Hey Phreak..

[smutt butt]

I bought some 500 watt speakers for my computer and they are loud but not loud enough. Is there any way to boost the power going to them? They are perfectly clear wide open now but i want them louder.

[phreakwars]

Hmm...

 

What brand and model, usually when you see something that brags about "WATTS" and throws a high number your way, it's just marketing hype.

 

I have seen 20 watt speakers that can blow away 200 watt speakers.

 

Watts, in terms of speakers, is a measurement of heat displacement (energy), and has no REAL barring on how much sound, or decibels that a speaker produces.

 

 

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[Lethalfind]

I got some nice Bose speakers for Christmas for my computer...they are great fun. The subwoofer is enormous...The cats hate it when I play them, they hate all the base.

[smutt butt]

They are logitech but wide open they are very loud and no distortion at all. I know what you are saying from the 20+ car stereos i have had. Go to a tool sale and buy 800 watt speakers that can't handle a k-mart stereo.

 

I'd like to have some bose but too much for me.

[phreakwars]

1 CLEAN watt is all that is really needed to drive a speaker hard. It depends on how the speaker is rated at 1 watt as to what kind of sound you will hear.

 

The BOSE system is a good example of CLEAN WATT. It achieves a very loud sound because the speaker design is made to be VERY VERY efficient with the WATTS that are carried through it.

 

A TYPICAL market Wal-Mart speaker will carry a rating of say 100 watts.

 

For reference, we can use the INFINITY REFERENCE series speakers.

 

These speakers are rated

 

power range: 2-100 watts RMS (300 watts peak power)

 

300 is the peak heat displacement (energy) that the speaker can tolerate before burning out.

2-100 watts RMS is Root Mean Squared

 

The 300 is split between the 2 speakers to 175 PEAK each speaker.

 

By going with just PEAK, the speakers can only handle actually 1/2 that peak continuously, if you drive a speaker at PEAK or... exactly 175 watts it WILL blow. If you drive it at 1/2 peak continuous, in this case... 87.5 watts, you have reached maximum efficiency. Any more stresses the speaker.

 

Now, as I mentioned before, 1 CLEAN watt is all that is really needed to drive a speaker. The reference speaker has a VERY important OTHER statistic that affects what you are hearing and how loud it is...

 

A sensitivity rating... which happens to be.

 

sensitivity: 92 dB

 

What this means, is how many decibels the speaker will produce when analyzed at 1 watt 1 meter away.

 

In order to go to 1 higher decibel, the speaker needs 10x more power, or 10 watts. Which brings you to 93. 1 decibel higher then that, is 100 watts.

 

Since we know the speaker reaches it's efficiency at 87 watts, the speaker can not be given 100 watts of juice without dieing out... but... it CAN handle that extra juice provided the current coming to the speaker does not have distortion in it.

 

That is why external AMPS are so huge... they are made big with big parts to produce a cleaner current.

 

Lets say you have one of those old Kraco car amps that mount under the dash and whine when you start the car because of the alternator... And it's rated at 200 watts.

 

It MAY produce 200 watts of energy, but the 200 watts it is producing is VERY distorted, thus, you will blow your speakers if you try using the full 200 watts between 2 speakers with a peak rating of 300 watts.

 

Now a Rockford Fosgate 200 watt amp, on the other hand, has HUGE components on the inside that produce a better handling of 200 watts of energy, thus, can keep a speaker set rated at 300 watts peak from blowing when 100 watts is pumped into each speaker.

 

Hope that explains the dilemma with the Logitec Speakers.

 

PS, chances are, those logitechs are only rated at around 89 decibels, 500 watts split between 3 channels. I use Altec Lansings rated at 103 dB peak @ 1 watt, and a digital not an analog signal.

 

Fukkin' loud PC speakers !!

 

I think the most I have ever driven them is half power, which was too loud for me to tolerate.

 

I did have the Klipsch pro medias, but the Altec Lansings give a cleaner sound. At least they do to MY ears anyhow.

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[snafu]

I have some labtec's that I use at work. They flat kick ass! But they do tend to destort going over half volume and the volume on the cp all the way up. Which is loud enough. And it Depends on the bite rate of the songs. But you can hear them all over the building. I am well known for my cranked up music.

 

Now my Altec Lasings suck dick! I don't crank my music at home so I guess it dosn't matter but even in low volumes they suck...

[phreakwars]

That depends on the model of Altec Lansings you have. The name brand is not a factor, the overall speaker design and amp that backs it, is the deciding factor.

 

Mine won't distort if I have my PC sound up all the way, until I set the physical speakers themselves to about 8.5 (85%) on a scale of 10 in terms of volume. At 85% I am now listening to 105 decibels of sound peak. At eight hours of 90-dB, sound can cause damage to your ears, check out : http://www.sfu.ca/sonic-studio/handbook/Decibel.html

 

105 decibels into you ear is like a fricken power mower ( with no muffler) 3 feet from your ears.

 

The Klipsch pro medias that I used to have were rated at 106 db @ 1 watt 1 meter.. Why the fuck would anybody WANT to listen to that loud of music for any extended time ?

 

You would have to be half retarded.

 

103 decibels of CLEAN sound pounding out at me at 1 watt is more then loud enough for me to jam with.

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[builder]

I can fall asleep leaning against a Bose bass speaker that will lift your shirt with every beat.

 

I must be a horse, because I can sleep standing up.

[builder]

Fall asleep??? is that what we are calling it these days?

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Pass out, fall asleep, drop into a coma. Same shit, different day.

[Lethalfind]

I can fall asleep leaning against a Bose bass speaker that will lift your shirt with every beat.

 

I must be a horse, because I can sleep standing up.

 

Thats funny you say that, two of my cats run when I play loud music but we got a new kitty for Christmas...he is white with blue eyes (deaf or partially deaf I suspect) and he lays on my desk right next to the subwoofer and sleeps through whatever I play, anything from Mozart to AC/DC.