D effAudio was established in 2005 when we noticed a lack of inexpensive car audio dealers on the internet. Our main goal is to supply car stereo products at the lowest possible price while still allowing our employees to earn a living. We try to provide the best information we can about our products and help as much as we can but we are not a installer and cannot offer installation assistance. Many people misunderstand how you can blow a speaker most thing its all about too much power and so they buy amps that are less than their speakers Watts rating. Although this is true its not the most common way people blow their speakers. Under powered: When a speaker is under powered and the amp is turned up it can "clip" which is a square sound wave that will melt the speakers coil apart. Over powered: There is a fine balance of speaker power to amp power that you want. It is best to get an amp that is more powerful then the speakers and turn down the output at the amp level this way it will not distort or clip and the lowered level at the amp level will stop the amp from sending too much power to the speaker. Age and heavy use: Just as with anything else in this world if you use it to its limits too often it will wear out speakers are no exception. Plugging inputs while the system is on: Always make sure when you plug in any inputs the power to the amp/receiver is off, this can cause a nasty sound and usually nasty popping sounds are not good for your speakers. Matching amp power and speaker power: If your speaker is 150 W RMS get an amp that does 150W RMS per channel. You are best to go over than under but try to keep as close as possible to each other. You want to make sure the amp you choose is capable of supplying from 75% to 150% of the speakers /sub woofers total RMS rating. So add up all the RMS Watts for the speakers and or sub woofers you are going to attach to the amp and make sure the amps total RMS wattage is within 25% up or down from that number. RMS and Max Watts You want to pay more attention to the RMS but also make sure the max of the amp doesn't exceed the speakers max. RMS = what a speaker/Amp can do all day long Max = the max output a amp can do or max input a speaker can take.

Ohms: Just to complicate things some more make sure you match the ohms of the speaker to the ohms of the amp as well. Most run 4 ohms until you get into bridging and well we will leave that to another day and a later article. Here is a link to a great wizard to hep you wire your sub woofers correctly. The 12 Volt Subwoofer Wiring Wizard The 12 Volt Subwoofer Wiring Wizard Amplifier Power Wiring Help The two most important tings when determining the Gauge () of wire needed are: How long will the wire need to be from battery to amp How much RMS current does the amplifier draw Below is a chart to help you determine the right Gauge (AWG) wire you will need. Most kits come with 20' of power cable which should work for the average car. Always round up better to overshoot, going under could cause the cable to overheat and lead to bad things. Also make sure your fuse is sized correctly 10 AWG - fuse at 60A 8 AWG - fuse at 100A 4 AWG - fuse at 150A 1/0 AWG - fuse at 350A 81041/0 Gauge (AWG) Wire Chart 10'12'14'16'20' RMS W4'6'8'24'28'32'42' 200W W W W /0 500W /0 600W /0 700W /0 800W /0 900W /0 3/0 1000W844441/0 3/0 1200W844441/0 3/0 1400W84441/0 3/0 1600W 4441/0 3/0 1920W441/0 3/0 2200W441/0 3/0 2400W441/0 3/0 3000W41/0 3/0

Speakers can "blow" in two ways thermal or mechanical, which are just as they sound overheating from too much power or clipping from under powering and sometimes just from use and age. Here are some signs that tell you a speaker is blown: (put your EQ at flat or 0 to test) If there is no sound at low or normal levels Distorted buzz like sound or rattling at higher levels If you hear music, but it is heavily distorted, then you may have a partially blown speaker. Best way is to use a ohm meter, make sure the speaker is off and set your meter to ohms and put the leads on the positive and negative of the speaker it should read 1.0 if it reads infinity its blown. Deff Audio 1945 Grove Dr. Erie, PA Telephone