BL_Protege

Yea, i'm not too familiar about car audio and all the amps and everything. If you have an amp with speakers, do your speakers have to have a higher max wattage than the amp itself? Like for example, if the speaker you have has a max watts of 100, then your amp has 200 watts, would the speakers be louder and clear or be messed up b/c the amp amplifies louder than the amp. Also, explain what are the best speakers and amps for a decent sounding system, not a competition level one. I know this is probably confusing , but im confused lol. Anybody who can answer my questions thanks a lot.

onehawaiian

just try to match the wrms ratings of both spkr and amp. say for example, you have an spkrs that can go 45wrms(continuous), look for amps that do about that (more or less). you'll get cleaner sound when your spkrs perform at optimum level, so give it the power it needs and don't be afraid of going over a bit. most times, feeding your spkrs more power is not necessarily bad as long as you're not feeding 1000w to your 24w spkrs...

JDMstuff

1hawaiian is right. Just make sure that the rms capability of the speakers match the rms output of the amp. You don't necessarily have to buy speakers from the same manufacturer as the amp either.

onehawaiian

well, that depends on what you want to spend, and what you want out of your system. here are some spkrs to look at:
cheap- infinity ref, fusion, gs design, jbl, alpine, kicker
not so cheap- jl audio(xr), diamond, mb quart, boston's, crystal, dei
really NOT cheap- a/d/s, focal, rainbow, cdt, and anything european

BL_Protege

Aight thanks a lot. The information helped.

I just have a few questions if you dont mind.

http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/S...4EL460&o=m&a=0
That is an amp. It says
65 watts RMS x 4 at 4 ohms
85 watts RMS x 4 at 2 ohms
Does that mean that it only delivers 85 or 65 watts to each speaker?

http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/S...4RS690&o=m&a=0
If i would use that amp with these speakers in the rear, would that mean that the speakers are capable of much more because it says
recommended power range 6-140 watts RMS
?

Thanks so much for information on this.

BL_Protege

Also, do I need crossovers if the audio system is not going to be component?

hihoslva

First, no - you will not need crossovers. And if you want to take the low low bass out from the speakers, most amps have a filter integrated that will do that for you. Some are adjustable (what frequency the cutoff), and others are fixed.

Second - you can do MUCH better than that Bazooka stuff. Might be decent, but those prices are kinda high IMO.

When looking for speakers and an amp, consider that nearly ALL speakers (like the ones you linked above) run at 4 ohms. So be sure to check the amp's specs @ 4ohms. Why that bazooka does 65watts@4 ohms, and only 85 @ 2 ohms is a little mysterious. Most amps will double the power when the ohms (impedance) are halved - so 65 @ 4, and 130 @ 2.

The speakers you linked will work okay with anything from 6-140 watts, so the amp you are looking at is right in the low-middle of the range. The max is 280. Personally, I would go with more power to them - like 100 watts or better. The 140 is really the RMS number, even though they list a range from 6 to 140.

Look around a bit, and keep asking questions here. And for pete's sake, DON'T buy from Crutchfield unless your REALLY care a LOT about warranties. The prices are usually pretty high compared to other web-sellers.

~HH

BL_Protege

yea thanks a lot for the help man. yea i'd never buy from crutchfield they're def. too pricey i just used those as an example lol. i plan to buy half the stuff from ebay. i've found much cheaper prices already. so your saying that the amp has to be a higher rms or wattage then the speakers? does that apply to the subwoofer also, and how much higher would it have to be? thanks for the patience with this car audio newbie hehe

hihoslva

Basically, you want to ignore "max" ratings on amps and speakers. What you want is the RMS wattage to match up - a 100 watt RMS amp to a 100 watt RMS sub, for example. A little difference either way is no big deal either - as long as it's close.

Quality name brands will usually produce/handle the wattage they advertise. For example - a Rockford Fosgate 360.2 amp is advertised to put out 360 watts (duh). But in truth, it puts out a maximum of over 500 watts (I own this amp, so I know - it comes with a bench test sheet from the factory stating the max output). What this means is that you will get the 360 watts you paid for, and they will be "clean" - when any amp is driven to it's maximum output, there is distortion in the signal. The 500 watts from the RF 360.2 would have some distortion in it - not good, as this will kill speakers/subs. But the 360 watts will be undistorted, true power. Many bargain brand amps don't advertise this way - a Boss or Jensen amp that claims 600 watts generally can only produce those watts with HUGE distortion, and probably just before the amp shuts down catches fire (figuratively speaking) from overloading. While it did produce 600 watts, they are UNUSEABLE watts, and that's what matters. Most of the bargain brands are lucky to produce half of the "rated" power - a 600 watt Jenses amp probably puts out 200 watts of clean power, 300 if you're lucky. And the higher the power of the amps you are looking at, the more important it is that you get clean power.

This is why people go buy a so-called 200 watt cheap-*** amp, then get a sub that can handle 400 watts, and wonder why the sub blew up. It's because while overpowering a speaker or sub can certainly kill it, 9 times out of 10 it's DISTORTION that fries speakers. Crank up your stock deck - you hear that crap? That's not becuase the speakers are distorting (even though they do suck), it's because the internal AMP in the deck is sending a distorted signal to them - the amp is overdriven.

For amps, consider Rockford and JBL for fair deals, and JL Audio, Fusion, and a whole host of other brands for solid power. The JBL monoblock amps are all the rage lately for subs - they are an excellent bargain - around $300 for true 1200 watts of power - very nice. JBL also makes some multi-channel amps - a buddy of mine has one soon to be installed - I'll let you know his results, but I belive most of the JBL line is a solid buy.

For speakers, just math up the RMS power handling to the RMS output of the amp and you'll be fine. Stick with brands you've heard of or that are recommended to you (NOT by salesmen). Speakers are a largely subjective topic - what sounds better to you might not to me. Keep the power rating right and you'll do fine.

I'll give you an example of my system so you can get a feel for things:

I have a Kenwood deck, and two Rockford amps. I have a 360.2 powering my front components, and a 500s power a Rockford Punch HX2 10" sub.

The HX2 subwoofer handles 500 watts RMS - and that's just what the RF 500s puts out. The amp is bridged mono (meaning the 2 channels are "combined", to send a non-stereo, mono signal to the sub - all bridgeable amps show you how to wire them this way). Now, the Rockford amps (as well as most bridgeable 2 channel amps) cannot run bridged at 2 ohms. It will overheat. The amps needs to run at 4 ohms, so the sub is basically a 4 ohm model. If, for whatever reason, I ran an 8 ohm sub, I'd only get 250 watts instead of the 500.

The front components handle 100 watts RMS per side. Now, the 360.2 puts out 180 watts per side @ 2 ohms. So how can I run the 100 watt component set with 180 watts? I DON'T! The components are 4 ohms (nearly all car speakers are, except for subs, which come in many different impedances), which cuts the power output of the amp in half - 90 watts per side, and perfectly safe.

My rear door speakers are run off of deck power.

Hope this helps you some. Keep asking - it helps A LOT.

~HH

onehawaiian

^^ dude, that was quite possibly the most helpful and informative post re: car audio. geez, i actually read the whole thing and understood it! (i'm not a #'s guy, laymen's terms only please).

hihoslva

I try. Fact is, I only learned most of this stuff in the past six months. Before that, I had no idea what any of it meant, or why I should know it.

The internet has taught me so much.

BTW - www.carsound.com is an excellent message board - somewhat advanced I guess, but plenty of people are willing to take the time to help newbies.

~HH

onehawaiian

low power bad. high power good.

hihoslva

Depends on the brand and the actual specs, as well as the gain setting on the amp(s). You could run a Pyle 75 watt sub safely off of a JBL 1200.1 if you keep the gains next to nothing.

But it can be done. Safest is always RMS matching, IMO - and the easiest way to be confident you'll have good sounding system that can perform well for a long time. If anything, overpowering the speakers a little bit is better than underpowering them. Like running a 600 watt amp to a 500 watt RMS sub oughtta be fine forever. But you're not gonna get a 500 watt sub to last sending it 300 watts with the gains pegged. And it'll sound like **** to boot.

~HH

BL_Protege

thanks all of u guys for ur info on this. imma jus go and print this out b/c im goin on a long drive down 2 VA 2morro lol. thanks a lot

pr5owner

also keep in mind, speaker sensitivity is important, if you are replacing all your speakers try to keep your speakers sens. around the same. in my setup, the clarions are all 85dB.

Sensitivity means how loud or efficient the speaker is given a fixed amount of power, clarions are generally power hungry so they will have a low sensitivity but can handle more power. high sensitivity (something like 95dB) will be louder when running off a smaller amount of power like a head unit. but these kind of speakers will not handle lots of power.

Right now i am running almost 90Watts RMS @ <0.1THD to each of my clarions which are 35/40Watts RMS and sounds great, i can turn my deck up to 95% max vol without distortion, but i never listen to it that loud as it actaully hurts .
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