What does wattage mean when talking about car speakers.?

Question

Also what type of amplifier would you need for them?

Answer 1

wattage = power or push

Think of a garden hose, the amount of water coming out is voltage, the pressure behind it is power. There are a lot of flaws with this analogy, however it's close enough to be explained this way.

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Your system won't mean squat without a well designed box to put your subs in. Some manufacturers have recommendations as to dimensions of various types of boxes. It is best to find someone who builds boxes if you go with something other than a sealed box.

You should always match up RMS (Root Mean Square) watts of Subs and amp per channel as well as impedance's(resistances). When a sub has rating of 600 Watts MAX it really has an RMS rating of about 200 Watts RMS. RMS is the nominal wattage your most likely going to get out of it. Remember, a 200 Watts RMS amplifier has more power output than a 200 Watt MAX.


If your amp is rated at 4Ω don't subject it to 2Ω, it will fry.

Here is the formula for subs in parallel:

Z = 1 / (1/sub1 + 1/sub2 + 1/sub3 + ....)

For series, just add them up (sub1 + sub2 + ...).

You can mix and match these equations to get the right impedance required by your amp.

Example 1: Amp is 2 channel and rated at 4Ω, 4 subs @ 4Ω each. If I connect two in parallel and the other two in parallel and connect the two pairs in series, I would have a total impedance(resistance) of 4Ω. So to the amp, it's just one sub.

Example 2: Amp is rated at 1Ω mono, 2 subs @ 4Ω each dual voice coil. If I connect two voice coils in parallel and the other two voice coils in series and connect the two subs in parallel, I would have a total impedance of 1.6Ω. Which would be perfect for a 1Ω stable mono amp.

You should use a capacitor as well.

Recommend for every 500 watts MAX you use a .5 Farad cap
Example: 1000 watts MAX - 1 Farad cap

You will also need what's called a "line level converter" if your stock head unit doesn't have RCA outputs or your amp doesn't have high-level inputs.

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If you like I can send you some plans for reference. My plans are for a 4-th order band-pass bass box (A.K.A. bass-reflex) that holds two 12's.

Also included are java calculators you can use to figure parallel and series values given Ω values, tips on box building and types, calculating port diameter and length(if used), calculating box dimensions for types of boxes (sealed, wedge, cylindrical, etc.), materials needed and even how to make a jig for cutting perfect holes for your subs.

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My system

Blaupunkt TSw1200 subs with a Sony Xplōd XM2200GTX.
My amp is 1200 watts (200 Watts RMS X 2), subs are 600 watts (200 Watts RMS) each, cap is 1.5 Farad

SPL is about 112 db each sub

Total cost(so far) = $410

Answer 2

If they are after market speakers basically NOTHING...
The way to tell how much wattage a speaker can handle is look at the MK (plate b, magnet, plate A) and the voice coil diameter.
The larger the diameter of the voice coil the more power it can handle. There are other factors including mass but you should look at the speaker and ask yourself does that look like a speaker that is well built. Most of the crap out there with a 300W rms rating would not last one day at full power on a true signal.

Wattage is how much power ie Voltage * Current.

Which amplifier depends on the Impedance of the speaker load it will see. If you buy 4 ohm speakers you need to buy amp that is four ohm stable. (most are).

You usually get what you pay for but dont buy the cheapest and I dont really feel you need the best either.

Answer 3

Wattage is the amount of applied power to drive the mangnet motor and issue sounds depending on the frequency passed through it. You need a power amplifier, which amplifies the input voltage. As far as a CD, it is all digital, which means it uses binary numbers, I.E. ones and zero's, which are related to voltage. I don't know the exact numbers, but lets assume that your CD player is putting out the following voltages and corresponing frequencies. .01 volt would be a very high frequency, .05 would be a mid level frequency, and 1 volt would be a very low frequency, and .01 volts would amount to 1 watt, .05 would be 1.5 watts, 1 volt would be 5 watts. these signals travel through the RCA cable in a time divison multiplexed signal to the amp, say your amp is only amplifying signals above 1 volt, anything less then 1 volt is sent to ground, as the signal goes through the amp is it amplified, so that 1 volt @ 5 watt signal is multiplied to 12 volts and 60 watts, and sent to the speaker, which transfers this to a frequency, or some thign like that...

Answer 4

How much electrical power the speakers can transform into acoustic power, without overloading/damaging the speakers, and distorting the sound.

There are very many amplifiers on the market for car speakers. As long as they are impedance-matched to the speakers, i.e., the impedance, measured in ohms, that the amp outputs matches the impedance of the speakers (usually 8 ohms); and the right voltage to match the car's power supply (usually 12 volts with negative ground); you can choose from thousands of amplifiers.

Answer 5

KISS. keep it simple stupid (not you) All wattage means is how much energy a speaker can DISSAPATE in terms of heat. more wattage DOES NOT mean louder. SPL is sound pressure and is directly related to how fast and how far the speaker moves. A higher sensitivity rateing on a sub compared to another with a lower rateing at the same imput watts will be louder. a difference of 3dB is equivilant to "hearing" a double in loudness.

Answer 6

To get an amp that actually pushes the RMS it states, be sure the amp you buy is CEA-2006 compliant. What CEA-2006 does is give the consumer a level playing field for comparing products so that a 20W amplifier from Pioneer for example should drive a 4 Ohm speaker with similar power transfer characteristics to a 20W power amp from Apline. Every manufacturer that displays the CEA-2006 logo must test their products to the same standards, using the same test equipment, with a maximum amount of distortion allowed (<1%THD) and must quote their average power rating in Watts RMS.

Answer 7

The amount of electrical power required by the speaker to produce quality sound. it is expessed as watts. under powered will produce poor quality sound and over powered will damage the speaker. try an amplifier that produces the same or slightly less watts than your speakers.

Answer 8

that is a subjective term.
Wattage is relative to resistance(ohms)
Many manufacterers trick customers saying , say, 300watts.@2ohms.
Unfortunately a 2ohm load usually destroys cheap amplifiers and even decent ones.
Also they use "300 peak watts", which decoded means 50watts average program.
Basically, a reputable speaker company will sell speakers with a program(average watt) handling capacity, relative to the normal car stereo resistance(4Ohms).
What you want is to match your amplifier output:watts/ohms,
with your speakers : average program watts/ohms.
And remember this you get what you pay for.

Answer 9

the higher the wattage the louder the music