watts

[Culprit]

with speakers and stereos whats the importance of "watts"....and what happens if your speaker has more watts than the stereo?
thx

[polarbear]

watts is a measure of power.

P=VA

eg 2400 watts is 10 amps at 240 volts.

speakers don't have watts. they can handle watts.

amplifiers have watts - it's the maximum output that they can drive into a certain impedance (load). It's related to the style and size of power supply.

it's always good to have a bigger amp than you need - because the 'transfer curve' (dynamic response) is not linear across all of an amplifiers power spectrum.

If you want to drive a 10 watt driver, maybe have a 15 or 18 watt amplifier, so that you have sufficient headroom - the driver is therefore in 70% or so of the amplifiers ideal load. The problem is you might drive your speaker to loud and blow it up.

If your amp is too small, then it might have problems driving the load - and it will then start to distort.

b.

[phunkdust]

pb knocked that on the head... :P

note that power isnt always measured in the same amount... with pro gear and PA setups, most of the time you get an RMS value... This is a "true" rating of power. Other times you'll get a PMPO, Peak, or Music Power figure, which can be as much as 10 times more than the RMS figure...

Yeah, just to echo what pb said, run bigger amps than speakers. Just keep an eye out for overloading. Although most speakers (especially PA) will handle overloading for short periods of time, it does cause them to heat up and eventually blow.

Clipping (the result of using high power speakers with small amps turned up loud) will kill your speakers very quickly. I've seen many drivers worth several hundred dollars each destroyed by low-power amps.

I wont explain clipping now, but if you notice very harsh distortion from your speakers, turn the amp down. Perhaps even switch the system off for a few minutes to let the drivers cool down. It's better to have a quieter sound than no sound at all (which is what eventually happens)

[Culprit]

thanx for clearin that up.....
so if i have a shitty amp and kick ass speakers i can blow them up if i have em loud?
but its alright to have a good amp with pretty good speakers (or even shitty speakers)?

[phunkdust]

correct on both points...

its like a car - the speed limit is 100kph but you still want an engine that is capable of going faster...