How to know which speaker is louder/stronger...

[DIGIDIGIBOMBO 10+ year member]

Hi guys, everytime i look into speakers in a shop i do read the rms rating. The guy told me that for example: a 6.5"component rated at 80rms is not necessarly louder/better than 6.5" component rated at 60rms. The rms is not a final hint on which speaker is better right? He told me that with pioneer coaxials, the ones with the yellow kevlar cone are much stronger than the regular ones eventhough some have lower rms ratings. I am lost, how would i know then??? Now i will buy a set of components the Clarion SRS1751HX 6.5" rated 45rms, but the pioneer 6.5" TS-C160R are rated 60rms, hes telling me the clarions HX series are the a lot better and louder, cleaner etc.... one is 45rms other is 60rms, how could the clarion be louder/...? thx

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[Rattlebrain 10+ year member]

Kinda curious on this one as well, so.......

BUMP.

Im sure efficiency has something to do with it but what makes a speaker "efficient"?

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

through many hours of mast... er wait listening, and experience with product

 

[DIGIDIGIBOMBO 10+ year member]

yes guys but sometimes the rms ratings between speakers is kinda very different ( 50rms versus 70 rms) and yet they say well the 50rms speaker is better. Magnet size, cone design??? Lets take the pioneer TS-w306C subwoofer rated at 400rms and the TS-W12prs rated at 3000rms. The prs is a dual voice coil but handles 300rms and is alottttt better than the 400rms sub, so i dont think there is way to know without trying. Any ideas? thx again

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

RMS power is not an indication of which is better or louder. It's just a measure of the maximum continuous power you are recommended to give the speaker without the risk of damage.

Don't use it for a decision making basis. Use it as a guideline of how to power the speaker once you buy it. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less.

Likewise, you are giving to much weight to small power differences. Lets say you bought the 50w RMS speaker, and powered it with 70w RMS. The maximum (theoretical) difference in output between 50w and 70w is 1.46db......which is barely even audible. That small of a power difference isn't going to make much of an audible difference in actual acoustical output.

Efficiency, design, how the RMS power was rated, etc etc is all going to vary speaker to speaker and make it impossible to "compare" them based on a single spec alone. Don't try to look at one number to decide which is better or louder.....because you can't do it. Buy the speaker based off of how it sounds and not some arbitrary spec.

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

im 20 watts louder than loud .....

 

[DIGIDIGIBOMBO 10+ year member]

Thx guys

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

im 20 watts louder than loud .....

Hush. You're still quiet either way //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/tongue.gif.6130eb82179565f6db8d26d6001dcd24.gif