RyanICS

In a component set rated at 60RMS you hook up 60 RMS to all four speakers right?
and in a Coaxle set (60RMS) you only install 60RMS to the two mids.
So does that make a coaxle set half as loud? or should you put extra RMS into the coaxle?

John__Taylor

iTrader: (3)

if you purchase a component set (lets say 2 mids & 2 tweets) it will normally come with a crossover for each mid/tweet pair. That crossover will have a connection for your speaker wire from the amp.

So, lets say the set is rated for 60 wrms and your amp is maybe 70 wrms per channel. You hook up the front left channel to the drivers side crossover (giving it 70 wrms) and the same for the right passenger side.

If you had a single speaker (6"x8" coax lets say) rated for the same 60 wrms, then you would hook it up exactly the same. Front left amp channel to the front drivers door side, etc. you would then be powering it with 70 wrms. It would be only one connection per side either way.

Now when you hear people say they have an ACTIVE set up, then imagine those components WITHOUT the crossover this time. You need to hook up one channel per driver (speaker). So an active setup with 4 components (2 mid & 2 tweets) would need FOUR connections from the amplifier, I.E. you would need a 4 channel amp.

RyanICS

Ok, so the crossovers I have for my Alpine Spx-17REF 6 1/2" Component set has four inputs on each crossover.. one for the Tweet and one for the mid. In that case do I hook up four wires?

Sikk Nation

iTrader: (1)

that's for bi-amping. you can hook up each set of inputs to power the woofer and tweeter seperately. There's also a jumper to just use the woofer input and you can use a single channel to power the set (reccomended by me) It'll make your life phnominally easier for setting the gains and such. The advantage of bi-amping is extremely mininal in your instanse.

RyanICS

Thanks for the quick reply, One last question then:
If I only hook up the woofer which I'm fine with..
Should I add extra RMS?
and does the Tweeter outs on the woofer block the lower frequencies?

Eli47

Let me see if I can clarify this, I think the question is somewhat lost in translation, and the answer given may not have been understood.
A speaker that is rated at 60wrms (Ryan, u need to understand this term{R.M.S of peak power} better to understand the answers) will be able to handle much more dynamic power for a short period of time. keeping in mind that as we play music, power level fluctuate in accordance to musical levels and frequency.
Now Start with frequency(tone), the lower the note played(bass), the more power it will need to be reproduced, and the larger the surface needed to produce it. The higher the note(treble) the less power it needs to be reproduced.
An amplifier that is "rated" at 70 watts RMS, is guaranteed to provide no less than 70 Watts of power, with a dynamic capability of 100 watts PEAK. That's within the distortion figures provided by the manufacturer, if the amplifier is overdriven beyond that point, it will distort, and that will cause the speaker's voice coil to overheat and burn, regardless of how much power the speaker can handle. (yes, I can blow a 100 watt speaker with 1 watt of distorted power, yet I can play a 1 watt speaker with a 10 watt amplifier with no ill effects)
Now we come to the crossover, which devides the frequencies played to each part of the speaker, treble to the tweeter and bass to the woofer. on a Co-Axial speaker you may note a small capacitor glued to the tweeter, effectively filtering bass frequencies , that are below the tweeter's operating range from entering the tweeter, while the bass driver is mostly unfiltered.
On a set of components, a more elaborate crossover network can be used, where Capacitors filter bass, and coils choke treble, thus a proper crossover will try to make the output of each driver linear(flatter).
When dealing with some component speakers that can be bi-amplified (where you connect 1 amplifier to the woofers, and another amplifier(same brand) to the tweeters), using the above information, apply the most power you can to the woofer, and keep in mind that a tweeter will usually not need more than a scant 3-5 watts to become ear piercingly loud.
I have often found that it's easier to blow a speaker with less power, than it is with more power than the speaker can handle, so get as much power as you can afford.

To answer your last question the output connections on your co-axial's woofer are "full -range" and are only filtered by the capacitor, which drops the bass levels to the tweeter. ( yes all the frequencies are still there, just low enough not to be heard from tweeter after they go through the capacitor)
I hope this helps