Buying 4 Speakers

Hey All,

While shopping for 4 mid/high speakers, I noticed they come in pairs of 2. On the specs (example>>>) it says 300 watts max. Then on the speaker it says 300 watts. Does this mean that they are 300 watts each and a total of 600 watts per pair, or does it mean both of them combined equals 600 watts. I know they mean peak power, but I just want to get this straight. Like I said, it says 300 watts on the back of the speaker, so I would guess it's 600 watts PEAK total? Thanks, I don't want to under power my 4 speakers so I need to get this cleared up. Yes I know I am a noob! : )

It depends on the speaker.  Some manufacturers give better ratings than others, and some outright lie.  What make/model are you considering?

I was thinking of buying some Pioneer, JVC, or Kenwood speakers.

Alright guys, I think I figured it out. In the specs, the mean per speaker. Cuz in the description is said 240 watts and in the specs it said 120 (240/2=120) meaning they go by speaker. Here were some speakers that I was looking at >> http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?...

Heh the RMS power is 2-50 and the peak is 240. So those aren't worth it.

I have another question though, what do they mean by 2-way, 3-way or 4-way speakers??

The number of ways on a speaker does not necessarily mean it will sound better, what the manufacturer is doing is splitting the audio signal into different sections for each particular speaker (1 of each "way") to do it's job. Does a 4 way speaker from Kenmore of Pioneer sound better than a 2 way from MB Quart, definitely not. Listen to the speaker, buy what your ear likes, you hear in decibels, not watts. RMS is the main concern if you want to buy a speaker based on watts, it is the true rating of what the speaker can safely play under consistent use. Unfortunately it has nothing to do with how it sounds.

A speaker that has a rating of 150watts rms will play no louder than one of 50 watts rms, if the efficiency is the same. What will make it louder is the amount of clean power you can deliver to it, the larger speaker will take more clean power, thus is able to play louder when and if it is fed the clean power.

Are you going to be running these speakers off of a amp or just off of the cd player?

2-way, etc. refers to how many individual driver elements are included in each "speaker."  2-way is the classic co-axial setup with a woofer and a tweeter.  3- and 4-way speakers add midranges and/or "super tweeters."  For most installations, a 2-way seems to sound the best when choosing among these types.

If you need 6X8 (or 5X7, which is the same thing) HERE's my favorite sounding speaker in this size, the Infinity Kappa 572.5.  100 watts RMS (per speaker) and 300 watts peak, with near-component level performance and better than average bass output for a speaker this size (compares favorably with a 6X9.)  Ike Sound's price is near cost and is pretty unbeatable.

Yes I will be running the speakers off of an amp (hopefully!).

Thanks for your informative posts. I appreciate it, I am learning finally.

And thanks for the link, DYohn, those speakers look good, I will try to find some around here.