Stato308

hey, can anyone help with my question? in case you cant tell i know absolutley shit all about stereos. and i mean shit all!!!! i have a sony head unit in my car which is 4 x 52 watts. I wanna replace my crappy original front speakers in my car with some sony ones that are on special which are rated at 170 watts. it also says they are 3 way. i have absolutley no idea what the hell this means so if anyone can tell me if they would work fine with my head unit or whether i should get lower or higher wattage speakers.

:wtf im gay when it comes to speakers and shit"limp

mark

170 watts is the amount of power "wattage" that your speakers will output..
RMS watt's are what the speaker could run on all day every day..
MAX watts is what it'll peak up every now and then... make sure you check the RMS value (should be on the side of the box)

3 way, means theres 3 different speakers inside the 1 speaker
if they're 6" it'll be mids, and 2 tweeters.. or if its a 6x9 it'll be one low, one mid, one tweet.

the higher the wattage, the more powerfull.. but 170watt peak will only be around 85watt RMS... the really good brands will show their RMS ratting on the front, the crappier brands and the low end pioneer, sony stuff will just have the peak watt's to try sucker people in!

hope this helps... does i just make sense?

TVS

Put it this way, the head unit isn't going to overpower the speakers. And 95% of the time speakers die from not getting enough power and clipping. Too much power rarely kills speakers. I've run 150wrms through 50wrms rated speakers millions of times for years and never had a problem, but now we are getting off topic.
I'd be looking for a nice set of splits and if you can afford it a good amp to power them.

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Stato308

ok thanks for ya help guys

evil_ss

sorry just to add, THD (total harmonic distortion) is a killer for speakers

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Stato308

ok how do i avoid getting THD and what is it in fact

TVS

Tune your stereo so that it doesn't distort or don't turn it up so it distorts. The best way to tune a stereo with amps attatched is to turn the HU's (Head Unit's) equalizer's all to flat and turn LOUD off. Then turn the HU to 3/4 volume and increase the gain on the amp till you hear distortion and then just turn it a touch back. Then you can play with your HU's settings and it will be sweet. If you don't ahve amps just turn the bass down a bit or don't turn it up as loud. What sort of HU is it anyhow?

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Stato308

its a Sony Xplod 52w x4. I dunno what it means or anythin, its just a cheapy cos i got sick of havin to use a tape deck. the back speakers in my car dont even work and the front ones are ok, but could be better. i only wanna replace the front ones at the moment then later on ill get a set for the back.

this is the box if it helps

TVS

Well basically just don't turn the HU up till it distorts. Keep it so it sounds clean and the speakers will be fine.

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Don't brag till you've done it.

Stato308

no worries, thanks mate

evil_ss

THD is the distortion % of sounds being reproduced from an amp or speaker.Eg 100w rms x 2 @ 0.25%THD.Your instruction manual should have it.It is a massive factor when buying speakers amps etc.I used to sell hifi an a company that dealt with 5 figure stereo systems so i can help you out a little but im mainly home theatre.

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