]

yeah the bahns ****
But if you keep your gains down you'll be just fine.

What do you mean if I keep the gain down, you mean the volume right, because in the end it matters at what volume the speakers are playing at right? I cant keep the gain on my amp down because then my speakers wont play loud enough.

 

[noob with an RS 10+ year member]

Does anyone understand that lower gain = less power and lower volume = less power ?
You could run your stock speakers off a Soundstream Tarantula (2000+ RMS) if you wanted without blowing them, but that doesn't mean you're actually sending the speakers 2000 watts ...

To answer your question ... No, it's not a good idea to actually send your speakers their rated wattage mostly because that's the thermal rating and not the mechanical rating (which would be highly dependent on the enclosure) ... However, powering them with an amplifier rated at or higher than your speakers is very acceptable and, in fact, recommended as it allows head room for dynamic peaks ...

that just clarifies a hundred million theories with me, was simply put and couldn'tve been explained better. thank you.

 

[gotskill10 10+ year member]

Does anyone understand that lower gain = less power and lower volume = less power ?
You could run your stock speakers off a Soundstream Tarantula (2000+ RMS) if you wanted without blowing them, but that doesn't mean you're actually sending the speakers 2000 watts ...

To answer your question ... No, it's not a good idea to actually send your speakers their rated wattage mostly because that's the thermal rating and not the mechanical rating (which would be highly dependent on the enclosure) ... However, powering them with an amplifier rated at or higher than your speakers is very acceptable and, in fact, recommended as it allows head room for dynamic peaks ...

yeah that was very well put, however im still pondering something, what is a dynamic peak? Im guessing it has something to do with the music requesting more than the rms output of the amp, but I mean doesn't an amp also have a max wattage output as well? And when would my speakers be seeing 100w rms from a 100w rms amp? When its turned up ALL THE WAY? Like volumes that could give you ear damage within a few minutes?

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

The amp's dynamic peak is how much power the amp is outputting at an amplitude peak of the music...for a very brief time.

 

[gotskill10 10+ year member]

The amp's dynamic peak is how much power the amp is outputting at an amplitude peak of the music...for a very brief time.

ok im a little confused now, so if i power a 100w rms speaker with a 100w rms amp, i would be sending the speaker 100w rms when the music is playing loud right?

I mean the amp can peak at 300w allowing for the dynamic peaks u guys are talking about.

But you guys say that I shouldnt power the speaker at the exact recommended wattage, are you guys telling me that even if its a 100w speaker running from a 100w amp, the amp will rarely put out 100w rms because the music will never play THAT loud???

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

with a 100w rms amp, i would be sending the speaker 100w rms when the music is playing loud right?

It completely depends where you have your gains set to. You could have your gains set in such a way that your amp will only produce 20W RMS output - and that's what you'll send to the speakers.

 

[gotskill10 10+ year member]

so, basically if i have my gain set all the way up, then my amp would be sending out 100w rms, otherwise its only sending out a fraction of it?

SO in that case, I should probably not turn the gain up all the way, and instead, turn it only to about 80%?

Or maybe I should just find an amp that puts out less the rms rating of the speaker so than I can atleast play the music louder since Ill be able to set the gain louder. Am I understanding this correctly?

 

[gotskill10 10+ year member]

Not even close ...
The loudness of a speaker is directly related to the power input ... 80 unclipped watts from one amp will be equal to 80 unclipped watts from another amp ...

The gain is used to match the input voltage from the head unit (typically from the RCAs aka pre-outs). If the gain is set too high for the pre-out voltage, you'll get clipping which isn't good.

It's much better to use an amplifier capable of producing much more power than you need and "gaining down" ...

so then its probably not a good idea to have my gain set all the way up, but then the music doesnt play as loud as I want it to. So if i got a more powerful amp i wouldnt have to set it up all the way and it would play louder and cleaner and would give out the same amount of power but sounding louder. Am I closer?