Not strictly a car-audio question, but since it involves car speakers I'll post up here for the sake of simplicity:
I'm working on a project in which I would like to use Focal's 6.75" Polyglass components (http://www.crutchfield.com/p_091165VR/Focal-Polyglass-165-VR.html?tp=106). I feel these speakers represent everything I'm looking for in a way everything I've looked at can't, save one detail: The power handling of this speaker set is rated at what seems like a somewhat low (for a $500 set of speakers especially) 75w RMS. The amp these will be running off of is rated for 150w RMS @ 4ohms, which means I'm feeding the speakers 2x the recommended maximum. Now, I know it's fine to slightly overpower most high-quality speakers provided the gains are kept low, but this seems like overkill, no? They'll be mounted in a sealed enclosure which I'm hoping will burn up a bit of that extra power and cut down on the risk of over-excursion, but I feel like that won't be enough.
Thoughts anyone?
Car: 2005 MINI Cooper S: - Factory H/K sound system; 1971 Datsun 240Z: - 2.4L straight-six sound system
Home: H/K 3490 stereo receiver
We probably need more details on what you are planning for them, but perhaps this will help:
In a car stereo - for example, if you set the gains low and didn't turn the volume up beyond maybe 15 out of 60, you probably wouldn't even hit 75W RMS to them, and the system would still sound good.
I wouldn't recommend you doing that, b/c there's a high likelihood of you or someone else forgetting that and twisting the knob to the right and blowing them, but for whatever you are doing - if you are the one working them, you might be okay.
Hope This Helps!!!
2002 Ford Focus Sony CDX-GT410u Sony XT-100HD HD Tuner Stock speakers, no amp, no subs
They're going to be used as the drivers in custom-made enclosures which will be powered off the H/K receiver noted in my sig.
Based on what you're saying, it seems to me that this is a time-bomb situation: At some point someone, be it myself or someone else, will turn the volume up and subsequently blow these not-insignificantly priced speakers. As I feared.
Is there anything out there (not costing significantly more) that will sound as good as the Focal's with more power handling capability? I suppose I could also introduce another driver into the mix and effectlvly half the power seen by each...
I run an amp that is overkill for my speakers, I just set the gain really low. Or even set the gains with a DMM to aproxx 75watts rms to prevent smoking them.
Pioneer DEHP80MP HU Alpine PDX 4.150 highs (comps.& 6x9s) 2x Alpine MRD-M605 lows 1 per sub Infinity Kappa Perfect 6.1 front highs Infinity Ref. 9622i rear highs 2x Alpine SWR-1242D subs (running 2ohms ea.)
Z06C5R:Is there anything out there (not costing significantly more) that will sound as good as the Focal's with more power handling capability?
That's going to be a matter of opinion, but you might do better looking at home audio speakers in the home audio section of the forum.
I suppose I could also introduce another driver into the mix and effectlvly half the power seen by each...
Effectively 1/4th the power seen by each - might be a good idea as most home stereo is based on 8-ohm anyway - so if you add another driver in series, the load at the amp is 8-ohm, which reduces the output approximately by half, and then that splits between the drivers, so you end up at 1/4 the previous power.
Once upon a time, back in the day (groovy 80's), I put 2 huge Pioneer home speaker boxes in the back of a small hatchback car. Each box had a 12", 8", 3" and a horn in them. I gave each box around 300 watts of power at 4 ohms. The boxes were 8 ohm, of course, but they actually sounded real good with plenty of bass and the highs bouncing off the hatchback glass ! I was so cool back then ...
GLH - You did not give the speakers 300W of power at 4-ohms. If they were 8-ohm speakers, you were powering them at 8-ohms and giving them 150W-200W. If that was RMS it probably would sound really good!!!
Yes, RMS. I knew they were only getting half or so of the wattage, but never knew for sure how much, especially with those old (think it was a Kenwood) amps. It sounded awesome !