Speaker Wattage

[SoundManiac]

How do I know that each speaker will get the right amount of wattage after the crossover(passive) separates each frequency?

 

[Swerd]

How do I know that each speaker will get the right amount of wattage after the crossover(passive) separates each frequency?

A passive crossover divides frequencies for a woofer and tweeter, it balances their out put so one doesn't play louder than the other, and it may provide additional filtering to equalize or correct unwanted noises or resonances made by the drivers.

I am not sure what you mean by "providing the right amount of wattage", that depends on the size of the amplifier.

 

[SoundManiac]

Tower Designs

For instance, in a 3 way tower design where you have speakers that may or may not have different power requirements. How do I provide the correct watts for each speaker?

 

[fredk]

Hook speakers up to amp/receiver. Turn system on. press play.

There is really nothing to do other than make sure you choose an amp/receiver powerful enough for your room.

 

[SoundManiac]

Suppose I route two 100 watt rear channels(for 200 watts total) to a 3 way box with speakers rated at (tweeter-50w RMS, midrange-50w RMS, subwoofer-120 watts RMS). Would this combo balance out?

 

[Highbar]

My first question would be why would you want to run 2 separate channels of audio to a single speaker?

Secondly, are you building a DIY speaker? That is the only reason I can think that you are worried about this. If so, a simple crossover will send the same amount of power to each speaker regardless of what the speaker is rated. Now if you have multiple woofers or mids in the design running them in parallel or series will change the impedance of that line and therefore the amount of power they pull.

 

[fredk]

It sounds like you want to connect the two rear channels of an avr to one speaker.

Why do you keep refering to the individual components instead of just calling it a speaker. Is this some sort of DIY frankenspeaker?

 

[MDS]

The answer lies in the fact that different frequencies will be at different levels at any given moment. If the receiver is sending 100 watts, each driver (tweeter, mid-range, woofer, etc) will see a different level because the xover has split the signal to send only the range that can be handled by that driver.