# Speaker Learning



## roman4189 (Aug 2, 2004)

Hi, 
I'm saving my money now for some new speakers, I read that people recommend Infinity Kappa 63.5i for B14's. But i would like to know more about speakers. Like what Power Handling, Frequency Response(3dB, Sensitivity, Impedance or other thing that i didn't mention. I would just like to know about stuff, before i buy it. Also would people recommend getting an amp just for speakers, and if yes, what brand.


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## sr20dem0n (Mar 19, 2003)

Don't look too hard at the kappas, they aren't that great, for the price you can do much better. But to explain those things....

power handling - look at the rms power handling, this is the continuous power that the speaker can handle without the coil melting down. It really doesn't mean all that much though when dealing with front stage speakers (not subs), because just about any speaker set ever made will be able to get deafeningly loud before the coil melts down.

frequency response - theoretically this is the range that the speaker can effectively play (aka: how low and how high can it get without altering the sound too much). But every company rates this attribute differently, so differently in fact that comparing them is entirely useless. You should really just ignore this spec, it will do nothing but mislead you.

sensitivity - how loud the speaker can get with 1 watt, it tells you how efficient the speaker is at turning electrical energy into acoustic energy. Be wary of companies that advertise 2.83V sensitivities though, this is actually twice the power that it should be, and the resulting dB value that it gives you will be 3dB higher than it would be with 1 watt (90dB with 2.83V would be 87dB with 1 watt)

impedance - the speaker's electrical resistance, hard to explain without getting too complicated, just check the link below for more info

www.bcae1.com has most of the entry level stuff that you would want to know, so try looking around there first


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## captain_shrapnel (Sep 10, 2004)

sr20dem0n knows his stuff, there are just a few things I would like to add...




sr20dem0n said:


> power handling - look at the rms power handling, this is the continuous power that the speaker can handle without the coil melting down. It really doesn't mean all that much though when dealing with front stage speakers (not subs), because just about any speaker set ever made will be able to get deafeningly loud before the coil melts down.


This is true, as long as you don't try to feed the speaker a frequency it can't cope well with.... ie giving low bass to tweeters. Use established crossover points.


sr20dem0n said:


> sensitivity - how loud the speaker can get with 1 watt, it tells you how efficient the speaker is at turning electrical energy into acoustic energy. Be wary of companies that advertise 2.83V sensitivities though, this is actually twice the power that it should be, and the resulting dB value that it gives you will be 3dB higher than it would be with 1 watt (90dB with 2.83V would be 87dB with 1 watt)


I know you are talking about small speakers here, but I wanted to let you know that this information ONLY applies to those kinds of speakers. Do not think this info is a good indicator of a subwoofer's performance. It is common for very good subs to have low sensitivities and p.o.s. subs to have much more ideal looking specs.

One last thing to keep in mind overall is that ALL specs can be distorted. There are ways to omit testing conditions to make a piece of gear appear favorable. Example: Acme amplifiers makes an amp rated to 100 watts into 1 channel at a 4 ohm load. The distortion ratings at that power level are 0.1%. Looks ok, right? But what if they tested it in a freezer? Maybe the amp is only stable at -50 degrees farenheit at those specs. At room temp, the unpublished specs are more like 50 watts @ 4 ohms with distortion of 2%. That sucks! The bottom line is that word of mouth is the best indicator of quality. Just something to keep in mind when you compare gear....


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## sr20dem0n (Mar 19, 2003)

captain_shrapnel said:


> This is true, as long as you don't try to feed the speaker a frequency it can't cope well with.... ie giving low bass to tweeters. Use established crossover points.


right, I was talking about thermal power handling only, mechanical is a whole different story. That's easy to avoid any problems though, if you hear distortion then turn it down or raise the crossover point, except for sending a full range signal to tweets, that will probably blow them before you can react.



captain_shrapnel said:


> I know you are talking about small speakers here, but I wanted to let you know that this information ONLY applies to those kinds of speakers. Do not think this info is a good indicator of a subwoofer's performance. It is common for very good subs to have low sensitivities and p.o.s. subs to have much more ideal looking specs.


well, it applies to subs too, and what I said is still true as long as they're rated in the same way. But when it comes to subs, power is very cheap, so the other specs should weigh much more heavily on your decision. Besides, the efficiency can change drastically depending on the enclosure (type, size, tuning, etc), so that spec really doesn't mean much when it comes to subs.


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## Azgrower (Oct 1, 2004)

Here is a good website that simplifies all the terminology and concepts of car audio...http://www.bcae1.com/

Just select the topics on the right of the screen :thumbup:


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