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New Generation "High Powered" MI Level Speakers
Brad Weber:
I agree with Paul's response, it all depends on what you are trying to do. Having an amp rated equal to or even less than the RMS rating of the speaker may be absolutely fine and provide plenty of headroom unless you try to get more out of that combination than it can support. There is no magic that happens by using an amp rated at 1.5 to 2 times the continuous power rating of the speaker, that is simply a general guideline to have a reasonable balance of maximum output and reliability. Maybe the simplest way to put it is that it is the use that defines what power is needed or appropriate and a speaker power rating does not define what power a speaker needs but rather what power it can handle.
There are two aspects of speaker power ratings that are commonly overlooked. One is that typically only the continuous power rating of a speaker is actually measured. The peak rating is assumed calculated based on that measurement and the crest factor of the test signal while the Program rating is just a number somewhere between those two, typically midway between them. The other aspect is that nothing says the speaker performance stays the same all the way up to the ratings, there could be variations in frequency response or other changes prior to there being some form of failure. This is one reason why people sometimes may subjectively feel that a certain speaker sounds better with more power, but it also is not inherently a positive nor is it reflected in specifications.
People sometimes seem to get too caught up in power values that probably don't matter as much as they think. For example, being worried that the Program rating of the speaker is 1,200W and you only have a 1,000W to power it, a 0.8dB difference that probably no one would notice.
To the comment "Does it really mean that a DJ could take a PLX 3402 and let it rip on either of these cabinents constantly in "clip" or "peak" and never burn up anything? I mean, that's what the RMS figures suggest right?", the short answer is no, that is not what it means. The long term or continuous (not RMS, there is no such things as RMS Watts) rating is simply the power the speaker could handle for a specific period of time with a specific test signal. Clipping is not part of the rating.
Ivan Beaver:
ALso in relation to what Brad said (which is right on as usual) is looking at the peak SPL outputs that are often listed.
There are all kinds of different ways to come up with the published numbers. Is that peak SPL a sinlge freq that the rest of the response cannot equal? I know of one manfacturer that lists their active products as having a much higher output than their passive models.
WHY? Because in the active measurements there are no eq filters and there is a HUGE (think 10-15dB) peak at one freq that makes the "peak" SPL really look large. But nobody wants to actually listen to a loudspeaker that has a peak in the response that large. But are they lying-no-the loudspeaker will do it-but it is VERY misleading because the typical user will take that single number (without looking at a response chart) and compare it to other products who do not have that peak and wrongly mistake it as being a louder box.
Is it a calculated value from the measured freq response? If so-where in the freq response? Is it a usable average from a line drawn down the average of the response? Or a peak in the response-which could be several dB higher than the average?
If you are going to get pickly about a couple of dB, then you REALLY have to look and know where those numbers are coming from
STUPID FORUM WHY DO IT IT KEEP JUMPING AROUND WHEN YOU TYPE ONCE YOU GET PAST A CERTAIN POINT
DOES ANYBODY ELSE HAVE THIS PROBLEM?
IT ONLY HAPPENS ON THIS FORUM
REALLY REALLY ANNOYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Brad Weber:
--- Quote from: Ivan Beaver on February 05, 2011, 11:13:14 AM ---STUPID FORUM WHY DO IT IT KEEP JUMPING AROUND WHEN YOU TYPE ONCE YOU GET PAST A CERTAIN POINT
DOES ANYBODY ELSE HAVE THIS PROBLEM?
IT ONLY HAPPENS ON THIS FORUM
REALLY REALLY ANNOYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
--- End quote ---
Ivan, mouse over the two little horizontal lines in the center just below the bottom of the reply window, that should allow you to resize the window to avoid the problem.
Douglas R. Allen:
Whit.
What is important and often over looked as well is how loud a given speaker gets with the wattage put in.
A speaker that handles 1000 watts rms and only puts out 105dbs is not really that good of a speaker.......
Instead of going for the most power and highest power handling speaker one should work in reverse.
How loud do you need it to be at a location?
Purchase enough amps and speakers to be at that spl level with some headroom to spare. In live sound I try for at least 10dbs although it doesn't always happen.
Buying a system that needs to be run at peak levels at all times should be avoided. Even if the system is not loud enough with the amps just starting to clip turning it down 3/6 dbs is not going to make or break a show. I can't remember the last time someone has come up to me and say " Could you please turn this F"%!ing thing up!" Just being loud does not make a good show. Allot of times its just so much noise.
Don't play the "How loud can I get" game.
Instead go for "How good can I make this sound"
Douglas R. Allen
john manson:
What does "MI" stand for?
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