power ratings for components
Just curious as to why a tweeter set can be rated at 50 watts rms and a midrange woofer can be rated at 50 watts rms but when the two are packaged as a component set with a passive x-over no less, they are only rated at 60-70 watts rms. Why can they not handle as much power as a set as compared to individually. Anyone know?
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First - if each driver handles 50rms then the pair would still handle.........50rms. [img]graemlins/thumb.gif[/img]
If you have 50watts and run it through a passive crossover you get 50 watts to each driver (yeah less some minor bit due to resistance [img]graemlins/blah.gif[/img] ) not half of that or some other figure.
Second - sometimes the power rating of a component set is determined by how much power the passive crossover can take. This is especially true in less expensive comp sets.
If you have 50watts and run it through a passive crossover you get 50 watts to each driver (yeah less some minor bit due to resistance [img]graemlins/blah.gif[/img] ) not half of that or some other figure.
Second - sometimes the power rating of a component set is determined by how much power the passive crossover can take. This is especially true in less expensive comp sets.
If i have a 100 watt amp running 2 50 watt speakers doesn't each speaker get 50 watts? My question is; if i have two 50 watt speakers, should I not be able to power the two together with a 100 watt amp? They should be able to handle it strictly from a specification point of view. The components share the power evenly based on resistance. I agree with the x-over part, but I have seen many brands rate their tweeter component at 50-70 watts rms and then say that their component set which includes the same tweeters can only handle 50 watts rms. Shouldn't the total power be the cumulative power of each component.
500 Watt CAFz'r
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 952
Originally posted by veeman:
If i have a 100 watt amp running 2 50 watt speakers doesn't each speaker get 50 watts? My question is; if i have two 50 watt speakers, should I not be able to power the two together with a 100 watt amp? They should be able to handle it strictly from a specification point of view. The components share the power evenly based on resistance. I agree with the x-over part, but I have seen many brands rate their tweeter component at 50-70 watts rms and then say that their component set which includes the same tweeters can only handle 50 watts rms. Shouldn't the total power be the cumulative power of each component.
If i have a 100 watt amp running 2 50 watt speakers doesn't each speaker get 50 watts? My question is; if i have two 50 watt speakers, should I not be able to power the two together with a 100 watt amp? They should be able to handle it strictly from a specification point of view. The components share the power evenly based on resistance. I agree with the x-over part, but I have seen many brands rate their tweeter component at 50-70 watts rms and then say that their component set which includes the same tweeters can only handle 50 watts rms. Shouldn't the total power be the cumulative power of each component.
If you have a 100 wattx2 amplifier each speaker has the POTENTIAL of getting 100 watts.
HOWEVER,..since each driver has a dedicated set of frequencies it can reproduce, and since each note(frequency) is recorded at different levels, and since the higher the frequency, the less power we need to hear it. THEREFORE one can presume that at the 100w mark, the tweeter may get a couple of watts (MAX 5-watts past that and I'd bet your ears will bleed) I'd say, the midrange may take 20 watts, and the bass,..well more power to you dude. (this is rough of course, you ladies&gentlemen are welcome to debate it)
Keep in mind the "from a specification point of view" the power rating is for EACH driver, and is NOT cumulative, but total.
Also note that as music is playing and the drivers are moving, the resistance changes accordingly.( past this and we get into red-shift) [img]graemlins/bump.gif[/img]
[ March 10, 2005, 10:23 PM: Message edited by: Eli47 ]
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If i have a 100 watt amp running 2 50 watt speakers doesn't each speaker get 50 watts? My question is; if i have two 50 watt speakers, should I not be able to power the two together with a 100 watt amp? They should be able to handle it strictly from a specification point of view.
The passive crossover though is like a traffic cop. At the crossover frequency (lets say 3000hz for a 2way comp set) it allows frequencies ABOVE that point to one driver and frequencies BELOW that point to the other driver. Thus the mid gets all the information below 3000hz and the tweeter all the information above 3000hz. So if you play a 500hz tone at full tilt you will get your full power from the amp at 500hz to the mid. Play a 5000hz tone and you get full power at 5000hz to the tweeter.
Now play both tones at the same time and you get... the full power of the amp, at both tones.
Now, as Eliot mentioned above, real music generally would not containt the information to drive that tweeter to full power but that's another topic.
Your question is very timely - I was just helping another member with this same concept. [img]graemlins/thumb.gif[/img]
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