Know How Much Your Speakers Can Handle—Find Out Here!

Similar to the blind taste tests that are prevalent in the food and beverage industry, many newbie car stereo and home stereo system owners can relate to the double-blind, how-much-wattage-can-my-new-speakers-handle equation, which can sometimes result in tragedy. That tragedy being, the ubiquitous blowing of those brand new bass spankers that you just shelled out handsome amounts of your hard earned cash to garner, and instead of being able to truly enjoy the thumping, all surround, ambience that you desire, you are befuddled with a blown and brand new speaker system that the manufacturer will decline on repairing because, as they can often state: you turned the knob too far to the right and blew those nifty subs on your own accord; claim denied.

 

Selecting the right speakers that can handle the load

When deciding upon the proper speaker setup, you want to consider two ever so important factors: total wattage rating and the amount of sensitivity decibels that a speaker can handle. A higher wattage rating does not translate into a louder speaker. Rather, the more sensitive a speaker is, and the higher the decibel output, the louder the speaker will be. Many consumers get confused by this and buy a speaker that can handle x-amount of power at x-amount of ohms. Only to realize later that it peaks at so many watts because the sensitivity rating is lower, than say another speaker. So a good rule of thumb is to find a high quality speaker that can both drive ample amounts of power while carrying a high sensitivity load of at least 100-db. This way you can blast to the past and not have to worry about setting fire to the trunk of your car.

Here is a great online resource for knowing how much your speakers can handle!

How to avoid blowing your speakers

• Read the manufacturer manual on the highest levels of wattage that your speakers can handle
• Set the power amplifier to the correct settings, as determined by your owner manual, never exceed these settings
• Always make sure you use the right, recommended speaker cables and amplifier for your speakers
• Test the speakers at a low volume with a thumping bass track and keep your eyes on the cone, adjusting the volume slowly until you see the cone vibrating rapidly; once it thumps more than a ¼ inch, this is as loud as you want to go to avoid blowing your speaker cones

Some handy video tips and advice:

Check out this handy video on how to install and properly test a bass subwoofer for a car audio system.

Got a blown speaker? You can still have some fun with it as this video below demonstrates!