Volxstu,
Perhaps you should consider looking up the definition of 'misgiving'....
And yes, amps etc etc are really for kiddies or attention seekers - this is MY opinion. You can share it or not.
If I want to hear good quality music, the car is nost definitely NOT the place I'd do it. Acoustics are all wrong. Cars are not designed for correct propagation.
To try and answer your points:
Brin's HU is rated at 50w PER channel, not 20w unless you can show technical specs that prove otherwise...
Most audio power amplifiers are rated for their maximum RMS power output capability of an essentially undistorted signal to a specified load (speaker) impedance. Under certain conditions, a relationship exists between the peak power and the RMS power rating of an amplifier. (The term "RMS" stands for "Root-Mean-Square" and describes the mathematical steps required to calculate the average power of an AC sine wave, which is the graph of instantaneous signal in a pure tone.
Now, if you're trying to tell me that with most manufacturers, this is a 'theoretical' value and, in real life, most HU's don't reach this value then I could agree with you.
Pure gumf.
Amplifiers are basically designed to amplify small voltage input signals into much larger output signals and this means that the output signal is constantly changing by some factor or value times the input signal at all input frequencies.
The Power, Voltage or Current Gain, (amplification) provided by the amplifier is the ratio of the peak input value to its peak output value. However, if the amplifier circuit is designed incorrectly and the biasing Q-point set at the wrong position on the load line or apply too large an input signal, the resultant output signal may not be an exact reproduction of the original input signal waveform. i.e: distortion.
Common reasons why distortion is taking place:
- Amplification may not be taking place over the whole signal cycle due to incorrect biasing.
- The input may be too large, causing the amplifier to limit.
- The amplification may not be linear over the entire frequency range of inputs
Usually, the reason for these occurrences is because the amplifier power rating was much greater than the speaker was designed to handle. This situation is seen frequently in speakers used in DJ applications, where the program material contains continuous heavy bass signals. Even worse, often the amplifiers are overdriven into clipping due to the desire for even more bass.
Unfortunately, amplifier ratings and speaker power ratings as described by the respective manufacturers are not directly related to each other, and users often choose a speaker with a rating that appears to match the amplifier, when in fact the speaker is severely underrated. That is, an amplifier rated at 100 watts does not necessarily match a speaker rated at "100 watts".
POWER is the rate at which energy is converted from one form to another. The basic international unit of energy is called a
JOULE and is defined as the amount of work energy performed by applying a certain amount of force (called a NEWTON) through a distance of one meter. The number of Joules of energy converted each second defines the amount of Power in
WATTS. 1 Watt = 1 Joule/second; 5 watts = 5 Joules/second, etc. For instance, if your exercycle had a generator connected to a lamp, the brightness of the lamp would depend on how hard and fast you pedaled. The faster and harder you pedal, the more power you generate and the brighter will be the lamp.
The purpose of an amplifier and speaker system is to convert the raw electrical energy from the AC power line into acoustic (sound) energy that you can hear. During this process, energy is converted from matter (such as coal or gas) into heat, then mechanical energy, then (possibly through magnetic energy) into electricity. From your AC power outlet the electrical energy is controlled by the amplifier in order to build a weak electrical signal into a strong signal, which is fed to the speaker to create magnetic energy, which pushes the speaker cone back and forth (mechanical energy), which moves air molecules in order to convert some of that mechanical energy into sound energy. The more energy (per second) is converted into sound, the louder the sound will be. So volume depends on the amount of electrical POWER used to create the sound by the speaker.
There are a number of methods used to describe the power of an electrical signal. These methods are given names such as "instantaneous power", "average power", "RMS Power", "peak power", "Music power", "Program Power" and others.
In order to move the speaker cone in the complex manner required to accurately reproduce sounds, the power must be continually and rapidly varying. The power being used at any instant during the process is called "
instantaneous power". However, since that is always changing, it is not useful for describing the capability of an amplifier or speaker.
Not fully correct.
The 2 primary causes of speaker failure:
- Continuous power output from the amplifier is greater than the speaker is designed to handle. This usually burns up the voice coil in the woofers.
- Excessive distortion caused by trying to get more volume (power) from the amplifier than it is capable of delivering. (Underpowered system.) This causes the amplifier to go into clipping, which produces excessive high frequency energy and causes the amplifier to go into clipping, which produces excessive high frequency energy and burns up the tweeters or horns.
Again, partly correct.
Distortion does come from the HU (amplifier), but as a direct result of the QUALITY of the HU amp.
An external amp is not really required. Why should it be? If the HU amp is of good quality, then you do not need an amp. All the external amp does (provided it is good quality), is eliminate / reduce the effects of a poorly designed HU amplifier, delivering "distortionless" output to the speakers.
If you want, I can give you the full scientific/ mathematical explanations to go with what I am saying.