Wattage rating

[DarkMastyr]

Ok so after doing some searching I figured out that

1. Only RMS wattage ratings mean anything when it comes to speakers.
2. The higher the wattage rating, the more power the speakers can handle.

Here's my question. If I plan to just play my speakers at a reasonable level where I can still talk with other people in my car, do I really need speakers with high wattage ratings? So say one speaker is rated at 300watts rms whereas another is rated at maybe 100watts rms. Am I going to notice a difference (not considering the quality of each brand etc) between the two speakers if I don't jack the volume up? In other words, does the ability of the speaker to handle larger amounts of power affect the quality of the sound at all?

[Stealth]

100 watts RMS is much more than enough. Most people say you only need to give your speakers 50 watts RMS tops. I just got a 4 ch amp rated at 75w RMS x 4 channels just in case, cause I'm very picky about things. I'd make sure to get speakers that handle a bit more than 50w RMS just to make sure of things, however.

[DarkMastyr]

OK so say I change my hypothetical wattage values from 300 vs 100 to say... 70 vs 40. My question is whether higher wattage = better quality.

[Stealth]

In that case I'd go with the 70 watts just because I like to be on the safe side of things when turning the volume up. I always say do things right the first time. Wouldn't wanna blow the 40 watt speakers and then go buy the 70s because you realized 40 isn't enough.

[prophesized]

power does not equal sound quality

most sq subs have modest ratings with the exceptions of a few supersubs that can handle alot of power and sound good amazing. also keep in mind that just because a sub can handle 2 kilowats doesnt mean it wont sound good while doing it.

[Stealth]

yeah but for speakers even 70 watts is pretty modest... I mean I got some Infinity Perfect 6.5 components... they handle 100w RMS and those are certainly SQ speakers, but then again their components too. But I've seen quite a few coaxial speaks that handle 100 or more RMS. And in the example above I'd choose the 70w speakers cause I doubt the 40 watt ones would get loud enough for me :P

[Luc]

Originally posted by DarkMastyr
OK so say I change my hypothetical wattage values from 300 vs 100 to say... 70 vs 40. My question is whether higher wattage = better quality.

No. Your reasoning is VERY flawed. There are other characteristics that affect the music reproduction: sensitivity, frequency response, material construction, etc.

[Eye8Pussies]

for quality....brand may actually be one of the most important things....

like.....get.....mac, or boston acoustic over pioneer or sony.....

[mauibuilt59]

Wattage rating on speakers has little bearing on the sound quality. Some of the best component speakers cannot handle the 100+ rms watts that the cheaper pioneer/sony speakers claim. I'm running 50 watts rms to my mb quarts that can handle about 60 watts rms and I cannot hear anything but music (even when people are shouting). 50 watts rms is way too loud for just causual cruzing music. But then again, i know you'll probably want to slam the shit out of it when nobody is around =)

[itsmycookie]

maui had got a point
ratings on car audio are shit, companies just slap 800watts on the side of amps that put out 650. they don't just round up, they add on. none of the units out there are making what they say. some companies are even underated. car audio is a messed up thing. even if companies tested to see how much their products were putting out, each company would do their tests a different way or a different scale.

[Stealth]

no thats just the peak power rating which is easily made up. Most quality parts are under rated, that way if you give em too much power the company won't be responsible for it breaking (if its more than the rated power).

[Erbe]

people will tell u to get 100w....are u gonna talk to ur friends in the car ALL THE TIME.....or just on occasion....i have 350w rear pioneers and i just turn down the music when its time to talk....it really depends on how important ur car talk is.....my friends....we usually dont talk that much in the car....just pump and look good

[SolaraTRD]

I think the stock JBL's i got with my SOlara, they are what 300 peak and maybe 1xx some thing RMS. And they knock decent when bass and volume is kinda up, but other than that, it's clear and nice sounding and in an enviroment where people can still chat about there nasty and sick lives.

I dunno...

[Axl Rose]

all car audio equipment is shit, especially all the different wattages (RMS, PEAK). Anything over 50W RMS (not including subs) is quite loud. The thing tho, is the THD, total harmonic distortion.

This is amount of distortion that the speakers are rated at, as in;
When given xxx watts they have yyy% THD

Anything over .1% THD is shit, some cheap brands rate gear at 400W at 5% THD which is past bearable, not from a purists view, but from anyone who is not deaf.

So look for THD, coz XXX watts aint that good if its distorted

[MenaceSQL]

THD?

<0.009 for my US Amps VLX-400 and <0.006 for my US Amps 50HC's. Yep.