has anyone noticed.....
on the cars with 100 watts Stereo upgrade, the back speaker is rated at 45watt MAX. so why is it 100watts upgrade if there isn't any 100 watt speakers? or is it the amp?
feel like i got ripped off
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I don't know how the US Tibs are, but isn't it 100 Watts, 100 Watts total,... as in 25watts to each speaker? Or am I missing something?
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Your right. On the upgraded system the maxium (meaning at on given point or peak) it can reach 100 watts constant power out put is between 12-18 watts a channel constant. And when a max total is given it is the total watts divided by speakers so the total peak output is 100 watts x 4 channels i.e. speakers.

 

Yeah, 100W means 25WX4

It also means 100W MAX power, and not RMS. I have an old class A 20WX4 amplifier that would completely kill that amplifier, but that's another story.

To give fair comparison numbers, amplifiers should be taken to a common testing system. Unfortunately, there are some pretty lax rules about classifying amplifiers. Testing conditions do not need to be standardised.

For example, most good amplifiers will always test their amplifiers using a pink noise track, representing a jumble of sounds from 20 Hz all the way up to 20 kHz -- Basically the whole audio spectrum. They will test the amplifiers with 12.0VDC power supply, and test to a low distortion rating.

If you test with a single sine wave tone (1 kHz, typically) the power output doubles. If you bump up the voltage on the power supply, power increases again. I've seen one car amplifier where the rated power was tested at 18V! eek.gif And, you can start to crank it up until the THD becomes completely unacceptable. I've seen THD ratings at power of up to 1.4% (0.07% is typical of decent amplifiers.)

All in all, a cheap 100WX4 amplifier can produce as little as 12 real watts when you put it in your car.

Now most head unit manufacturers don't overrate that badly. But they do overrate. I tested the amplifier output on a Pioneer Premier MOSfet in-deck amplifier, just to see what the "45WX4" was actually producing. At 12VDC power supply, given a pink noise track, I came up with just over 14WX4 RMS. With a 1kHz sine wave, I came up with 21WX4 RMS. THD came up at about 0.68% according to my meter. Max power was actually just over the 40WX4 point, I suspect that testing at 13.8V would give me the 45W rated wattage.

And now, at long last, we come to the point. Assuming similar rating standards, your 100W upgrade deck is probably putting out about 7W per channel in terms of a real amplifier. It is doing so at a higher distortion value than a good external amplifier. It sounds pretty sad, but compared to the 2-4W per channel of the "regular" deck, it's pretty good.

As to speaker ratings... I have no idea what most speaker manufacturers are thinking with the wattage ratings that they put on their speakers. The closest that I can tell is that it's the heat dissipation ability of the voice coil. I've seen speakers rated at 150W get completely fragged from a 25W amplifier, and I've run speakers rated at 10W from a 40W (over 100W max) amplifier for years without a problem. I know how some manufacturers rate their speakers. Most just seem to pull numbers out of the air...

 

In another words....scrap the stock stuff and get some good aftermarket tunes!

*lol* J/K My friend has the 100 Watt Upgrade in his Tib and it really doesn't sound bad at all. So, if you like it...then stay with it. smile.gif

 

By reading this post i might be understanding this but are you saying tiburons have a hidden amplifier somewhere or is the 100watts off the deck. The part about the deck is what i am assuming but kinda curious.

Thanks

 

It's all in the deck. And manufacture rating on the deck is 17x4 constant power which is not to bad and I think in all honesty the sterio setup (stock) in the Tib is the best setup I've seen in any car from the manufacturer and I see alot in all rewality I've seen stock alpine systems in a dodge viper that don't compare and the speakers themselves are pretty damn good to you don't see to many (except bose systems) that have coaxel speakers instead of a dual cone.

 

Well... The stock system in my car had coax speakers, witha CF cone, not paper and a mylar tweeter. They actually sounded pretty good when hooked up with a bit of power. The upgraded system for my car had a separate outboard amplifier, and, except for the lack of low bass sounds really good.

As for the best stock system that I've seen, that has to go to Lexus. My boss has a '93 Lexus GS300 with the premium sound system. Separates up front, 10" subwoofer installed in the rear deck... And excellent sound quality. Mind you, the extra cost on the price tag for the Nakamichi premium sound system in that car could probably have bought you a spare used car at the Hyundai dealership...

If you qualify that the Tib's factory sound system is the best for cars costing under $25,000, then I'll concur.

 

Yes it is the best for under 25 grand and probably the best all around system in any car without a sub add one and going to a high priced audio company to make the system for the company i.e bose etc.. As far as the amp what do you mean Dan? All the tibs have the amp inside the radio there should be no external amp in the Tib unless one was installed aftermarket I have or should I say had the upgraded system and the amp was in the radio which kinda sucks because if it was external there would be less signal to noise ratio but that is a different story but the stock upgrade system is sweet and almost everyone that I now that installs is shocked by the quality. And just to make my self clearer the coax speakers are part of the upgraded sterio system.

 

Jaws99:

Check my profile... I don't own a Tib. In my car, there was a premium 10 speaker system available, with a separate outboard amplifier, that resided under the passenger seat. The amplifier took funny inputs, not RCAs, so you couldn't just swap in a standard power amplifier, but it was pretty sweet.

A lot of the very expensive cars are going to nice systems installed at the factory. My boss' Lexus is one example. Also one of my clients is a Mercedes Benz dealership. They have some really sweet systems installed in their cars. One of the convertibles that they have on the showroom floor has 8s in the doors, in a 3 way setup. The 8s aren't really subwoofers, but they probably roll off at around 30 Hz or so, so they're as close as they need to be. They have a ported enclosure, and IIRC, the sales guy said it's a 300W system... I believe that they use MB Quart speakers. (Ka-CHING!) I know that Lexus uses Nakamichi for their high end systems.

Of course when the car costs as much as my HOUSE, it had better have all the nice creature comforts in it. I myself can only wistfully look at the new Mercedes in the showroom. I doubt that I could afford the door handles. smile.gif

As far as cars that normal working people can afford to buy, the Tib's upgraded sound system is excellent. It lacks sub-bass, but that's not really a surprise. The midbass is excellent, the oversize speakers up front and the 6X9s in the back really deliver. Even with the coax speakers, the treble isn't as clear as I'd ideally like. But since the North American market in general is far more focused on bass response, it's understandable. And it still kicks tailpipe when it comes to the North American manufacturers' offerings. smile.gif