About to upgrade the audio... but which route should I take?

[mvela]

Great point. Makes me think of an old but very well built Sansui amp I have for my house. It's rated at 120 watts rms but has a ton of power in reserve up to 300 watts for short bursts. It is a fantastic and very musical sounding amp. I've heard other amps with 125 watts rms but sound like they are straining.

Yes because you have “rms” power which is your continuous power rating. Then you have “peak” power rating, or dynamic, which is the max it hits on bursts. So your Sansui probably had more peak power than some other amps which had similar rms ratings. That’s also how some companies try to fool you by advertising their peak power instead of the rms power. This tricks people into thinking it’s stronger than it really is. But you want to match your speakers to the rms power, but it’s good to have good peak power when needed

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[JohnnyL]

So does anyone know what the RMS power is on the stock HU to the door speakers for instance on the premium stereo? Anyone ever measure it in any way?

 

[shoegazer]

In a very general way; you can kinda' sense where the gain begins to level off on the scale.

As was mentioned above; the 'gain' seems to slow down after about 30% on the dial. The difference in volume from 1% to 30% is impressive. 30% to 60%; not so much. My experience is that this is where the amp begins to introduce the increased harmonic distortion.

The 'ear dyno' isn't very scientific. But I believe it's in the ball park.

 

[shoegazer]

Yes because you have “rms” power which is your continuous power rating. Then you have “peak” power rating, or dynamic, which is the max it hits on bursts.

In case anyone is Googling; 'headroom' is another keyword for 'peak power'. Well designed amps have a bunch of it to handle those spikes and high dynamic range material.

 

[willcivic]

Just to add up to the debate here,

My amp is 45w x 4 rms and my 4 speakers are rated for maybe 80 to 90 watts rms.

You know what? Sound quality is just fine and I do not even need to push to dial past the 60% mark to have the sound plenty loud.

Bottom line, pick up quality components and you will be fine

 

[mvela]

Just to add up to the debate here,

My amp is 45w x 4 rms and my 4 speakers are rated for maybe 80 to 90 watts rms.

You know what? Sound quality is just fine and I do not even need to push to dial past the 60% mark to have the sound plenty loud.

Bottom line, pick up quality components and you will be fine

Yes 45 is plenty coming from the amp. Because your speakers are 90 rms but I’m sure the minimum is somewhere around 15 to 25. As long as you are in the rms range then you will be fine. The 90 rating is saying that they can handle up to 90 watts continuous with no problem. Like mine are rated at 100 rms and my amp is rated at 100 watts rms output and the combination is awesome!

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