From: Kevin Tarr <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

Anyone have home/car speaker experience?  I thought I did, having worked
in a stereo store for three years. Am I wrong or was I the victim of
gross incompetence?*

I have low-mid level car stereo rated at 40 watts. Because of the car I
have to turn the volume up to hear it at all. I had put in new speakers
because the old ones were blown when I bought the car. During a
thunderstorm both the speakers went out, just completely dead. I was
listening to AM. I thought it was the head unit. (I have water trouble
during very heavy downpours, or driving fast in lighter rains.) So I
drove for another hour with the radio off. 

The next day I could hear one speaker okay but the other one was blown.
(I did some testing and both were blown, one halfway and the other was
completely gone). I went to Circuit City, where I bought the radio and
speakers together, to ask why a 40-watt stereo would blow 40-watt
speakers. The answer I got, no lie:

"Well the radio says 40 watts but it's really only 20 per side and that's
only 16 RMS (root mean square). Since the speakers are 40 watt speakers
they need an amplifier so the speakers each get 40-watts."

I said, "You don't know what you are talking about."

He then said, "No really. See when the speaker is underdriven the voice
coil has to move more to produce any sound. Even though you had the radio
turned up it isn't enough to drive the speaker. It had to over-work and
that's why it blew"

I said "Is there anyone else I can talk to?"

He said no so I left the store.

Kevin T.
Laughed all the way home.

----
HTML is evil.

I have 22 speakers connected to my stereo.  There are 18 splitters.  Why?
 Because at the same volume level you get better sound quality with less
distortion.  The Volume setting will produce approximately the same
volume for two speakers as for twenty-two, but none of the speakers are
overly loud (i.e. you can put your ear next the speaker and it doesn't
hurt your ear).  None of the speakers (from sub-woofers to the little
ones) goes out of range.

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