Here’s my take on speakers. I pulled up these very different speakers at Crutchfield to illustrate.
You can see what I’m referring to in more detail here
http://cartech.about.com/od/Car-Audio/a/How-To-Select-The-Right-Car-Speakers.htm technical BS I hardly understand here
http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-efficiency.htmHaving made the error of jumping on cheap brandX speakers with HUGE magnets & insane power ratings I took the time to edjamacate myself a bit before my latest purchases.. Please set me straight if you see any error in my thinking, always looking to learn.
Efficiency is what I look for as I’m not one to invest in huge amplifiers, just as selecting compatible pieces to build a motor the components of a stereo need to be balanced to work their best together so depending on what your power output is & needs are as to where you can best spend your dollars. I think it’s true the better brands give you more potential performance but just throwing money at it won’t necessarily give you the best result.
4-specifications to look at when comparing
1. Sensitivity, all speakers rated at 1-watt. Bigger number is better, more important for low power systems such as OE radios which have I think 2.5-watt output. Generally I find the better speaker will have the higher rating.
Notice the cheapest Speaker-1 has the worst # and the most expensive Speaker-5 the best
2. Frequency Response. Small number on the left is low notes/bass. Lower the number the better if these are your biggest speakers. Not as important for smaller speakers like in the dash.... Large number on the right is how high a tone/treble they can create. That’s not so important in 6X9” but up front, in the dash or door you would want higher numbers.
Notice Speaker-2 while not expensive has the best low end response
3. RMS Power Range. I’m fuzzy on what the small number on the lert really represents, seems that most all have a 2 althought I notice Speaker 3 has a 5-rating. The large number on the right seems to be the where the rubber meets the road...How much continuous power the speaker is rated at.. Amplifiers have a similar rating therefore I’ve tried to find speakers with similar numbers to my amp. For example if my amp has 300-watt RMS/ 150-Watt per channel stereo, I would want speakers with close to 150-watt RMS, very much more and I figure I’m wasting money and very much less I risk over powering the speakers.
Notice you can about follow cost v RMS left to right, not an absolute but pretty consistent.
4. Peak Power. Not an important performance rating from what I understand but from what I can tell the quality goes up pretty much with this number. It’s how much power the speaker can handle for a moment without damage. This is something cheaper speakers will advertise but not tell you the RMS making you think their better than they are...
Interesting info I found about amps & why you want a speaker with a High Peak Power rating
Now let's consider the amplifier power rating. If you examine a specification sheet of an amplifier, you will see that they are usually rated in Average ("RMS") power for an UNDISTORTED output. This is like swinging your weighted string so it almost touches the ceiling and the floor. But keep in mind that you can overdrive the amplifier into clipping. When this happens the power amplifier can produce up to TWICE AS MUCH power to the speakers as it is rated for. (Long technical explanation required - take my word for it.) So an amplifier rated at 100 watts clean can actually put out as much as 200 watts when heavily overdriven into severe distortion.Speaker 1 I would not choose under any circumstance
Speaker 2 appears to be good all around, should work OK with an OE radio or any aftermarket radio up to 45-watt per channel
Speaker 3 has a very low Peak Power rating for the price so I’m not impressed
Speaker 4 may be the better choice if your running a sub woofer & a lot of power, it doesn’t have good low end #s but can handle considerable power.
Speaker 5 is obviously superior in most every category as well as the most expensive. If your not running a sub but do have plenty of power I’m sure you would get the best overall sound from it.
