sterio and speakers

when im playing my music in my car loud, like around 80% of the total volume, my speakers start to make this poping noise. i dont know what is causeing this. i checked the speakers and they are not blown or anything. my sterio says 45 X 4 on it and the speakers say they can handle 80watts. so the speakers should be more then strong enough to handle the 45 X 4. any ideas on whats making this "popping" noise?

on the speakers, it says:

peak power: 260watts
rated power: 80watts

Your H/U is only giving at the most 20wrms. Amp those damn things

Internal amps on head units normally clip at like the 60-70% of total volume control value

so what your saying, i need speakers that can handle more watts in order to listen to louder music without the "popping" sound?

there are 2 ways that a speaker can blow, thermally and mechanically

thermally is when you send too much power to the speaker and they overheat, melting the glue on the voice coil which allows it to unravel and cause all sorts of problems, or it can just plain melt the coil and short it out. This is the 80rms power rating that you see.

mechanical is when you send too much power at too low of a frequency and your speakers hit the limits of the suspension (aka "bottoming out", similar to bottoming out your car's suspension if you hit a huge bump). This is completely frequency dependent, and at low frequencies your "80rms" speakers could hit their mechanical limits at 10rms or less. Very few companies will actually tell you the speaker's mechanical power handling. The main thing to keep in mind is that you can't crank up the volume on bass-heavy material, if you hear your speakers "popping" then chances are they're bottoming out and they have a VERY good chance of breaking when you're doing this. An amp won't help you since your headunit can supply more than enough power to make the speakers hit their mechanical limits, what you need is a highpass filter that cuts out the low frequencies. If your headunit doesn't have any highpass filters built in then you can buy "bass blockers" locally, which are just a cap that sits in series with the speaker and acts like a simple 1st order highpass filter.

at 80% volume your headunit is probably clipping as well which can overheat the speaker's voice coils pretty easily. It also makes them sound like ass, but in my experience it won't make a "popping" sound. A more powerful amp would let you listen at this same volume without the clipping, but if the popping is from the speakers bottoming out it won't fix that.

thanks for the info, sr20de4evr.

so if i get better speakers with more "rms" power, the "popping" and "clipping" noise will stop? or at least get quieter?

basically what you need is a high pass filter for you speakers and a dedicated subwoofer for the lows.

thanks for the info, sr20de4evr.

so if i get better speakers with more "rms" power, the "popping" and "clipping" noise will stop? or at least get quieter?

probably not, chances are the mechanical limits will be pretty similar unless you really step up a few levels (not just a higher power rating, an all around better speaker)

so could you give me a link to better speakers?

I would need a price range

umm, i dont know. nothing too pricey. do you have AIM so we could talk about this on there and talk faster?

umm, i dont know. nothing too pricey. do you have AIM so we could talk about this on there and talk faster?

AIM: ngbd13
I'm on a lot...always have a message up...feel free to message me anytime!

NG

umm, i dont know. nothing too pricey. do you have AIM so we could talk about this on there and talk faster?

yeah, and normally I'm on a lot, but not this week. ngsm can help you on AIM though

sounds like your just getting some really bad distortion. what could be happening is basically you are asking your h/u to send a clean sine wave at higher output than it is capable of producing thus causing clipping to occur. speakers dont like square waves. i suggest getting a small 4 channel. it should clear up the problem. and manny is right, even though your h/u says 45/4. youre not putting it out that much. probably somewhere between 14 and 22 watts rms. my best guess is an underpower problem

can you give me a link to a small 4 channel?

http://www.millionbuy.com/caudio-amp-prf.html
But SR is right, the popping is not from underpowering, your speakers are hitting there limits. So if you do add a 4ch. amp, i say upgrade your speakers. If your not goin to upgrade, then High Pass Filter your amp so you dont send your speakers low freq. an hit there limits

so if i wanted to power my 2 6x9s, the 2 on the front doors and a sub, i would need a 5 channel amp? how many watts should i get?

What kind of sub? you have to understand that not much power is goin through those five channels, an most likely not enough for a sub. 5 channel amps are usually for speakers and maybe a small effecient sub. Get a 4 channel if you have to use your rears too, but i'd suggest just a nice component set up front an ditch the rears. For a sub, get a Mono amp an run the sub off of that

i have a Legacy 10" sub. it says its rated for 400watts. i just want my music to be louder.

you said youd suggest ditching the rear. do you mean dont even amp the two 6x9s and just amp the 2 in front and a sub?

Basically, because thats the best imaging. Your listening to music next to and infront of you, its not coming from the rear. But it wouldnt be much of an advantage if you just amped stock front speakers. Get a nice front component set consisting of Midbass, Tweeter an X-over. What kind of Head Unit do you have? Give me a budget on Front Speakers and amp an ill recommend you somehting.

well i already got some new 6x9s and i would kinda want to imclude those in my system. as far as front speakers and budget, i dont want to spend much. my head unit is a Kenwood 45X4.