Re: Why do I keep wrecking speakers?

[Mark Mages <wasserbox@yahoo.com>]

> > 
> > OK, I says, I'll order some better ones.  I find
> some Blaupunkt speakers that are ratted for 80
> watts.  Since my receiver is ratted at 35 per
> channel, I figured I'll have a decent cushion of
> power capacity.  Guess I was wrong.
> 
> It's not all about power. There is overall wattage
> and there is cleanly
> driven drivers from a source with with low
> distortion. I believe you are
> driving the speakers to death by distortion. 

Exactly.  It is actually better to overpower speakers
than to underpower them. The distortion at the 'peak'
(your radio probably realistically puts out 10-12w/ch)
power from your radio will fry your speakers if you
are trying to get them to create freq's that they were
not designed for (almost all of the beastie boys
albums ;) You'd be better off with an amp.... or
turning down your radio... remember - 6X9's are not
subwoofers...

What you have to think, is why does a 35wX4ch GOOD amp
cost $300 and take up 1/2 your trunk when your head
unit can push 35W?  Answer - your head unit doesn't. 
Car audio companies lie.  A lot.

> > I suspect that the oval shape is not as rugged as
> a conventional round speaker.

Kinda true, but in real world applications it doesn't
matter. If you have your system pushing the correct
amounts of power and right freq's to the right places
they will perform exactly like they were designed to. 
Just because they aren't round doesn't mean they are
bad design.  The Blau 4x6's in the rear of my car rock
for only being 4x6 pushed by the deck.  Of course I
have bass-blocking capacitors (cheap crossover) hooked
up to keep them from trying to push out sub 100hz
freq's.

> > 
> > Questions:
> > 
> > What should I look for to get the same sound range
> as the 3-way's but have some durability?
> > Do I need a few different speakers to do this?
> (separate small, medium, and large sizes?)
> 

Don't even worry about the rear speakers.  They are
just there for fill.  Just keep the 4X6's in the
sides, and try and find a replacement rear deck.  You
want to worry about the speakers up front.  If you
don't want to do a whole lot of custom installation
work, buy some 4" component speakers.  5.25 are
better, but they are kind of a bugger to install. 
Doable, but not a laugh riot.

> Better in terms of separation of duty, (separates).

<<snip some very good advice>> 

> Uh, I could prattle on in my rambling fashion but
> you might email me
> directly if you want more details.
> 
> TBerk
> 
All of his advice is good.  Another common
misconception is that name brand = good quality.  Not
always true.  I picked up some 6.5" no-names that blow
the hell out of the infinities & kenwoods I've test
driven.  The only name brands that are really really
good are polk, JL Audio and a few other high end sets.
 They are way out of your 200$ price range tho.  Go on
Ebay and get some speakers by either PYLE or BOSS
Audio.  They are excellent quality for the $$$.  You
can usually get a set of them for 20-30$  Boss amps
are also excellent for the price.  I paid $75 for 800w
4ch.
Look for an amp with crossovers built in and save your
self some headache.

Oh - and wal-mart sucks.  Period.  The only thing I've
bought there were some RCA cables for my amp.  My
little bro bought a head unit there against my advice
and I had to put sheet metal screws in the plug to
keep it from shorting out after 6 mo's.  Their
speakers tend to fall apart too.

After you go through all this, you need a sub.  Look
for an 8" - 10" tube if you want to go the easy route.
 I see them routinely for ~$30 on ubid.com .

If you really want to start to get tricky you can look
into bass blockers.  You can get the caps at Radio
Shack and splice them into the power wire.  Those will
save you some speakers.

Any more q's feel free to mail me.

heheh - all this advice from a guy who only has the
4x6's in the rear deck currently hooked up. :)

=====
Mark
Just because you have an opinion, doesn't mean that anyone wants to hear it

87 Westfalia Gl
84 Scirocco 8v
http://student.fortlewis.edu/~mwmages/

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