by GlassWolf » Sat May 27, 2006 1:10 pm
Rivers wrote:Couple of questions folks:
1. For 8 ohm speakers that are going to be drawing power from a 4 ohm amplifier, does it need to be wired differently?
If you have two 8 ohm speakers and they're full range, you'll get half of the 4 ohm rated power of the amp to each speaker. amplifiers have minimum ohm ratings, but they generally run from the minimum up to 16 ohms without a problem, and each time the ohm load is doubled, the power is halved. (approximately)
2. I see a couple of posts about giving extra wattage to speakers which results in a increase in db levels. On the flip side, if I am not after SPL, is there is a minimum amount of power that is required for the speakers to sound optimal?
Well, yes. you need enough power to move the speaker cones enough to produce the volumes you desire. The amount of power you really need depends on a lot of things. the speakers, the enclosure if they'r esubs, the type of car (cabin air volume and signal path lengths) etc
I read somewhere else that tweeters at 15 watts can generate quite a load db-wise. Having extra headroom is always a good thing I suppose, but what would be a rough minimal gauge for it to sound optimal?
same answer. depends entirely on a lot of factors. remember you're talking about the reflectiveness of the car interior, the signal path length, the efficiency of the speaker (varies widely with tweeters more than anything else), the amount of power used, the rest of the system balancing out the tweeters, and so forth.
[quote="Rivers"]Couple of questions folks:
1. For 8 ohm speakers that are going to be drawing power from a 4 ohm amplifier, does it need to be wired differently?[/quote]
If you have two 8 ohm speakers and they're full range, you'll get half of the 4 ohm rated power of the amp to each speaker. amplifiers have minimum ohm ratings, but they generally run from the minimum up to 16 ohms without a problem, and each time the ohm load is doubled, the power is halved. (approximately)
[quote]2. I see a couple of posts about giving extra wattage to speakers which results in a increase in db levels. On the flip side, if I am not after SPL, is there is a minimum amount of power that is required for the speakers to sound optimal?[/quote]
Well, yes. you need enough power to move the speaker cones enough to produce the volumes you desire. The amount of power you really need depends on a lot of things. the speakers, the enclosure if they'r esubs, the type of car (cabin air volume and signal path lengths) etc
[quote]I read somewhere else that tweeters at 15 watts can generate quite a load db-wise. Having extra headroom is always a good thing I suppose, but what would be a rough minimal gauge for it to sound optimal?[/quote]
same answer. depends entirely on a lot of factors. remember you're talking about the reflectiveness of the car interior, the signal path length, the efficiency of the speaker (varies widely with tweeters more than anything else), the amount of power used, the rest of the system balancing out the tweeters, and so forth.