Modern cordless speakers come in all shapes and sizes. Finding the perfect model for your application can often be tricky. There is a flood of different names and terms describing loudspeaker performance. Also, each manufacturer publishes a large number of specifications, including "sound pressure level", "dynamic range" etc. I will give a short overview of the output power spec in order to help you better understand the meaning of this term and how they relate to the performance of an speaker.
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.
Some specs will give the wattage in "Watts peak" while others will show "Watts rms". "Peak" means that the speaker is able to tolerate the wattage for a short period of time only while "Watts rms" means that the speaker will continuously tolerate that amount of power. The peak power rating in the past often led to manufacturers showing large wattage ratings for small speakers. However, in reality those speakers would not be able to endure larger amounts of output power for larger amounts of time.
Nonetheless, while the rms rating will tell you more about the speaker's actual performance, be sure though that the speaker has a peak power rating which is substantially higher than the rms rating. This is because most likely you will be using the speaker to reproduce music or voice. Music and voice signals by nature always fluctuate in terms of their power, i.e. the power envelope of the signal will vary over time. The main reason is that music signals will have short bursts of high power which the speaker has to handle. Rms power is measured with a constant sine signal which hardly compares with a music signal in terms of the power envelope.
Usually the impedance of the speakers which you connect to your amp will determine how much power your amp can deliver. Speaker impedance is measured in Ohms. Typically speakers have an impedance between 4 and 8 Ohms. Amps have a limited output voltage swing due to the fixed internal supply voltage. As such the maximum output power of your amp will vary depending on the speaker impedance. The lower the speaker impedance the higher the maximum power your amp can deliver. Usually a 4-Ohm speaker is used as a reference.
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.
Some specs will give the wattage in "Watts peak" while others will show "Watts rms". "Peak" means that the speaker is able to tolerate the wattage for a short period of time only while "Watts rms" means that the speaker will continuously tolerate that amount of power. The peak power rating in the past often led to manufacturers showing large wattage ratings for small speakers. However, in reality those speakers would not be able to endure larger amounts of output power for larger amounts of time.
Nonetheless, while the rms rating will tell you more about the speaker's actual performance, be sure though that the speaker has a peak power rating which is substantially higher than the rms rating. This is because most likely you will be using the speaker to reproduce music or voice. Music and voice signals by nature always fluctuate in terms of their power, i.e. the power envelope of the signal will vary over time. The main reason is that music signals will have short bursts of high power which the speaker has to handle. Rms power is measured with a constant sine signal which hardly compares with a music signal in terms of the power envelope.
Usually the impedance of the speakers which you connect to your amp will determine how much power your amp can deliver. Speaker impedance is measured in Ohms. Typically speakers have an impedance between 4 and 8 Ohms. Amps have a limited output voltage swing due to the fixed internal supply voltage. As such the maximum output power of your amp will vary depending on the speaker impedance. The lower the speaker impedance the higher the maximum power your amp can deliver. Usually a 4-Ohm speaker is used as a reference.
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You can get additional details about outdoor cordless speakers at Amphony's web site.
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