[highflyinLS]

i have some infinity reference components installed in my car and the tweeter just blew, so i bought some infinity perfect tweeters rated at 100 watts rms to replace them. now i'm pretty much postitive the reason it blew was b/c i was underpowering them with my 50 watts per channel amp. i don't want to blow them this time, so what do you guys recommened for an amp? the components are rated at about 100 watts rms and 250 watts max, and the new tweeters i bought are rated at 100 watts rms and 400 watts peak.

 

[XDEep]

they did not blow because you were underpowering them. they most likely blew because you did not set your gains properly and drove the amp into clipping or distortion which blew them.

50watts rms is plenty imo for components, but i guess you are like me and like to take a step up hehe.

for amps, you can go dei or ppi or phoenix gold. those are the first that come to mind, in ascending price. or maybe you can find an infinity beta amp or something as they would match nicely =D

 

[highflyinLS]

thanks. is there any way you recommened as to how i can set my gains correctly?

 

[kimo]

as far as i know you can't blow speakers with too little power.if you don't want to blow them then set the cross over on the amp to high pass only, if you don't have one on the amp or the speakers didn't come with them buy some. hope that helps.

 

[hootb18]

actually you defiantely can blow speakers by underpowering them. this happens when there is not enough power going to the speakers and the HU is turned up high.

 

[cheezthis]

as far as i know you can't blow speakers with too little power.

Folks...not to sound like a jerk, but myself and many others have answered this before.

Yes, you can blow a speaker by underpowering it.
read this thread from a few days ago

...there, no more confusion.

 

[cheezthis]

And one more thing, if the speakers ask for 100 watts RMS, then give them something between 100-125 watts RMS.

 

[kimo]

did'n know you could blow component speakers with less power. thanks for the info .

 

[indy23]

YOU CAN BLOW ANYTHING WITH DISTORTIoN PERIOD.

 

[highflyinLS]

would it be okay to send them 180 watts each rms?

 

[cheezthis]

180 watts? yes and no.

Obviously, you don't want to send too much power to it...we don't want to fry anything.

The key here is to roll off the gain...start around 50% and go from there. If you have an amp that powerful, there's no need to push it. Hope that helps...what amp are you looking at?

 

[highflyinLS]

the amp i currently have hooked up is a hifonics one. it's a 4 channel amp, either 50 watts by 4 (my current set up), or 180 watts by 2 (if i bridged it). i know 180watts per speaker sounds crazy, maybe i should just get a 100-125 x 2 amp.

 

[cheezthis]

Hmm...what's the impedance when you bridge it?

You want to make sure it's all compatible. If they are, then you can use that amp bridged.

 

[highflyinLS]

its 4 ohms i think

 

[highflyinLS]

what does ohms mean?

 

[highflyinLS]

thanks, i appreciate the help cheezthis, just so you know the tweeters are 400 watts max but the midrange is "only"
rated at 270 watts max. now is rating for the pair of speakers or is each speaker 270 watts max? b/c it seems like i'd blow them if they were each only 135 watts and i sent them 180 each.

 

[cheezthis]

ohms is a unit used to measure resistance or impedance.

As for your worry about blowing those speakers up, if you keep the gain down you should be okay. Your other alternative is, like you said, buy a different amp. But again, I wouldn't worry about blowing those speakers if you keep the gain down. It's a fairly common thing to do in pro audio. Besides, the difference between 135 watts and 180 watts is not as big as one might think.

While you're at it, you should consider changing the woofer to the perfect series.

 

[highflyinLS]

i have a perfect 12'' woofer, i love it. its a ton of base from one speaker.

 

[cheezthis]

Err...my mistake, I meant like your mid-bass, midrange woofers...the 6.5's. I'm assuming those are still reference series? If so, upgrade those while you're at it.

Nice subwoofer by the way.

 

[XDEep]

actually you defiantely can blow speakers by underpowering them. this happens when there is not enough power going to the speakers and the HU is turned up high.

jeebus DO NOT BLAME BLOWN SPEAKERS oN "UNDERPOWERING" it sounds so stupid. if there is not enough power going to the speakers when the HU is turned up, that means you did NOT SET THE GAINS PROPERLY. it means you adjusted the amp past the sensitivity level of the head unit.

for example, you put in a 5watt amp. if you set the sensitivity, say 2volts, to match the 2volt output on a deck, it will perform perfectly on ANY speaker. the problem lies when 5watts isnt enough for you, so you turn the gain up and in doing so the amp puts out distortion and blows up the speakers.

now overpowering, that is harder to deal with as you can have the gain at the minimum and the speaker still cant handle the load, thermally or mechanically. fyi, some people like giving a 350rms sub 500-600. of course you wouldnt run this continually, but they like the headroom and i guess "less distortion" at lower levels.

read this to understand gains http://www.eatel.net/~amptech/elecdisc/gaincon2.htm
the main page is here http://www.eatel.net/~amptech/elecdisc/caraudio.htm

i know its a lot of info to take in but after you read through it, you can be confident in any audio situation and probably put most installers/shops to shame. the best part is, is that it always follows basic electronics so a calculator and some common sense goes a long way =D