Question
When i looked at speakers for my 96 saturn it stated that i could only install 250 watt speakers. My question is i want a booming stero system installed so what speakers can i get and does the higher the wattage # is on the stere0 and speakers tell u what kind of system you will end up with? I am totally lost....everyone keeps telling me to forget the stero and buy a new car.....I hate when someone tells me i couldn't make my car boom. Any ideas....like what wattage.....what are good speakers....and do i need a subwoofer....if so what size? what wattage.....i guess i need the low down on all of it........the stereo i am having put in is a Kenwood.... Siruis Ready...MOSFET....50Wx4...KDC-2025 Cd/radio......front pops off....I hope u can help.
Thanks
AnswerSound quality is very subjective and everyone has a different idea of what they want or what they mean by some qualitative description. When you say you want a systems that will "boom" you probably mean you want a sound with loud sound pressure level and strong bass.
To get strong output or loudness you must have speakers that are very efficient and that can handle lots of power. Then you must have powerful amplifiers to power them.
To get strong bass (for the boom sound) you must have one or more subwoofers installed in the trunk of the car. They also must have powerful amplifiers in order to produce big bass sounds.
These kinds of installations are usually done by a specialty shop who has the knowledge and experience to gage what will be the best equipment for a given automibile. The cost goes up dramatically for higher performance systems.
You can do them yourself, of course, but you may or may not hit the mark for what you want it to sound like. So, I suggest you visit a few car install shops and talk with some of the sales people who know about high performance systems.
Technically, here is something for you to think about: Increasing the sound output or loudness just enough that you can perceive an increase require about a 2 to 3 db increase in level. But, 3db represents doubling the power. Increasing the sound output or loudness so that is seems twice the loudness requires about 9 db increase in level. But 10db is 10 times the power level. So, in order to get sound level to become double in loudness you must increase the amplifiers to 10 times greater than before. So, if you had 10 watt amplifiers you would need to go to 100 watts for double sound output.
Next, you must increase the low frequency reproduction range to get good bass or boom sound. Subwoofers are used for that and they take lots of power.
One way to increase output level of a given system is to choose speakers that have high efficiency or sensitivity ratings. If one speaker is 3db more sensitive than another it will take one half the power to give the same output, for exmaple. Typical car speakers are around 90db sensitivity. Some are lower, some are higher. If you had one that was 98 db it would be very strong in output.
Finally, your system using the Kenwood with 50 watts per channel is medium power and to get the big boom sound you are probably looking for you will need to add a subwoofer and maybe external amplifiers to power the door speakers.
On speakers pay no attention to their peak power ratings; look only for the continuous power ratings (sometimes erroneously called rms power) and sensitivity (which should be as high as you can get). Then you will approach the loud output you are looking for, perhaps.
Hope this helps guide you along the way.
Cleggsan
