QuestionHi Scott - am sure you get this all the time but I'm looking for information.
Basically I've replaced my cars speakers about 3 years ago and now one of them is failing - I think the coil maybe breaking up.
Anyway I'm looking into get new speakers but want to make sure I get the better ones for myself...
I'm running a Sony head unit that says 54 x 4 watts. I know this isn't what I'm looking for.. its the RMS.
Realistically I know my head unit is probably only putting out 15 - 25 RMS, so when I buy some new speakers is it best to buy some that are RMS rated to near the 15 - 25 RMS?
In the future I'm looking at amping my speakers too. So would I take the total RMS of the speakers - e.g. 2 at 25 RMS and buy an amp that is rating at 50 RMS based on that the total speakers can take is 50 RMS? Or doesn't it work like that?
I have the 'boom boom' in my car but now I want better quality speakers. I would like it so they could be loud and clear - not for stupid reasons but I'd like it for personal reasons #not driving through villages causing disturbances but for my enjoy#.
Am I going about this in the right manner?
AnswerMick, you are correct about looking at the rms watts rather than the max ratings. The max ratings are just magical numbers that manufacturers come up with and put on their components. RMS ratings are based on an industry wide testing standard.
When matching speakers to stereos, it is important to get speakers that will handle the power that they are going to get played at. However, there is no limit to how much more power they can be able to handle. Since your headunit puts out 15 - 25 watts rms, your speakers should be at least 25 watts rms or higher (all the way up to 500 watts). If you plan on upgrading to an amp in the future, you should get speakers that will handle whatever amount of RMS power you are planning to move up to.
When shopping for amps, you will watch the rms watt ratings just like with speakers, but the amp should give an rms rating per channel. That means, if you buy a 600 watt max 4 channel amp, you would divide the 600 watts by 4 for each channel. It would be 150 watts max per channel. Then, you would divide the max total in half to estimate rms output per channel, so it would be a 75 watt rms per channel amp. If you look for the rms rating on the specs, it should be right around 75 watts rms per channel. Your speakers should be at least 75 watts rms each.
Amplifiers are generally rated more moderately than speakers. A 50 watt rms amplifier would show a max of 100 watts per channel. A 50 watt rms speaker would normally show a max power rating of 130 watts per channel. Theoretically, you can buy a amp with slightly higher rms rating, but you run the risk of hitting that one note that blows the speaker. If you keep the amp lower or equal to the speakers, you will never have to worry about blowing the speakers.
For sound quality, the top of the line is MB Quart, then Infinity, then Polk Audio. To get speakers that sound louder at the same volume level, you should look at the sensitivity or efficiency of the speaker in decibels. The higher the number (around 92), the louder the speaker will sound. Hope this helps, Scott
