an ongoing discussion that we often run across is about how much power will speakers receive from an amp when connected through a triway crossover. Our typical response is that it depends on how much power the crossover is rated for. Now we realize that the power will vary due to the seperate crossover frequencies however one must have an o-scope or similar device to determine the wattage. My question is "Has anyone ever run across a formula or calculator to determine wattage to speakers connected to a triway cross over. As you may already know the line of connection is usually 1) 2 channell amp 2) Triway crossover connected to bridged outputs 3) Speakers connected to the triway. Any thoughts ????
In theory, the speakers connected to each channel can utilize the stereo output of the amplifier and the speaker bridged across the two channels can utilize the bridged capability. If it's a 100 watt per channel into 4-ohm amplifier, each 4-ohm speaker connected in stereo can utilize up to 100 watts and a bridged 8-ohm speaker could utilize up to 200 watts. Or whatever the amplifier is rated for. If the bridged speaker is 4-ohms, it could draw as much as 400 watts from the amplifier (in theory.)
In practice, however, this is not strictly true for a couple of basic reasons. First the passive crossover will absorb a small percentage of the power output, and second due to the frequency distribution, about 70% of amplifier power is going to bass frequencies so depending on the crossover frequency, the main stereo set may actually only use about 30 watts per channel. Plus operating in tri-mode is very hard on most amps and you will suffer from a high likelihood of clipping, power compression, heat losses, etc. But with a proper crossover and careful gain setup, it can sound OK for a low-budget solution.
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Support the12volt.comThanks for your reply... I must say that I am impressed with your credentials after reading your bio. I myself have been a technical manager for a leading CE catalog and online retailer for over 6 years. It astonishes me each time the triway question is asked. The most common prebuilt triway crossover we deal with is the PAC TM-100 which does list the crossover frequencies at least. I guess theoretically one could use the frequencies and OHMS law to figure out a rough estimate of power distribution but I am satisfied with your reply and will use it the next time the question is asked.. Thanks Again!!!
Welcome to the forum, jCroley. We'd like to hear your input again from time to time.
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