speaker power rating question

im looking into upgrading my speakers but i have a quick question

when you're looking at the power ratings for speakers. is the rating (ex: 400 watt max) for the pair or for each speaker?

so if the rating was 400 watt max would i need a 400 watt amp or a 800 watt amp?

should be per speaker. BUT rms rating is what you want to look at. max power is really not important. For an amp, lets say your speakers are 125w rms, you would want anywhere between 75-150w X2 rms amplifier.

what speakers are you looking at?

thanks, i was just looking for a quick answer so i didnt put too much thought into the wording. i figured the answer would be the same whether its max or rms

im on a budget so these likely arent what anyone would recomend

but these ones for the front (not sure which for the rears yet)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882010524

says theyre rated 500w max and i found 250w rms while looking for reviews.

i figure its safe to assume these numbers are higher than they really should be

i was thinking if i can find similarly priced 400-500 watt speakers for the rear doors i should be fine with a 1000-2000 watt cheap 4 channel amp(again assuming the power ratings are over estimated)

IMO, those speakers wouldn't be much of an upgrade from stock. Are you upgrading the head unit as well?

What's your total budget? I could build a system list for ya, if you'd like.

they wouldnt even though they are powered by an amp?

and id like to leave the stock HU in

well for what i was planning it would be around 280, so i guess max budget would be 300. which i know isnt much

currently i have some old 12" subs and a cheap amp(crunch audio). they get the job done so i figured the cheap speakers wouldnt be so bad either

i did use a line output converter to get the rca cables but its only 2-ch so id need a 4-ch(around $20)

that would be great. would help me go in the right direction

Others might back me on this, I'm not sure, but with that budget, I would personally just upgrade the head unit. Getting cheapo speakers and amp(s) especially with the stock head unit most likely will not sound any better than stock...maybe worse.

Before doing my entire audio build, I just got a new head unit and it made the OEM speakers sound SO much better.

I remember a saying from years back that Kenwood(I think) had: The best amps and speakers pushed by a crappy source is..crap.

BUT..if you'd like, I can still find some deals on speakers for you.

if i was to upgrade just the head unit id want a double din but i dont think any decent ones are in my budget either

did you have the upgraded factory system? i know my brothers legacy with the harmon kardon(?) option sounds better than mine

you dont have to haha, i may just save up a bit more

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_113DDX319/Kenwood-DDX319.html?tp=5684#details-tab

That would be a good start to a nice system, you could upgrade speakers as you save up later. It is on sale on that site and should come with the mounting kit to replace the factory head unit.

I didn't have the premium audio, but getting rid of the OEM head unit made it much more clear and enjoyable to listen to. and way easier to add amps later.

Yeah, the OEM EQ blows. Headunits always add a night and day difference.

This. The combinaton of ditching the baked-in EQ and feeding a bit more power to the stock speakers will yield better results than swapping speakers alone.

I really like that head unit. I usually use pandora now so having it on the hu screen would be nice. And I can get an app for GPS later on so that works out

Thanks for the help

Assuming you're looking at stay in the budget range of the HU mentioned above, unless you're absolutely wanting to stay with a touchscreen model I would personally recommend this one:

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_105KWR900B/JVC-KW-R900BT.html?search=kw-r900&skipvs=T

It controls Pandora from the HU (a feature I just recently discovered and really enjoy), but it also includes some nice processing (time alignment and fully-adjustable crossovers) that will help you get the most from your stock speakers and whatever else you use in the future.

ya i wanted touch screen. i actually already ordered the kenwood ddx419

what sold me on the kenwoods are that you can have the gps app come up on the screen. so instead of paying $800+ for a navigation head unit, i payed 300(+30 for the iphone cable).

although the app they want you to use adds another $100 from what i found online. but i did find that a $1 gps app worked on the old version so im hoping it works on this one as well