Why would stock speakers sound louder than aftermarkets?

[jmitch62]

Hey everyone, new here..just had a quick question.

I'm swapping out my stock speakers in my new old car and had a question..

Why do my aftermarket speakers sound quieter than the stock front speakers, and even the cheaper aftermarket ones that are in the back?

The speakers I'm trying to put in are Infinity Reference series 6x8's with RMS 60Watts and I'm not sure of the stock speakers but I know they arent anywhere near 60W. The Pioneers that are also in there are 30W RMS.

All four speakers (two front, two back) are 6x8's.

I even went out today to play a little bit with an amp I am going to be putting in and had it hooked up to a Pioneer on the left channel and an Infinity on the right and the Pioneer was louder.

If anyone can clear this up for me that would be great, because I bought these Infinitys knowing they are a better speaker, but would like to definately hear the sound improvement.

Thanks!

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[silvercookie 5,000+ posts]

different ohm ratings?

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

2 speakers...one 30wrms and one 60wrms on the same amp....

the lower rms requirement will sound louder as it requires less power to run

 

[ABSOLUTEAUDIO 10+ year member]

different ohm ratings?

x2

being they are 6x8's, i am guessing ford or mercury stock speakers. ford loves to use low power(like 10 wrms)! That is why they are louder than your pioneer's and infinitys. They require less power to get loud. were your pioneer's require around 30rms, and the infinity's are 60rms. If you amp them to around there rated rms you see a big change.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[ABSOLUTEAUDIO 10+ year member]

sh!t you beat me to it

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

x2
being they are 6x8's, i am guessing ford or mercury stock speakers. ford loves to use low power(like 10 wrms)! That is why they are louder than your pioneer's and infinitys. They require less power to get loud. were your pioneer's require around 30rms, and the infinity's are 60rms. If you amp them to around there rated rms you see a big change.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

you said x2 to resistance difference.....then mentioned nothing about it in your post

 

[chillin 10+ year member]

your stock speakers were made to have a decent amplitude at probably 5-10 watts (not sure what kind of stock deck you have). Your new speakers want pwer from an after market amp that puts out 60 watts to reach their potential.

 

[ABSOLUTEAUDIO 10+ year member]

you said x2 to resistance difference.....then mentioned nothing about it in your post

Yah sorry, I thought he had them on a amp at first!

 

[bose301s 5,000+ posts]

2 speakers...one 30wrms and one 60wrms on the same amp....
the lower rms requirement will sound louder as it requires less power to run

Yes, but a smaller reason than you think.

The #1 reason is distortion. Its all psychoacoustics my friend, a distorted signal sounds louder because of all the added harmonics as well as the fact that the distortion tells your brain its louder. A less distorted signal creates less listening stress and this seems quieter. The best example I have seen of this was listening to a set of B&W 802 Ds, $12,000/pair speakers. It didn't seem terribly loud, until I tried to talk to my friend next to me and realized I was literally yelling almost as loud as I could. Now there have been times where the music has seemed louder, but I have been able to carry on conversations while talking not too much more loudly than usual. This is explained by psychoacoustics and listening stress.

 

[SSS 18734 5,000+ posts]

Most stock speakers are significantly more efficient than their after-market counterparts.

They design them this way so that they can run off less power.

 

[jmitch62]

Thanks for the replies everyone, makes sense to me now.

I've been reading about the resistance importance and what not and was wondering if somebody could advise me about something..

If I had a Clarion apx201.2 - 2 channel amp (200W Im guessing.. 100Wx2 @ 2ohms and 50Wx2 at 4ohms?..can't find any info on it).

Anyways..is there any way to hook this amp up to 4 speakers that are 30W RMS at 4ohm by configuring them in parallel or something funky like that?

Thanks in advance,

jmitch

EDIT: Now that I think about it, couldnt I parallel the two rights and the two left speakers making them 2ohm showing at the amp? And then I would have 50W RMS to each speaker?

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

RMS power ratings have zero bearing on efficiency or how much power that a speaker "needs".

Factory speakers are made to be reasonably loud on a tiny amount of power. They are very efficient. Aftermarket speakers assume that you are going to use aftermarket amounts of power and sacrifice efficiency for fidelity.

I would run the front speakers off the amp and run the rears off the HU or not run rears at all.

 

[tRidiot 10+ year member]

You could run all four speakers off a 2-channel amp by running 2 on the L and 2 on the R as you mentioned, you would just lose the ability to fade front/rear.