Confused on wattage

[unknownuser]

I have an H/K receiver that puts out 100 watts per channel at 8 ohms-RMS. Does this limit my selection of choosing drivers? Do all of my drivers need to be rated around 100 watts RMS?

I see the speakers made by Polk and Infinity, etc. and its clearly labeled the RMS into how many ohms. are these figures as important they are made out to be?

I am planning on using the Dayton pre-made crossovers in my speaker building, so if that helps as far as series/parallel wiring goes.

I would like to use the Dayton Reference series drivers so if anyone has any ideas on what drivers ....

I would appreciate any info.


(Originally posted by: Justin)

[duanebrown]

> I have an H/K receiver that puts out 100
> watts per channel at 8 ohms-RMS. Does this
> limit my selection of choosing drivers? Do
> all of my drivers need to be rated around
> 100 watts RMS?
No, and no

> I see the speakers made by Polk and
> Infinity, etc. and its clearly labeled the
> RMS into how many ohms. are these figures as
> important they are made out to be?
They can be very misleading. Also the ohms of a speaker and wattage really have nothing to each other (leave out "into"). Rms wattage is often based on thermal limits. Excursion limits are often lower than thermal ones. Resistance (ohms) varies with frequency.

> I am planning on using the Dayton pre-made
> crossovers in my speaker building, so if
> that helps as far as series/parallel wiring
> goes.

> I would like to use the Dayton Reference
> series drivers so if anyone has any ideas on
> what drivers ....
Do NOT use RS drivers with PRE-made crossovers, you will not be happy with the sound. Drivers with hard cones have bad breakup above their passband and need a custom crossover to correct this.

> I would appreciate any info.
I hope this helps, if you have an idea of what drivers you want to use (ie rs180 + rs28) some one should be able to direct you to a crossover that will work.

Duane B

[unknownuser]

Duane, what does "passband" mean? Sorry if it's a nubie question.



(Originally posted by: DennisG)

[duanebrown]

> Duane, what does "passband" mean?
> Sorry if it's a nubie question.
I thought that needed to be explained as I was typing, but I was lazy/tired and didn't do it. Passband is the useable range of frequencies for a driver. It is in this range that the driver works best.

The only bad questions are ones that are never asked.

Duane B

[bryanjackson]

Actually, the passband is the range over which a crossover is used.

Like if a mid is crossed over at 800hz and 3khz that is its passband, even if it could play 500hz to 6khz.

[unknownuser]

> I have an H/K receiver that puts out 100
> watts per channel at 8 ohms-RMS. Does this
> limit my selection of choosing drivers? Do
> all of my drivers need to be rated around
> 100 watts RMS?

Your reciever can output 100 Wpc, but that doesn't mean that all of the power is going to all of the drivers. That 100 watts is the entire musical signal, which could consist of 60 Watts of bass frequencies, 30 Watts of Midrange, and 10 Watts of highs (Note: Most of the power being used by an amp is used to produce bass frequencies, that's why separate sub amps are popular)

This means that each of your drivers doesn't necessarily need to handle 100 watts, since not all of the power is going to that driver.

Second of all, most H/K recievers can handle 4 ohms, or at least the modern ones. As long as you don't turn it up too loud, it should be fine.

> I see the speakers made by Polk and
> Infinity, etc. and its clearly labeled the
> RMS into how many ohms. are these figures as
> important they are made out to be?

Not really. Amplifier companies lie about how much power their amp can output, and speaker companies lie about how much they can handle. But I guess 100 "Watts", as in what an amp company wants you to think it can output, is roughly equal to 100 "Watts", as in how much the speaker can handle. Since the amp only really outputs 40 watts, and the speaker can only really handle 50, no one notices.

> I am planning on using the Dayton pre-made
> crossovers in my speaker building, so if
> that helps as far as series/parallel wiring
> goes.

> I would like to use the Dayton Reference
> series drivers so if anyone has any ideas on
> what drivers ....

I wouldn't reccomend a pre-made crossover. The Dayton RS drivers are very "picky" in that they tend to need a custom crossover to keep them sounding good. Soldering Irons are cheap, and there are several excellent designs out there for these drivers, all you have to do is order the components and solder them together.

> I would appreciate any info.



(Originally posted by: Kyle)

[unknownuser]

(Originally posted by: DennisG)

[duanebrown]

> Actually, the passband is the range over
> which a crossover is used.

> Like if a mid is crossed over at 800hz and
> 3khz that is its passband, even if it could
> play 500hz to 6khz.

You’re right of course. Passband does refer to the crossover. (The BAND of frequency allowed to PASS through a crossover.) When I wrote this I was thinking of this: “The aluminum cone offers a flat frequency response in the passband region with very low distortion.” Describing the Dayton DA-175-8 #295-335.