quote:

Originally posted by Project T basically i would like to know what exactly a watt means and what really does effect the loudness and clarity of the music that is coming out. physics got too hard to me in year 10, just a nice explanation please

its basically how much power it uses in all cones. for example a 40 watt bulb wud be brighter than a 20 watt bulb. thus if u use up mroe power in the sound it maybe louder but say if i had 30 watts rms with treble and bass cones, compared to a treble bass and mid with the same wattage the first oen woudl be louder. at least thats what im guessing without actually knowing anything o nthe subject

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ok watts are the amount of power gooing to the speakers... decibels which measure loudness is in a logarithmic scale. so it takes twice as much power to make a 2 decibel diffeence [about one incrment of loudness as can be detected by the human ear] and then it takes about 10 times the power to give a 10 db increas which sounds twice as loud.

its more important how sensitive speakers are. mine are 96db/watt/m means one watt input outputs 96 db measured one meter away. i have 10 watt tube amplifiers which means that i get 106db at full power... and so on you can do the math : )

most speakers are like...85[normal] to 90[pretty damn good] my sub gets 119db/watt/m it has a 2000watt internal amp but it takes alot more pressure for low notes since the human ear isnt really sensitive to bass. so there you go...i hopt that answers your question

Well, instead of explaining it myself, I'll direct you to this excellent website that will save me a lot of typing This will explain everything you ever wanted to know about speakers

http://www.howstuffworks.com/speaker1.htm

The section at the end where you can link to what a decible is, will probably help you understand more about what you want to know too. Also you can search for watt!

A Watt is one unit of power
Power = Voltage x Current

When it comes to the speakers sound quality

it depends on two things

I the speaker getting enough power (watts) but not too many Watts. should not exceed max RMS not just the max wattage the max RMS wattage stands for Real Music SOund. the power ur putting to ur speaker should be close but under this value in Watts

The second thing is the quality of the materials in the speaker

The Speaker should have a good poly cone or a aluminum/Titanium injected cone, some even have a full titanium cone, these are very expensive,

You should avoid foam reflex (Thats that stretchy part around the speaker that lets the cone travel baack and forth.

you want it made of rubber not foam.

Also the power (not necessarily the size) of the magnet is a factor.

Finally the metal which surrounds the speaker should be powder coated or made of a material which resonates less than just steel itself.

hope this kinda helps

quote:

Originally posted by SeventhSun the max RMS wattage stands for Real Music SOund

umm, RMS stands for Root Mean Square, not Real Music Sound

Yeah, there are two types of power ratings, RMS is the average power output, and max power, is just that! I would look for speakers with a strong RMS power output. If you are anywhere in your house, 100-200W will do you just fine!

quote:

Originally posted by DjJade so it takes twice as much power to make a 2 decibel diffeence [about one incrment of loudness as can be detected by the human ear] and then it takes about 10 times the power to give a 10 db increas which sounds twice as loud

i thought it was every 3db incriment it sounded twice as loud

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quote:

Originally posted by Kid Lax i thought it was every 3db incriment it sounded twice as loud

nope...3db increment is when you put two speakers together with the same volume. (like dj jade said, twice the power for 3dB increase) but contrary to popular belief, two speakers do NOT make the sound twice as loud...you'll need to really pump it to create sound that is twice as loud.

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quote:

Originally posted by Kid Lax i thought it was every 3db incriment it sounded twice as loud

no im pretty sure a 3 db incriment takes twice the power... but is not twice as loud. 8-10 db is twice as loud

quote:

Originally posted by Dj Flesch I would look for speakers with a strong RMS power output.

although that may be important, strong rms output means nothing for a crappy... insensitive speaker. you can have a spaeaker rated at 85db sensitivity with a 1000watt amp being as loud as a 95db speaker with a 100watt amp. plus, even though they are going at the same sound pressure level... the less sensitive speaker will not be as clear and accurate since its so hard to drive the speaker...especialy at small levels that define clarity

Last edited by DjJade on Nov-03-2002 at 18:09

Remember,

You don't need to know,

"How many watts will a speaker take before it melts?"

You need to know,

"How do I buy a speaker and an amplifier together to get the loudness I need for my applications?"

So you match your amplifier and your speakers together to suit your application. How many watts is only part of the equation... if you have some ultra-sensitive speaker that gets quite loud with 10 watts RMS/channel, than you only need 10 watts RMS/channel...