speaker system

[Aaron.Melvin]

i have a boat with 4 50 watt speakers and a radio that is 4 x 50 watt running of one 12 volt battery , i don't know anything about wiring and i was give two 500 watt wake tower speakers and plan to fit them but honestly dont have a cle what i need to do that and get the right power to all the speakers.
can anyone help me?

[CatBuilder]

You need an audio amplifier.

You can't power the 500 watt speakers with a 50 watt receiver.

[CDK]

Fortunately Aaron, there are all sorts of audio watts and none of them obeys Ohm's law.
A true 500 Watt speaker has a diameter of 15 inches, a 4 inch coil and the weight of a car battery. I don't think that's what you have.

Your only concern is the impedance. If the radio has 8 Ohms outputs, you cannot connect 4 Ohms speakers because that would create an overload. You could connect 16 Ohms speakers but the output power will be reduced by 50%.

[CatBuilder]

Also true.
Cdk, I was imagining he had one of those new water skiing boats that is mostly a radio with an engine and a tow rope attached. Ha ha ha.

Do you see those in Europe yet?

[CDK]

Originally Posted by CatBuilder

Also true.
Cdk, I was imagining he had one of those new water skiing boats that is mostly a radio with an engine and a tow rope attached. Ha ha ha.

Do you see those in Europe yet?

I really don't know. My view of Europe is our bay, 3/4 mile deep, 200-300 yards wide and part of a restricted area. Anything approaching at high speed is considered hostile unless it is my neighbor with his 300 hp Mercury that fortunately now has a defective injection pump.
In summer mega yachts anchor nearby and jet ski's are launched, but not yet something you described. I contemplated pulling a steel wire across the bay but my wife won't let me. She is afraid I might forget that it is there.

[CatBuilder]

Ha ha ha. The wire is a good idea. A man can dream...

Here is a picture of what to watch out for. Each blue, glowing circle here is a huge speaker... There is probably 500 watts here easy. You can hear them from a mile away

.

[Aaron.Melvin]

well actually its an engine with speakers then a bit of fiberglass ha , i will post a link and see if you can tell me the wattage of the speakers and tell me how to solve my problem if its possible. and receiver do those speakers use , i am not fully sure how it works yet .

[Aaron.Melvin]

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http...21&h=TAQFHq9Ko

[Submarine Tom]

Originally Posted by Aaron.Melvin

i have a boat with 4 50 watt speakers and a radio that is 4 x 50 watt running of one 12 volt battery , i don't know anything about wiring and i was give two 500 watt wake tower speakers and plan to fit them but honestly dont have a cle what i need to do that and get the right power to all the speakers.
can anyone help me?

As CDK says, it's all about impedence, that is the number of ohm's the speaker measures.

It may say on the speaker or you can measure it with an ohm meter or a multi-meter.

One thing is certain: if your impedence is compatable, a 50 watt output will never blow a 500 watt speaker!

The symbol you may see on your speaker following the ohm value looks like a "O" with the bottom opened flat to each side.

Chances are they are between 4 and 8 ohms.

[CatBuilder]

Originally Posted by Submarine Tom

One thing is certain: if your impedence is compatable, a 50 watt output will never blow a 500 watt speaker!

Nor will it power them though. He still needs an amp to actually make use of his speakers. With the right matched amp (ohm wise), he will be able to rattle a few windows on shore.

[Submarine Tom]

Originally Posted by CatBuilder

Nor will it power them though. He still needs an amp to actually make use of his speakers. With the right matched amp (ohm wise), he will be able to rattle a few windows on shore.

Nonsense.

[Aaron.Melvin]

so can i use an amp or some way just to make it work at all?

[rxcomposite]

Aaron,

You can use your small transistor radio to power your 500 watt speaker as long as the impedance output of the amps and the speakers match as explained by CDK. The wattage is the power handling CAPACITY. You cannot burn the coil of that mammoth speaker with a tiny amplifier. In fact you might be surprised as the large speakers will be loud at a very small volume setting of the amp. Large speakers are generally more efficient. A small electrical pulse gives it a very large "oomph".

The only ways you could burn it is if your amplifier is so poorly designed that it contain a lot of harmonics and outputs high frequencies that could not be heard and overdrive your large speakers. Usually it is the "tweeter" side that "cooks" first.The large coil will rarely cook. You may ask "why will it not burn my small speakers?" Because the small speakers (cheap) have limited frequency response and is not affected by the harmonics.