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I've recently bought an amp, soundstream XTA240.2 (240watt 2 way) running from the pioneer deck, deh-p7750mp 50watt 4 way) From what I can work out, that's 60 watts (2-channel) coming from the amp and 22 continuous from the deck but I've been told because it's running into an open source so to speak, the decks is virtually obselite because of the amp. God knows what that means, what I need to know (because the 150WPMPO speakers on it HATE me, approx 30RMS) is what is best to look for in new speakers? Do I try to keep as close to the amps RMS and with a high sensitivety or is it better to greatly exceed the RMS with bigger speakers?
Also, my unit is set up in my room as I don't have a vehicle, it's mounted properly and everything but is running off a battery charger for now. I will get a battery soon but it does cut out when bass is introduced at high levels, (I keep the settings low so I don't damage anything). Can you recommend a better way of giving the unit power and can this power shortage cause distortion/bassy crackle in the sound or is this just because the speakers are too weak?
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ok so help me to get all this straight. In your room you have a pioneer head unit and just 1 set of speakers?
you then added the the soundstream amp to try to get better/more sound from these speakers? and you're running it ALL off of a car battery charger?
If that's all correct then your main problem is the battery charger. there should be an AMPS rating on it, maybe 5,8,10 amps something like that (NOT volts). let me know what that rating is. what's happening is that this power source cannot provide enough juice to run a setup like this and adding the amplifier is just givving it more work to do so it's going to sound worse witht the amp believe it or not. First thing i would do is remove the amp untill you get a better power source.
you need to have a power supply that puts out 10 amps for your cd player PLUS whatever the amp's fuses are (25 amps I believe for this model) So to run this right you need a 35 amp power supply, that's not going to be cheap or easy to find. I use computer power supplys and they work quite well for the price. this one is 50 bucks and is rated for 34 amps at 12 volts:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=90517
Adding a car battery indoors is very dangerous, I can help you with it but you will need to understand the risks. also the battery will only help out until it starts to go dead and then the power supply will have to charge it and run your system so it will turn into even more of a load.
As for your speakers crackling to the bass, if they're shot then yes they will make a sound like this but they're probably ok, its probably the lack of power doing it. an easy way to tell is look at the light on the amp or the display on the cd player. if its dims in time with the beat then the problem is lack of power.
give me the answers to the questions I have here and I'll provide more info.
First thing, I'm laughing, (at the amps on the charger) it's cheap, only 2.7amps. Your overall conclusions are correct.
I am planning to put the two speakers on the front output and replace them with suitable speakers but after thrashing the net yesterday and as you say, I'm going to need to spend some money on a good quality source of power. Money isn't an option as I want to do it right and this unit will most likely stay indoors for quite some time. I used to have a battery charged at all times running WITH the charger as I played music but now looking to see if there's an alternative way of powering it. I understand all risks involving electrical devices.
My speakers are fine, 6.5 inch sound stream, very near new, the lights do dim so I know there's a lack of power, just wanted to know IF this caused bad sound too.
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yes definatly, when power isnt available to produce the sound required then distortion will be heard. especially in the extream case of 2.7 amps!!!
I use to have a home theater setup with 4 car stereo amps runnign off of 10 computer power supplies like the one in the link I sent you. it was ok but I had alot better succes with samson amps, they're much cheaper than buying power supplys and car stereo amps and they sound better and are just much better in every way. check them out, they go from 200 watts to 600 watts here's the 600 watt model and I would recomend it highly, I own 4 of them in my home theater now. :
http://www.samash.com/catalog/showitem.asp?itemid=46971&sourcetype=singleitemsea
you could still run your cd player off a power supply and probably even the 2.7 amp one you have there, since no speakers would be connected to it. the samson has rca inputs just like your car stereo amp has so just hook'm up!
Let me know what you do.
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Ok, I'm a little confused as to how a power amplifier works. How does one work out how powerful it needs to be? The one you showed, does that plug into the mains and if amperage is all I need, would the charger in the link below work?
https://secure4.vivid-design.com.au/jaycar2005/productView.asp?ID=MP3099&CATID=&keywords=power+amplifier&SPECIAL=&form=KEYWORD&ProdCodeOnly=&Keyword1=&Keyword2=&pageNumber=&priceMin=&priceMax=&SUBCATID=
you said that the samson servo 600 plugs straight into the rca's. I'm confused, (sorry, first time working with P/A's) the rca's on my amp are for sound input and output, the power connectors are screw based.
The way I've interpretted it, the power source goes to the Power amplifier which in turn increases the power before feeding it into the audio amplifier so it has enough to get peak performance before throwing the sound into the reuired speakers. Is that right?
Also, when I have different speakers on the amp, 6 by 9, 5 way 500WPMPO / 80WRMS, is it going to change the power needed?
I've removed my amp for now.
I'm just trying to get a better understanding of what and how it all works. Thank you.
Answerok, well an amplifier's job is to take the weak, quiet signal coming from a source (cd player, reciever, tape deck, etc) and make it louder so that it can drive a set of speakers. anything that drives a speaker has some sort of amplifier in it. even a walkman to drive the small headphone speakers. they're about 1/4watt but that's all thats nessesary since it's right in your ear.
The samson servo amp is a home theater type amp. it has its power supply built in so all you have to do is plug it into regular wall outlet power. you woulnt be able to put it in your car since you dont have outlets in your car but its a great match for what you have there. when I said it plugs into the RCAs I mean the type of connection coming from your cd player is the same type of connection that the amp uses so it's perfect for your current application.
yes that power supply is rated for 30 amps but it's $220!just get the samson for $280 and there you go. if you sign up for the samash card at the site I sent the link of the amp on, you get intrest free for 15 months!
Behringer also makes incredible amplifiers. I have 3 of their EP2500 2500 watt amps runnign my subwoofers in my home theater. they make a studio amp very similar to the samson 600 at $100 less! behringer is HUGE bang for the buck stuff. so $180 gets you a 500 watt amp check it here:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Behringer-A500-500W-ReferenceClass-Studio
as for matching the amp to the speakers I would ignore the peak power ratings. most good manufacturer's dont even give this since it's been so distored in the industry. go by the RMS ratings and attempt to match it as closely as possible. so if your speakers are rated for 80 watts RMS I would get an amp that's rated for 80 watts RMS. if the speaekrs are going to be pared with a subwoofer then the speakers wont have to put out bass but they will have to compete with the power of the sub so you can usually exceed the rating in this case. a speaekr rated for 80W RMS should be able to take 120 or even $150 if only fed music from 90-20,000 hz instead of the whole spectrum. I believe the samson amp is 600 peak so its really 150 RMS per channel.
hope that helps. please feel free to ask more.
