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speaker output - RMS and Peak

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Old 03-27-2003, 12:27 AM
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Default speaker output - RMS and Peak

I'm looking at two speaker options for my rear speakers from lucid, they are rated as follows.

2 - 28 RMS / 110 W Peak
3 - 35 RMS / 120 W Peak

I will eventually be putting in an Alpine headunit that is rated at 60W.

What are the differences between the two setups above and what would be the noticeable listening differences?

The
Old 03-27-2003, 12:45 AM
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I am no expert on these matters but going on what i have there should not be any problem if running of the head unit.

I will be upgrading the head unit in the near future to a 60w one but at the moment i am running an old 45w alpine and the volume needs only go up to 23 and thats plenty loud enough.
The rears i have are 50w rms 100w peak.
Heres the link to the site:
http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/speakers/

Hope this helps.
Old 03-27-2003, 02:02 AM
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franky - you should really try and match on RMS (root mean squared) figures between the source of output and the speakers, both in terms of sound quality and equipment life / performance.

Peak and PMPO figures are published for the max power types I believe, they related to things like the amount of power a speaker can handle for a half second burst, they are not sustainable figures - putting 100W RMS into a 100W Peak speaker would mostly likely fry it.

You want to achieve a situation where the speaker is receiving both enough power to throw the cone out, and pull it back in under control. One reason for distortion at higher volumes is not having enough power to pull a cone back in at the end of its travel - hence it flaps around making the distinctive farting noise normally heard from Escort RS turbos with outlandish body kits.

Basically if you supply speakers from a source rated at 50 - 75% of their RMS rating you should get pretty good sound. Less power will mean distortion at higher volumes, and too much power will result in 'clipping' or the speakers being fried. I would find out the RMS output of your alpine head unit and match on that. IMHO if the power outputs are better matched on the lower rated speakers, you would probably get a better sound from these than if you tried to run bigger more power hungry speakers off the same output.

R.

ps - and yes I have a very shameful history involving a badly modified cavalier, a boot almost entirely filled with a ported and tuned sub enclosure, and a reputation for setting off car alarms as I drove by. Dont ask I am still in therapy to forget.
Old 03-27-2003, 08:51 AM
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I'm no expert but you should always buy anything electrical with the BIGGEST NUMBER, apart from price obviously...

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