Car stereos have today become one of the most essential features in a car. Whether you drive an SUV, sedan, convertible, or even a truck, having the right stereo that provides a great music experience is almost mandatory.
However, one of the biggest questions about a car stereo is how many watts are good for it.
Today, let us try to answer all the questions regarding the ideal wattage, amperes, and other things for a car stereo.
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What Wattage is Best For a Car Stereo?
Wattage is the unit used to measure a car stereo’s power output and it is a crucial factor you should consider while selecting an aftermarket stereo for your vehicle.
However, there is no correct value for the best wattage for a car stereo; the right wattage for your system can vary depending on various factors.
Before taking a look at these factors, let us try to understand some basic terminology associated with wattage.
Wattage
Watt is the unit of electrical power that denotes the rate of generating or using the energy at any time. Wattage for a car stereo is the power it delivers to speakers, amplifiers, etc.
Peak Wattage
This is the power a component can handle for a short time without getting damaged.
RMS Wattage
This is the continuous power a component can handle.
RMS wattage is always lower than peak wattage. Factory car stereos are generally labeled as ’50 wattsx4’ or ‘200 watts’. This represents its peak rating which is not the same as the RMS rating.
The RMS wattage for such a stereo is 10-12 watts per channel and it may not be enough to run a powerful system at high volumes.
A higher RMS means the stereo can deliver a higher amount of power for a long time. An aftermarket car stereo can produce over 20 watt RMS per channel to ensure there is no distortion at high volumes.
A higher RMS rating also ensures that the stereo can handle powerful audio components in the system without any risk.
Now, let us discuss the primary factors affecting the ideal wattage for a car stereo.
Type of Vehicle
Outside noises can disturb the sound produced by a stereo to a great extent. So, if you are riding a sedan with rolled-up windows, you can work with a relatively low wattage as you don’t have to increase the volume often.
However, a pickup truck or convertible has an extended exposure which means you need more power to listen to the highs and lows from your stereo.
Type of Speaker System
A stereo having a lower sensitivity requires more power to play a track than that with a higher decibel rating.
Moreover, an integrated amplifier in the system also factors in the RMS wattage. The sweet spot is to have a ratio of 0.75-1.5 between RMS watt and speaker power.
What is the Wattage of Factory Car Stereos?
Before you can proceed with upgrading your car audio experience, it is important to know about the wattage of your existing factory car stereo.
In general, the factory stereos in most vehicles have a wattage around 8-10 watts RMS. However, RMS wattage is quite different from peak wattage which is used to measure sound performance.
One can easily achieve up to 200 watts of power with a stereo if the amp is supported by 4 channels with 50W each. However, the RMS rating goes up to 15-17 watts RMS at maximum factoring in the traffic noise.
So, if you are looking to upgrade your listening experience with an aftermarket stereo, you should look for something closer to 200-300 watts RMS.
In case you want to add amplified speakers that deliver a clearer sound by cutting out noise, you should get something around 500 watts RMS.
How Does Wattage affect sound quality?
It is a common misconception that the more wattage you have the better the sound quality you get. Its simply not true. In fact, the amount of wattage only has an effect on how loud a system can be. As you turn your volume up and down the potential current flow limit rises allowing the sound level to increase.
Volume doesn’t equate to sound quality. However an audio systems ability to maintain high sound quality at higher volumes is partly due to wattage from the stereo’s internal amplifier.
Do Higher Watts Give Better Sound?
For most car sound systems, it is important to upgrade the factory radio to enjoy a good experience. Upgrading translates to using high-quality speakers, amplifiers, and stereo; they require more wattage to function optimally.
More watts means better capacity for your components to process which means you will definitely experience larger headroom with lower sound distortion.
Higher watts do mean a better sound and wattage is a crucial factor influencing the performance of the system at higher volumes. However, the sensitivity and efficiency of the speakers also play a big role.
Doubling the watts won’t give you twice your sound output but only an increase by 3dB. If, for example, you replace your 20W speakers with 40W, you see the volume increasing but won’t double.
Here are a few terminologies associated with sound that you should know to understand the relationship between sound and wattage.
Decibel
Decibel or dB is the unit used to measure the sound intensity in relation to a level on the logarithmic scale.
It simply implies that you can’t double the numbers here as you do otherwise; on this scale, double does not translate to twice. For instance, 100dB is not double 50dB but many more times considering its logarithmic value.
Sound Pressure Level
SPL is the measure of loudness that depends on the pressure in the sound waves. An increase of 10dB in sound level increases the loudness to double but doubling the wattage only increases it by 3dB SPL.
This means a tenfold increase in watts doubles the loudness. You must replace your speaker with a 100W to double the sound.
Final Thoughts
Overall, it is a good idea to explore the possibilities when finding how many watts is good for your car stereo though it is advisable to stay within the safe range for your speakers.
More wattage certainly means more sound but there are some other factors affecting the quality of sound at higher volumes as well.
We hope this guide proves to be useful when choosing the right wattage for your aftermarket car stereo for the desired experience.
