How to turn volume up

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BruceBeamer
 
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How to turn volume up

Post by BruceBeamer »

I have a 50w horn speaker, with a 90w amp on my adafruit soundboard. It can't be heard at cruising speed. I bought it to let the coyote mustangs they just got schooled, but can't hear over my car. I can hear my 12v horn no problem. Any suggestions?

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: How to turn volume up

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

What's the impedance of your speaker?

50W is the amount of power you can send through it without inverting the cone. The impedance controls the amount of current that actually flows through it.

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BruceBeamer
 
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Re: How to turn volume up

Post by BruceBeamer »

It's a 8ohm 50w horn indoor/outdoor speakers. I'm running a 90w 45per channel to the speaker. Adafruit to amp to speaker. I would think it would get louder. It's a 6" horn.

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: How to turn volume up

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

Check the back of the soeaker coil to see if it’s marked with an impedance value. If not, disconnect a speaker and measure the DC resistance through its coil.

A speaker’s Watt rating has no connection to the amount of power it will actually use when connected to a given audio system.

A 90W speaker designed to work with a 48V amplifier will have an impedance of about 25 Ohms, and will draw a little less than 2A at its 90W limit.

A 90 W speaker with an impedance of 3 Ohms will work with a 16V amplifier, but will peak out at about 85W and 5.3A of current.

Connecting the 25 Ohm speaker to the 16V amplifier will limit its maximum current to 640mA and its maximum operating power to 10.2W.

Connecting the 3 Ohm speaker to the 48V amplifier will send 16A through it, for a total operating power of 144W, and will either melt the coil or shoot chunks of it across the room.

All four cases can be described as “connecting a 90W speaker to a 90W amp”, but they behave very differently.

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