newbie component question

[stieater 10+ year member]

I'm fairly new to the whole high-end audio world. so ive got a few questions. looking at component speakers and i was told that the amp had to have a higher rms output than the speakers required. (example; speaker rms power range : 60W. amp RMS power : 100W X 4) right? now does that 100w X 4 mean that it will put out 100w for each speaker?

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[Beat_Dominator 5,000+ posts]

100 watt would go to each channel.... Front Left, Front Right, Rear Left, Rear Right.

But if you go high-end on comps. you'll want to be able to go over the manufacturers specs because it would give you room to spare in teh power dept.

 

[desi_daru 10+ year member]

u dont HAVE to send them more power, but jus like the above post said it gives you head room, all u gotta do then is jus set the gain accordingly and you should b fine

 

[jsloan10 10+ year member]

Rather than explain I found an FAQ that saves me the effort of typing-

5.21 What's worse for a speaker, too much or too little power? [iDB]

======================================================================

Problems occur (in everyday operation) when distortion is fed to a

speaker. This occurs MUCH more often when you are dealing with an

underpowered system - typically the owner will turn up the volume too

much or set the amplifier gains too high to try and get more volume

from the system. These introduce distortion to the signal - this will

destroy *any* speaker. ((see Section 5.22).)

When a speaker is overpowered, however, it is not nearly as common to

have these kind of problems, so speakers aren't blown as much. Of

course, it is certainly possible to destroy a speaker (thermally) by

overpowering it, but you'll have a pretty hard time doing this on your

own, especially with standard car audio amplifiers.

5.22 Why is distortion harmful to my speakers? [RK]

=====================================================

Distortion is hard on speakers for two reasons.

Reason 1: Distortion causes the power spectrum to shift upwards in

frequency. A bass note, when distorted, will have lots of high

frequency energy. This will cause mid-ranges and tweeters to fry, if

the amplifier is operating full range. It doesn't harm woofers,

necessarily.

Reason 2: Distortion causes the average power to be much higher.

Typically, a music signal that never clips has an average power level of

1/4 the peak power level for even the most compressed speed metal or

pop. More dynamic music will be 1/8 the peak level or less on average.

When you clip the amp hard, the average output moves up to the

full-rated output of the amp or more. The peak to average ratio can be

less than 2 to 1, with the peaks being at double the rated power of the

amp, and the average being at the rated power of the amp or higher.

Thermally, the speaker can handle the average power being 1/4 the rated

power of the amp (little to no clipping), but it will have a much harder

time with the average power being the amp's rated power or more (massive

clipping). As you might expect, this is pretty hard on the amp, too.

For transients, most speakers can handle a ton of power. But for long

term signals, the power handling is much less.

 

[stieater 10+ year member]

not looking to spend much money...just something decent would this amp work for these ok for these sets of speakers?

http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=13124

http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=14400

http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=14403

 

[Beat_Dominator 5,000+ posts]

That amp would only give them 50w.

 

[jsloan10 10+ year member]

75 x4 rms Kenwood 8452

link-

http://www1.bottomdollar.com/p__Kenwood_Kenwood_KAC_8452_4_Channel_Amplifier,__7485886//

 

[Beat_Dominator 5,000+ posts]

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif you and your Kenwood.

 

[stieater 10+ year member]

so id need an amp thats rms power range is higher than that of the speakers?

 

[Beat_Dominator 5,000+ posts]

Those speakers said like 120w max. So an amp from 80-150 would work.

 

[stieater 10+ year member]

ok so make sure the amp is higher than the rmp power range and peak power. anything else? ohms?

 

[stieater 10+ year member]

*rms power range

 

[Beat_Dominator 5,000+ posts]

Those are 4ohm speakers, so you need to just look at the 4ohm power ratings.

 

[stieater 10+ year member]

does this work? http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=13117

 

[Beat_Dominator 5,000+ posts]

Yeah, but for that price you can do better used in our classified section.