I have a 1992 Liteace and I want to fit a new CD/Tuner. I have checked the internally mounted door speakers and they are TOYOTA branded and rated at 15W each. My proplem is that all available CD tuners appear to have outputs of 60watts each. Can I go ahead and fit a higher rated system if I keep the volumes down lower? I think originally there would have been a modular plug for the wiring, however this has been removed and the wiring has been placed into 'chocblocs' instead! Presumably now the left front is wired with the rear left and likewise with the right-hand speakers, would this have any adverse effect on any new unit I fit?
Any help anyone can offer me on this matter would be most grateful.
Thanks,
Keith.
- (#3230) keith mutton, 2 Jun 02
Your speakers will be OK as long as you don't wick it up too high. re the connections, you really need to trace back and see what front and rear are. No point in spending good money on a 4-speaker set, if you can't use the fader...
- (#3232) david miller, 2 Jun 02
Keith
In answer to your question, it is possible to fit a new unit with 60 watts o/p using 15 watt speakers, but i can tell you now that the sound quality will be awful, with lots of cross-over distortion & vibration the minute you turn up the volume slightly from min.
The built in amp. will be way to powerful for your existing speakers. Generally speaking when fitting a new unit go for speakers that can easily handle the max rated output of the amp/cd tuner etc. i.e go for good quality 100w speakers,(60w cd o/p).
You can get very technical with this, taking into consideration car harmonics, bass, sub-woofers & tweeters etc. If i were you, i would speak to wherever you bought the cd tuner from & ask what they advise (as long as you didn't buy from Halfords).
As for the wiring, when i changed my original unit for something different, there are 8 seperate wires for the speakers(in no logical order)had to trace them.
1 switched live wire for cd.unit power, 1 permanent live wire for memory back-up etc & 1 wire for earth.
Sorry for the long explanation, hope this gives you a few ideas.
Regards, Tony
- (#3233) Tony Lloyd-Jones, 2 Jun 02
Without getting too techy - check whether the Watts ratings on the speakers and amp are both RMS, or both PMPO, or a mix.
Speakers are often rated in Watts RMS (best rating as it's closest to true everyday power handling), while amps/tuners etc are often rated in Watts PMPO, which is a bullshit rating designed to impress little boys and gullible punters (PMPO is equivalent to about 4 times the real RMS rating).
So, if your CD tuner is rated 60W PMPO per channel, it's likely only actually about 10-15W RMS per channel! That is, a decent match assuming your spkrs are rated RMS.
Also, a slightly overpowered amp will actually do less damage to your speakers as long as you keep the volume to a level where nothing sounds distorted - if you thrash an underpowered amp until it distorts, you can easily take out tweeters which are rated for far more than the amp's output, due to the damaging effects of harmonic distortion.
Most power amp chips built into radios/tuners etc can only deliver 21W RMS maximum unless they've got a separate DC/DC voltage step-up supply like you see in monster car hifis.
Make sure you always get ratings quoted in W RMS when you buy - PMPO is bullshit to impress kids!!!
- (#3256) SteveFE, 7 Jun 02
Amen the that, Steve- i always remember Amstrad power ratings- big external power supply used, power quoted at full volume, no account for distortion. Add both channels together, and double it, for PEAK MUSIC power...
so 5wpc rms= 40w MUSIC POWER!!!!
Not to be pedantic, any amp can be connected to any speaker, as long as you don't turn it up too far...
years in the Hifi repair game gets you used to answering questions like these
- (#3257) david miller, 7 Jun 02
many thanks to all of you who popsted replies to my enquiry, i found them very informative and i now have a cd/tuner installed which seems well matched to the speakers...and yes, i have the fader facility for front and rear having found the wiring quite easy to hook up!
long live the bok!!
- (#3474) Keith Mutton, 21 Jun 02