Picking the perfect type of wireless outdoor speakers is difficult when confronted with a large array of different terms and specifications, such as "sound pressure level", "output power" etc. You may not even fully understand the most basic of these terms, such as "speaker output power". In this article, I will have a closer look at one of the most fundamental of these terms: speaker output power. This term is also known as "speaker wattage".
Some of the terms which speaker manufacturers publish often are misleading and do not necessarily give a good indication of the actual performance of the speaker. Next I will explain the "wattage" spec of speakers. This spec is one of the most basic and perhaps important specs to understand.
"Wattage" shows how loud your speaker can sound. Depending on your application, you can go with a small speaker tolerating only a few watts or a larger one tolerating several hundred watts. Many smaller home speakers only can be driven with a few watts power which usually is enough for a small room. If you plan to shake your walls then you obviously want to opt for a speaker that has up to several hundred watts. Please note that many speakers will start distorting the audio once the audio reaches higher wattage. If you want to enjoy low-distortion audio then you may want to pick a speaker which will give you more wattage than you will actually need.
Wattage is either given as "Watts peak" which means the speaker can tolerate short burst of this amount of power or "Watts rms" which shows how much power the speaker can tolerate for a longer period of time. The peak rating has been somewhat abused by vendors stating enormous peak audio power while their speakers are in fact tiny and unable to handle more than just a few watts rms power.
Music and voice is not constant in terms of loudness. As such the peak power rating is still important, although not as important as the rms power rating. Ideally the speaker will show both the rms and peak power rating. Having a high peak power rating will ensure enough headroom for power peaks which are common in music signals. Having enough headroom is essential since music signals differ a great deal from sine wave signals which are used to measure rms power. Short bursts of high power are often found in music signals. These bursts will drive the speaker into high distortion unless the peak power is high enough.
However, be aware of the fact that the maximum output power also depends on what type of speakers you are using, in particular the impedance of the speakers. Speakers usually have impedances between 4 and 8 Ohms. Due to the limited supply voltage of your amplifier, the maximum output power will be half if you connect an 8-Ohm speaker than the peak power that the amp can deliver to a 4-Ohm speaker. Thus often maximum output power is given for a specific speaker impedance.
Some of the terms which speaker manufacturers publish often are misleading and do not necessarily give a good indication of the actual performance of the speaker. Next I will explain the "wattage" spec of speakers. This spec is one of the most basic and perhaps important specs to understand.
"Wattage" shows how loud your speaker can sound. Depending on your application, you can go with a small speaker tolerating only a few watts or a larger one tolerating several hundred watts. Many smaller home speakers only can be driven with a few watts power which usually is enough for a small room. If you plan to shake your walls then you obviously want to opt for a speaker that has up to several hundred watts. Please note that many speakers will start distorting the audio once the audio reaches higher wattage. If you want to enjoy low-distortion audio then you may want to pick a speaker which will give you more wattage than you will actually need.
Wattage is either given as "Watts peak" which means the speaker can tolerate short burst of this amount of power or "Watts rms" which shows how much power the speaker can tolerate for a longer period of time. The peak rating has been somewhat abused by vendors stating enormous peak audio power while their speakers are in fact tiny and unable to handle more than just a few watts rms power.
Music and voice is not constant in terms of loudness. As such the peak power rating is still important, although not as important as the rms power rating. Ideally the speaker will show both the rms and peak power rating. Having a high peak power rating will ensure enough headroom for power peaks which are common in music signals. Having enough headroom is essential since music signals differ a great deal from sine wave signals which are used to measure rms power. Short bursts of high power are often found in music signals. These bursts will drive the speaker into high distortion unless the peak power is high enough.
However, be aware of the fact that the maximum output power also depends on what type of speakers you are using, in particular the impedance of the speakers. Speakers usually have impedances between 4 and 8 Ohms. Due to the limited supply voltage of your amplifier, the maximum output power will be half if you connect an 8-Ohm speaker than the peak power that the amp can deliver to a 4-Ohm speaker. Thus often maximum output power is given for a specific speaker impedance.
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