300 watts peak but 40 watts nominal? I don't get it...?

Question

I have a brand new box of a pair of 6x9 speakers. It says it has 40 watts nominal and 300 watts peak. As I understand, shouldn't the peak only be twice as much as rms? So, 2 speaker is 80 watts, and peak is twice as much, so shouldn't it be 160 watts peak power, and not 300 watts peak power?

Also, how many watts should be applied to both speakers by an amp?

Answer 1

give them 40w.

Answer 2

nominal (or rms) and peak power ratings really have nothing to do with eachother.  For the most park, peak power ratings are a farce to make speakers look super powerful.  It's the power rating that a speaker is rated to handle for a short burst, essentially.  The nominal rating is really what matters.  In general, you can try to match the amp's rms power output to the speakers rating.  In the real world, it doesnt matter too much.  If the amp puts out less power, the speakers will just not play as loud.  The danger here is that you would crank up the gains or turn your cd player up louder (or both), causing the audio signal to clip, which can damage your speakers over time.  

An amp that is rated at more power than the speakers rated amount is also fine.  It just allows you to keep the gains on the amp low.  The risk here is that you'd still turn the gains or volume up, plus the additional power the amp is putting out, and could also blow your speakers.

Put simply, you'd be fine with powering the speakers with more or less power than their rated for, as long as you use your head.  If you want to be "safe" can you try to match the amp's power output to the speakers rated power.

Answer 3

Generally, the rms is half of the peak power... Generally. However, nowadays, you'll see more and more of these power rating "differences"; because, different manufacturers make their speakers for different types of use (i.e. SPL, SQ, and SQL).

From the power rating, I take it that these aren't SPL type speakers. So, when powering them you don't want to go to high. Generally, you can give a speaker around 10% more rms power without damaging it. Therefore, a speaker with 40watts rms can handle 50watts continuously.

I like to use stronger amps than my speakers so that I never have to jack up the gains to compensate for low volume and so that I will have extra power just in case I decide to upgrade in the future ( it beats having to buy a brand new amp all over again.)

Also, make sure the speakers are from a reliable source, because alot of "low grade/ flea-market" brands exaggerate their power ratings and therefore, can't be trusted.

Hope this helped... By the way what type/brand of speakers are these... post a link.