Philips powered speakers

[Dustin_Broke]

I was wondering about this but I noticed that my Philips MMS321/17 PC speakers says they are 80 watts but I kinda wonder if that's true. This is what I see. Also on the front of the box it says 80 watts.



I saw this on a website about the speakers.


System Power

•20W RMS per Speaker
•40W RMS Total Continuous Power
•80W RMS Total Peak Power


This is also strange but I also noticed this is saying 80 watts music power from Philips website.


Sound
•Frequency response: 50 - 20.000 Hz
•Music Power: 80 W
•Volume Control: Analogue Volume Control
•Wires: Fixed Wires
•Sound Enhancement: Dynamic Bass Boost, Treble Boost
•Bass optimalization
•Bass enhancement: Dynamic Bass Boost
•Loudspeaker Enhancement: Magnetic Shielded LSB
•Output power (RMS): 2 x 20W

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

I was wondering about this but I noticed that my Philips MMS321/17 PC speakers says they are 80 watts but I kinda wonder if that's true. This is what I see. Also on the front of the box it says 80 watts.



I saw this on a website about the speakers.


System Power

•20W RMS per Speaker
•40W RMS Total Continuous Power
•80W RMS Total Peak Power


This is also strange but I also noticed this is saying 80 watts music power from Philips website.


Sound
•Frequency response: 50 - 20.000 Hz
•Music Power: 80 W
•Volume Control: Analogue Volume Control
•Wires: Fixed Wires
•Sound Enhancement: Dynamic Bass Boost, Treble Boost
•Bass optimalization
•Bass enhancement: Dynamic Bass Boost
•Loudspeaker Enhancement: Magnetic Shielded LSB
•Output power (RMS): 2 x 20W

80 watts is the combined continuous maximum power from the two channels. What you are seeing here is the Philips marketing department in its full glory. List the highest number, and it will sell computer speakers. The reality is not all that marketable. Since when does anyone run their computer speakers at maximum power for long periods of time? Try never because it sounds like crap being driven that hard.

[Dustin_Broke]

So basicly it is really 80 watts I guess they can go really loud for compact speakers that don't have a subwoofer. But are you saying that it will sound good at 80 watts or will it sound bad? Since on Philips website it says they are 80 watts music power but on a different website it says 80 watts peak power so I kinda got confused. I thought music power means it actualy will be more than 80 watts for peak power. Like 160 watts peak power. Also iit did say RMS so I always that meant like 160 watts if 80 watts is music power.

[Smokey]

Since on Philips website it says they are 80 watts music power but on a different website it says 80 watts peak power so I kinda got confused. I thought music power means it actualy will be more than 80 watts for peak power. Like 160 watts peak power. Also iit did say RMS so I always that meant like 160 watts if 80 watts is music power.

As Sir TT mentioned, do not pay attention to Philips marketing

Lets look at Philips power ratings:

System Power

•20W RMS per Speaker
•40W RMS Total Continuous Power
•80W RMS Total Peak Power

The notation (RMS) for Peak Power is wrong and very misleading. Continuous Power is labled in RMS term, not Peak Power. Since Peak Power is not continuos and only happen for short burst of time, it can not be labeled as RMS value.

So basically you have a 40 (RMS) watts system, with 80 watts peak power (I don't know where you get 160 watts from).

It is also very importand to state THD (%) when discusing amp's Power. Most cheap amplified speakers have THD rating of 10% which is very excessive. It will give you listening fatigue.

[hank46]

speaker companys always over rate the power. they sell you alot, and your getting less.

[RoyY51]

You gentlemen humble me with your largess. I never thought that I would see TWO greenies under my name. I'm getting a little choked up here.

I can now go to join my fathers, in whose mighty company I will no longer feel ashamed.

[bobsticks]

RotFLMAO!

Roy, you need to post more often. Seriously. Embrace your second family.

[bobsticks]

speaker companys always over rate the power. they sell you alot, and your getting less.

Hank, don't get too wrapped up in it...Dallas is a nice kid but certainly (as has been stated) special. He is on a quest for a non-existant Grail...with nary a Templar in sight.

If'n he had chosen but one of the veritable cornucopia of equi-chitty speakers he's been flogging for years he could've saved and afforded these:



Okay...maybe not...but certainly, in all reality he could be rockin' these:

[Dustin_Broke]

To hear the music loud and clear it has to be 40 watts and if it goes to 80 watts it will be distorted sound? So really these speakers are 40 watts and can go upto 80 watts but it will sound bad. If I' am wrong maybe I don't quite understand how this works still.

[markw]

To hear the music loud and clear it has to be 40 watts and if it goes to 80 watts it will be distorted sound? So really these speakers are 40 watts and can go upto 80 watts but it will sound bad. If I' am wrong maybe I don't quite understand how this works still.

I'm sure it's pretty fast but could yo keep it up all day?

A man once ran about 40 mph for a very short period. He might even have keeled over and died after doing that for all we know.

Would it be fair to say he could run 40 miles per hour and imply that he could do this all day, every day?

That's the reasoning behind that "peak power" spec you see advertised. It might do it for a few milliseconds* but to advertise it as reliable power is a bit shady. It might even go up in smoke while doing it.

And, as Smokey points out, even if they did put out twenty watts, at what distortion level was it? It might sound truly horrible.

*But at what distortion level?

[Dustin_Broke]

Well if the speakers are really 40 watts total then why would Philips lie and say that they are 80 watts music power or put that 80 watts number big on the box??? Since it seems like it's really bad for the speakers to go 80 watts for a long time so technicly that aren't 80watts looks like. But I can say that they do go really loud and clear without hearing distortion when I play my music. My ears don't hurt at all even when they are up loud. Maybe since the amp is huge brick like thing so it is using a good amp to power them. I have heard other speakers around this price range and most do sound not as clear or I can his the hiss noise. But the Philips I have I don't hear any of that.

[Dustin_Broke]

Isn't the THD about hearing that hiss like noise when you have the volume down or up? Since if that's the case then I don't hear that on my speakers.

[RoyY51]

SVI? Is that you?

[markw]

SVI? Is that you?

The Internet can be a valuable tool. It CAN take the onus of having to research many different subjects (like many of us had to do in the old days) from many sources.

Nowadays, one can simply post a query and wait for the answers to roll in.

Those who frequent this (and other) forums that are ready willing and able to help newbies understand the basics of this hobby.

But, that is a two-way street.

The newbie must make some attempt to at least TRY to understand what's been laid out in front of him instead of whining about not understanding it without even trying.

At some point it cannot be "dumbed down" any more.

Who knows? Maybe spending some time actually researching these topics (like we all had to do) might be more fbeneficial to the newbie to have to work for his knowledge instead of simply asking and having the combined wisdom of many simply squandered for their enjoyment.

[bobsticks]

SVI? Is that you?

ROtFLMAO!!! Greenies for you sir!!

[RoyY51]

Thanks for the greenies, Bobsticks! It's been a long time.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

SVI? Is that you?

You get another greenie from me as well....good guess. I thought it was him(based on the weirdness of his response), but I didn't want to embarrass myself if I was wrong.

[Smokey]

Isn't the THD about hearing that hiss like noise when you have the volume down or up? Since if that's the case then I don't hear that on my speakers.

No. THD (Total harmonic Distortion) refer to amp's quality in amplifying its input signal without distortion. And most of distortions comes in terms of clipping. Your amp will need high clean power to replicate power spikes which can reach to upward of 100-200 watt range. And if your speaker’s amp can not reach that high, you will have distortion.

THD below 1% is acceptable, but for critical listening below 0.3% is preferable.

I look at your speakers manual (in PDF format), and it doers not say anything about THD. So it is probably 10% which is typical of most low-mid end PC speakers.

[Dustin_Broke]

Here are the specs I got from Philips tech guys.
According to them it says Max RMS is 80.0 watts.



General.
Product Type PC multimedia speakers .Speaker System.
System Components Amplifier , 2 speakers .
Speaker Type Active .
Nominal Output Power (Total) 40.0 Watt .
Max (RMS) Output Power (Total) 80.0 Watt .
Response Bandwidth -19950.0 Hz .
Magnet Type Neodymium .
Magnetic Shield Yes .
Audio Amplifier External .
Connectivity Technology Wired .
Speaker System Details.
Speakers Included 2.0 x Right/left channel speaker - 20.0 Watt - -19950.0 Hz - Wired .
Driver Details Right/left channel speaker : 1.0 x Woofer driver - 50.0 mm - Mylar , Right/left channel speaker : 2.0 x Bass driver , Right/left channel speaker : 1.0 x Tweeter driver .
Connections.Connector Type 1.0 x Audio line-in ( Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm ) .
PC Speakers (Extended Specs).
Cables included qty 1.0 .
Cables length 6.0 ft .Cables type Audio cable .
Miscellaneous.Cables Included 1.0 x Audio cable - 6.0 ft .

[Dustin_Broke]

Well in this case I have to admit but my old screen name was SpankingVanilliace. I changed it to the same screen name as my current e-mail address. Also the big reason why I used the SpankingVanilliace is since my ex boyfriend named Adam had that kind of screen name so I just used the same name. But since we broke up last year on September,14 2009 I no longer need that old screen name. I do miss him but I have to move on since he never keeps his promises.

Right now I think a boy named Dustin Borke from The sims 2 game is hot so that's why I use his name. You can look Dustin up on google if you want to see how he looks like. He is not real but he is a hot white boy.


Btw how did you sorta figure out it was me?? I tried sorta to not make it sound like me. LOL



But eather way why does it matter who is who? I mean really was I that special person???

[RoyY51]

Well in this case I have to admit but my old screen name was SpankingVanilliace. I changed it to the same screen name as my current e-mail address. Also the big reason why I used the SpankingVanilliace is since my ex boyfriend named Adam had that kind of screen name so I just used the same name. But since we broke up last year on September,14 2009 I no longer need that old screen name. I do miss him but I have to move on since he never keeps his promises.

Right now I think a boy named Dustin Borke from The sims 2 game is hot so that's why I use his name. You can look Dustin up on google if you want to see how he looks like. He is not real but he is a hot white boy.


Btw how did you sorta figure out it was me?? I tried sorta to not make it sound like me. LOL



But eather way why does it matter who is who? I mean really was I that special person???

I think "special" just about says it all.

[basite]

Well in this case I have to admit but my old screen name was SpankingVanilliace. I changed it to the same screen name as my current e-mail address. Also the big reason why I used the SpankingVanilliace is since my ex boyfriend named Adam had that kind of screen name so I just used the same name. But since we broke up last year on September,14 2009 I no longer need that old screen name. I do miss him but I have to move on since he never keeps his promises.

Right now I think a boy named Dustin Borke from The sims 2 game is hot so that's why I use his name. You can look Dustin up on google if you want to see how he looks like. He is not real but he is a hot white boy.

I actually missed you, for a brief moment, until just now, when I read this thread...

now the only thing I feel, is regret, yet another 10 minutes of this beautiful, sunny & warm day...

Btw how did you sorta figure out it was me?? I tried sorta to not make it sound like me. LOL

sounds like you failed in "trying to make it sound not like you"

now, for your question:
each speaker, has an output of 20 watts RMS, so it states, we don't know at what disortion level, but it's probably higher than anything that is widely accepted to be "decent"

the total system output, which means of both speakers TOGETHER, is 40 watts, which is a simple sum: there are 2 speakers, each has 20 watts of output power, which makes it "20 + 20 =", right the answer is "40".

the total system peak power, is supposedly 80 watts, however this rating is dubious, and purely technically seen wrong, as peak power can NEVER, under NO circumstance whatsoever be defined in watts RMS. got it, NEVER. this is all magic marketing talk, that makes no sense whatsoever.

so, if we summarize this all:

the 20 watts is a really optimistic and vague value, as there are no disortion levels mentioned, and they probably they also weren't tested for long time periods, nor over the entire bandwidth. Conclusion: optimistic, vague.

the 40 watts is a simple sum of both speakers, it tells us nothing new. nothing at all. Zero. conclusion: same as above.

the 80 watts: are a marketing strategy, this value is also vague, and utterly optimistic, as there is no way in hell that the amps in those speakers can even output their rated power of 20 watts for longer than half an hour before damaging something important.

and no, your speakers will never ever have an output of 80 watts, for longer than 2 milliseconds. live with it.

There, I did it, another 15 minutes of my life wasted.

[Dustin_Broke]

Oh thats right he is the boy on my avatar. LOL


I have always been into audio stuff since I was like around 8 now I am 25.

[Dustin_Broke]

I just wanted to make sure that these speakers were really 80 watts thats all it was but now I know they are only 40 watts total. But I do think it's silly to try make people think they are 80 watts when they really can only go 40 watts.

[markw]

I just wanted to make sure that these speakers were really 80 watts thats all it was but now I know they are only 40 watts total. But I do think it's silly to try make people think they are 80 watts when they really can only go 40 watts.

You've been here for years and had these questions answered many, many times before.

I think it's silly to keep on asking these exact same questions over and over.

Yeah, you're"special", all right. Do you take the short bus to school?

BTW, your screen name doesn't really matter. Your "special" qualites show through in short order.