How many watts is good for speakers?
Are you eager to learn the normal wattage for various high-quality speakers and surround yourself with sound? Great!
You will discover everything there is to know about the number of watts your speakers require in this post, including:
- average wattage for excellent speakers of such kind
- How can we tell someone is an excellent speaker?
- Does having more watts mean having better speakers?
- How wattage and volume are related
Most high-quality speakers have a peak power range of 10 to 1000 watts. Greater wattage has the potential to increase volume and provides better steady tone quality and coverage at lower volumes.
Good outdoor speakers typically have 80 watts of power. Look for speakers with 10 to 25 watts for computers. High-quality Bluetooth speakers are likely to be between 40 and 60 watts, whereas party speakers will have about 250 watts. Around 150 watts will be used by a robust soundbar, 200 watts by boat speakers, and 600 watts by PA speakers.
You will typically find two values for the power handling number when checking for the wattage of speakers and subwoofers: RMS (root mean square) and "peak."
How much continuous power the device can use is indicated by its mean power, often known as root mean square (RMS) power handling. The maximum power level that the speaker can withstand in brief bursts is indicated by the peak power handling rate.
For instance, a speaker with a 40W RMS rating but an 80W peak rating can operate effectively with 40 watts of continuous power and intermittent bursts of up to 80W.
Typical power output of good speakers
This is the typical wattage of various high-quality speaker models. If there are multiple speakers in a configuration, it covers the total wattage (e.g., computer speakers).
See which speakers we evaluated for indoor and outdoor use and how loud they are by wattage.
Outdoor speakers
The best outdoor speakers must be weatherproof and have enough power to provide strong bass, clear treble, and a rich midrange that can be heard over wind and crowd noise. They typically range from 40 to 100 watts.
On my backyard makeover, I installed two 100W Atrium 6 speakers hanging off a Sonos amplifier and added an Atrium Sub100 with a SWA500. It had been working smoothly for about three years and had a fantastic sound, then it abruptly broke.
Now I have a 100W JBL Xtreme 3 (link to Amazon), which is big enough to produce full sound but small enough to not take over my landscape. Although it doesn't have a lot of bass, it has more low-end than other outdoor Bluetooth speakers of a similar size, making it well worth the money for outdoor activities like lounging, hot tub use, and backyard barbecues.
Computer speakers
I've had Bose speakers for a long time. One of the best investments I've ever made was a Companion 2 Series III (about 22W total wattage).
I purchased more speakers, a Y splitter, and four headphones that were plugged into my computer's headphone jack. We have the impression of being in a club when I turn up the music. Alternately, turn on some soft jazz or 90s hits and take in the surround sound and superb acoustics.
Additionally, their customer service is excellent. One of the speaker cones was ultimately broken by my youngster. I spoke with customer service to discuss my repair options. They recently provided me with a replacement speaker at no cost.
Party speakers
The greatest party speaker on the market for the money is without a doubt the 240-watt JBL Partybox 200 (Amazon link).
Due to Bluetooth, my friend purchased this one last year and uses it when we go out to drink with the group. He uses it as a pull-up at his outdoor and indoor gatherings and carries it in his hand luggage when flying.
The JBLs now appear like a much better option than the 2xMotion Boom (Paired in TWS), which has great bass and reach!
See our article on how many watts per square foot you really need for more information.
Does Speaker Quality Increase with Wattage?
Wattage has virtually little to do with speaker quality - especially these days when the wattage figure published by the speaker makers are practically straight-up lies to convince untrained purchasers that the higher the reported wattage, the better the speaker.
The amount of watts shouldn't be disregarded and can be useful when searching to choose an appropriate amplifier, even though it doesn't reflect the sound quality or potential lifespan of a speaker.
Do speaker wattages matter? Read the linked article to learn more.
The wattage simply serves to illustrate how much power can be applied to a speaker under specific circumstances before it malfunctions.
Take a 50-watt speaker as an illustration. It can therefore manage or process 50 watts of power, according to this. This actually indicates that a 50W speaker can typically handle more power than 50 watts.
The quality of a speaker is more closely related to efficiency, design, component quality, and plainly honest numbers than to watts.
So how can we tell if the speaker is competent?
The best speakers reproduce sound quite accurately. Nevertheless, by modifying it, they don't distorted the sound. A sound should be heard as it was intended to be heard by the person who recorded it, whether it be a saxophone loop, dialogue, or a clap. Although unfortunately no speaker is perfect, the greatest ones come quite near.
The degree to which a speaker accurately reproduces sound can be estimated.
- Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) is a measurement of the precision with which speakers translate the contents of a disc or hard drive into sound. Lower amounts are preferable because the figure will be less distorted the flatter it is. A good "pure" system typically has THD rates between 0.05% and 0.08%, however anything under 0.1% THD is exceptional.
- Speaker Impedance: This number displays the amount of current that a speaker will consume. Usually, eight ohms are used. Excellent, but typically much more expensive, is four ohms. To get the most out of four-ohm speakers, you will need an expensive amplifier.
- Headroom: This figure represents the maximum amount that speakers may provide in brief intervals. If you have a home theater system and want to be surprised by the explosions in action movies, a noticeable headroom figure is necessary.
Each speaker produces a range of frequencies, some of which are louder or softer than others. Assuming that accurate audio reproduction is your ultimate goal, the higher the speaker quality, the less there is in terms of loudness variation between frequencies, or in other words, the flatter the frequency response curve. You want to see a smooth line on a frequency response graph rather than a line with peaks and troughs.
However, occasionally a speaker's sound cannot be predicted just by its specifications. As I already stated, producers are notoriously dishonest. They will give incorrect product information in an effort to convince customers that their product has the highest decibel level, wattage, or other feature. In truth, choosing a product is not best done based on the provided parameters.
How Do Wattage and Volume (Loudness) Relate?
You might recognize your friend, cousin, acquaintance, or even your mother raving about their new speakers. I've heard them say things like, "My new sound system is off the charts dude, it has 500 watts of power!" a lot.
This demonstrates the widespread misconception that more power equals higher volume, despite the fact that this is not the case. Undoubtedly, a 1,000 watt sound system is not 50 times as loud as a 20 watt system. In reality, an 800-watt speaker rarely produces greater loudness than a 1,000-watt one.
A decibel (dB) is a measure of loudness, whereas watts (W) are a unit of electrical power.
Even though greater watts doesn't necessarily equate to louder sound, it does so indirectly through sensitivity. Sensitivity is the quantity of sound a speaker can produce with one watt of power at one meter away (in a room without reflections or with soundproofing) and is expressed in decibels (dB).
The sound pressure level, or SPL, is the measurement of the volume produced. SPL is expressed in decibels (dB).
The range will typically be between 84 and 92 dB, with the general rule being that a speaker will need less power to produce a louder level if it is more sensitive.
What does a speaker with a sensitivity of 84 dB SPL imply, then?
It indicates that a sound unit with 1 watt of power placed 1 meter away from the speaker is capable of producing 84 dB of sound pressure.
The abbreviation is "84 dB SPL 1W/1M".
And that is how loudness and wattage are related.
The relationship between decibels and watts
There is a general principle in use if you wish to boost decibel output by increasing the power of your amplifier, regardless of how sensitive your speaker is.
The general guideline is that if you want to increase speaker sound output by 3 dB, you must double the amplifier's power.
Think of a speaker with an 84 dB rating (always recognize that SPL is graded based on 1 W of power and 1 meter from the sound unit).
The rule of thumb is that you need twice as many watts to increase by 3 dB.
The power of the amplifier must increase by 2 watts to produce an additional 3 dBs to reach 87 dB.
But the power must double from 2 watts to 4 watts in order to rise by an additional 3 dB to 90 dB.
The power must double once more to 8 watts at a rise to 93 dB.
