Stock speaker power handling

[cvp0917]

does anyone know what resistance and how much power our stock speakers can handle? i wanna install my sub and amp from my civic but if they can handle it i might as well just go ahead and slap my 40x4 on the speakers if theyll take it. lemme know! thanks.

[celdridge]

does anyone know what resistance and how much power our stock speakers can handle? i wanna install my sub and amp from my civic but if they can handle it i might as well just go ahead and slap my 40x4 on the speakers if theyll take it. lemme know! thanks.


I would guess that the Kenwood speakers are not all that great .. i know i have to turn the head unit up to about 20 before i can even really hear the music. It might just be the head unit, but my guess is that the speakers are cheap. There is alot of talk too about the head units being refurbs, it would not suprise me if the speakers were too.

[EvilMSP]

does anyone know what resistance and how much power our stock speakers can handle? i wanna install my sub and amp from my civic but if they can handle it i might as well just go ahead and slap my 40x4 on the speakers if theyll take it. lemme know! thanks.
A few things....

1. This is the wrong forum, you want the audio forum
2. Our speakers are the middle range Kenwoods, much better thanmost stock stereo's. And without looking at the stats most speakers have like atleast 40 watt rms so you should be fine.
3. The big point is that pretty much any amp will work with your speakers. I dont know how many stereo's you've setup up before but you dont just turn the juice up all the way. A good idea when setting up speakers like that is to turn the amp all the way down then start playing music. All stereo's have a volume bar. It's good to have like 80% of that bar be the loudest you would ever want to playit normally. That way you canhave it soft volume, and your ideal volume, that is the most important part. All out power isnt important when it comes to speakers. So as you listen to your music have someone in the back adjusting how many watts your amp's are putting out. Turn radio to 80-90% full juice, raise power until you like how loud it is.

[celdridge]

A few things....

1. This is the wrong forum, you want the audio forum
2. Our speakers are the middle range Kenwoods, much better thanmost stock stereo's. And without looking at the stats most speakers have like atleast 40 watt rms so you should be fine.
3. The big point is that pretty much any amp will work with your speakers. I dont know how many stereo's you've setup up before but you dont just turn the juice up all the way. A good idea when setting up speakers like that is to turn the amp all the way down then start playing music. All stereo's have a volume bar. It's good to have like 80% of that bar be the loudest you would ever want to playit normally. That way you canhave it soft volume, and your ideal volume, that is the most important part. All out power isnt important when it comes to speakers. So as you listen to your music have someone in the back adjusting how many watts your amp's are putting out. Turn radio to 80-90% full juice, raise power until you like how loud it is.


Do you know if the Kenwood amp in our car is adjustable?

[Dr.Sound]

I would guess that the Kenwood speakers are not all that great .. u would guess wrong.

we have "Excelon" series speakers in our cars, which are the top of the line kenwood carries.
speakers are decent overall compared to other brands.
a few members here replaced their headunits and the speakers sound 10 times better.

and wilsman, u're absolutely correct.

speakers will probably take 40-50 watts of clean power, non of that RMS rated shit.

[celdridge]

u would guess wrong.

we have "Excelon" series speakers in our cars, which are the top of the line kenwood carries.
speakers are decent overall compared to other brands.
a few members here replaced their headunits and the speakers sound 10 times better.

and wilsman, u're absolutely correct.

speakers will probably take 40-50 watts of clean power, non of that RMS rated shit.


Do you know if there is a way to boost the head units volume output to the speakers. When im driving with the windows down i cant really hear anything until i turn it to about 23 - 25. You can hear nothing at all on the speakers until you hit 15 on the dial. Seems like the head unit has power for shit.

[Dr.Sound]

celdridge,
have u adjusted the headunit for the right speaker size?
when the headunit is in the off position, press and hold "Q" button.
this will bring you to the speaker/subwoofer selection menu.
there are like 4 or 5 different speaker sizes to choose from, select 6.5/6x9.
go to the subwoofer menu and select 8inch.

this adjusts the headunit for the speaker sizes and increases the output of the internal amp.

another way is to find a small 2 channel amp, similar to the one that powers our subwoofer. (make sure u get one with built-in crossover).
then just route your speakers through the amp.
this option has a greater possibility of blowing up the speakers, but if properly tuned u'll get much better volume control.

[Dr.Sound]

does anyone know what resistance and how much power our stock speakers can handle? i wanna install my sub and amp from my civic but if they can handle it i might as well just go ahead and slap my 40x4 on the speakers if theyll take it. lemme know! thanks.40 watt amp should be fine, in reality it's only pushing arround 10-15 watts, so there should not be any extreme load on the speakers.

[celdridge]

40 watt amp should be fine, in reality it's only pushing arround 10-15 watts, so there should not be any extreme load on the speakers.


All the speakers are 6x9 ... right ?

[Dr.Sound]

All the speakers are 6x9 ... right ?hehe, yeah
read 3 posts above ^ :D

[celdridge]

hehe, yeah
read 3 posts above ^ :D


HAHA .....

CARRRRTMAAAAN DUUUUUHHHHHH

[EvilMSP]

And yeah as sound mentioned this headunit has some crazy options on it. You need to read up on em and shift through em all to get the best sound, or what you want. Like I ripped that crappy sub out of my car and have just 4 speakers for now. I had to change the software crossover on the headunit so the speakers actually played all the music (software crossover was restricting bass notes for sub woofer only.)

Sum up stuff...
They are better speakers than most people get...
Stereo speakers is all abot quality of amp and not power (as long as it has atleast 20+.) I mean most factory headunits put out like 10-15 watts RMS anyway and those are fine for most people....
If you have a 4x40 or whatever that should be fine, just setup it up like I said if you want a good functional valume control...
Also sift through allll the options and I bet ull like your speakers more.

[celdridge]

And yeah as sound mentioned this headunit has some crazy options on it. You need to read up on em and shift through em all to get the best sound, or what you want. Like I ripped that crappy sub out of my car and have just 4 speakers for now. I had to change the software crossover on the headunit so the speakers actually played all the music (software crossover was restricting bass notes for sub woofer only.)

Sum up stuff...
They are better speakers than most people get...
Stereo speakers is all abot quality of amp and not power (as long as it has atleast 20+.) I mean most factory headunits put out like 10-15 watts RMS anyway and those are fine for most people....
If you have a 4x40 or whatever that should be fine, just setup it up like I said if you want a good functional valume control...
Also sift through allll the options and I bet ull like your speakers more.


When i got my MSP i do not have a manual for the head unit. Anyone got one in PDF ... or know the model number for ours so i can get it off Kenwoods site. Everything i have been doing with the stereo has been trial and error. I have most everything figured out... except how to randomize stinking MP3's by directory.
GRRRRRR

[Notorious]

nooooooooooooooooooooo

hahah, its actually 6x8 in the front and 6.5 in the rear. But you should select the 6x9/6.5 speaker setting.



hehe, yeah
read 3 posts above ^ :D

[Dr.Sound]

nooooooooooooooooooooo

hahah, its actually 6x8 in the front and 6.5 in the rear. But you should select the 6x9/6.5 speaker setting.;) i never said they were 6x9's

[Notorious]

ahhh you are correct. Your making me look like a rookie!

[Dr.Sound]

our stereo is one of the most difficult ones to use......u have to get used to it.
i've been arround car audio for a while, so it's not a problem to me.
but i do know some people that have owned msp for 7 months and didnt know that button "4" is pause button :D

[jersey_emt]

Yeah there's a lot of 'hidden functions' too.

I had to play with the settings a LOT to get the radio to sound good. The 'recommended' settings are crap.

[Dr.Sound]

Like I ripped that crappy sub out of my car and have just 4 speakers for now. I had to change the software crossover on the headunit so the speakers actually played all the music
u can also make ONLY speakers work by holding "AM" button for 2 seconds,
or make JUST the sub work by turning Built in Amp Mute on.

[EvilMSP]

u can also make ONLY speakers work by holding "AM" button for 2 seconds,
or make JUST the sub work by turning Built in Amp Mute on.
Lol that is rediculous. There are so many options it makes me want to cry.

Good intention Kenwood but seriously wtf with this headunit :)

[MrDiggler]

u would guess wrong.

we have "Excelon" series speakers in our cars, which are the top of the line kenwood carries.
speakers are decent overall compared to other brands.
a few members here replaced their headunits and the speakers sound 10 times better.

and wilsman, u're absolutely correct.

speakers will probably take 40-50 watts of clean power, non of that RMS rated shit.

C'mon Dr., you should know better than that! RMS stands for root mean square, and it's the proper standard for comparing power output. However, what really matters is whether the RMS reading is over the full spectrum (20 Hz - 20 kHz) and at what distortion reading. Most head units put out about 9 watts of useable clean RMS power. Head units don't have room for the components needed to boost the voltage over 12-14 volts, and the manufacturers take their readings at max distortion and over only part of the audio range to boost the numbers.

As for how much power the speakers can take, I'll say this: It matters much more how clean the power is and whether or not you filter out sub-bass frequencies from the main speakers. I ran an Autotek 99 amp that put out about 300 watts per channel (of very clean power) to a set of 4" Pioneers in an old vehicle, and they never cooked, even after 4 years! They'd go loud enough to make your ears bleed, but I never threw any distortion at 'em. Distortion, as in clipped sine waves, are what usually kills a speaker, not raw clean power. It's hard to blow a speaker with a really clean amp.

FWIW, my factory Kenwood head unit getting ripped off was the best thing that ever happened to me. I now have a Sony mp3 unit that kicks the Kenwood's ass in every way, and it was only $279.00. It sounds so much cleaner and louder, I've been slacking on getting my amps transferred from my other car. I'm actually impressed enough with the original Kenwood speakers now that I might keep them. The tuner in the Sony is better too. Just for shits and giggles, I put my 12" JL in the trunk the other day and hooked it to the Kenwood sub amp in place of the 8" factory sub. That little Kenwood has bigger balls than I thought. It's the factory sub that sucks. It hits much harder than I expected it to.

My 2 cents...

[Dr.Sound]

^ great writeup!

yeah, the weak poing in our system is our headunit. everything else is fine.

[marashka]

our stereo is one of the most difficult ones to use......u have to get used to it.
i've been arround car audio for a while, so it's not a problem to me.
but i do know some people that have owned msp for 7 months and didnt know that button "4" is pause button :D
who the hell is that dumb?
i know some people that dont know how to use a wrench when they change a fuel filter, takes 2 of them to put 1 bolt in, and they still cant do it....had to show them.

[Dr.Sound]

^ (friday)