Speaker watts

[Tbag]

Managed to buy this old mono am radio for my car. I've wired in an audio jack so I can play my phone through but the speaker is terrible.

It's 8ohm 2watts, my question is could I buy a modern speaker, say 200w.. Would it work okay, my thinking is that it will be really quiet. Any thoughts?

https://i.imgur.com/eSVJ5OA.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/p7RJGC7.jpg

[defblade]

If your amp is 2w, the sound will be really quiet whatever you do. And when you turn it up, the amp will go into clipping and destroy the speaker. Looking at your 2nd photo, it looks like you're not shy of playing, so maybe take a feed from the pre-amp and mount an external amp somewhere to give decent volume?

Anyhow, to answer your actual question, the wattage of speakers is how much power they could cope with; they will work fine with less. To maximise your output, look at the sensitivity values instead (higher the better), but be aware that will also lead to them dying much more quickly if given a clipped signal.
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Honda Varadero 125cc => Suzuki Bandit 650 33bhp => 77bhp =>
BMW K1200R Sport 163bhp => Aprilia Shiver GT 750 95bhp

[prawny1]

a couple of 4ohn low wattage speakers in series would do better (or or 4x2ohm or 8x1ohm).

You could hide a litte stereo amp somewhere and split the wires to feed left and right channels

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mini-Hi-Fi-2-1-Audio-Power-Digital-Stereo-Amplifier-Amp-Motorcycle-Car-DC-12V-2A-/131186505150?pt=UK_AudioTVElectronics_HomeAudioHiFi_Amplifiers&hash=item1e8b5335be

you could hide a little sub and feed it off this too for a fuller sound maybe a small low power passive home theatre one or just a single bigger speaker up behind the dash.

still only 20w per channel but it beats 2w mono .
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hellkat wrote:

Some people are only alive cos its against the law to kill them.

[orac]

would something like this not be simpler

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bluetooth-Universal-Compatible-Generation-BlackBerry/dp/B00AO23V0K/ref=sr_1_1?s=network-media&ie=UTF8&qid=1410931244&sr=1-1

charges of USB so a old fag lighter can be used to keep it topped up with power. granted that is only 2x 2.5w but does have the bonus of not needing to plug your phone in.

or maybe
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bluetooth-Speaker-Wireless-Portable-Samsung/dp/B00L7XLKDA/ref=sr_1_17?s=network-media&ie=UTF8&qid=1410931244&sr=1-17

should also be small enough to stick in the glove box out of sight when not in use. I suspect doing a bit more looking beyond the first link in a google search will yield better results

just my 2 cents
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Current rides - 2016 Triumph Street Triple Rx, 1994 Suzuki Bandit 400 VM, TGB 204 Classic 125cc
"with nothing left to lose, there is everything to gain. It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog"

[WD Forte]

That's an old moggy right?
converted to negative ground?
I'm assuming you bought the radio for its period look
rather than listening to the the BBC Home service or Radio Luxembourg

I'd go for the hidden(ish) secondary amp type thing
suggested above so you can keep period looks
but be able to connect modern devices to
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bikers smell of wee

[Tbag]

It's all working, kind of. Got a problem with the sound now, it's crackly fuzzy unless you turn it up really loud, then it goes clear again and you can turn it down. Until you go over a bump then it a just goes fuzzy again. I've gone over all the solder joints and redone them. I have also cleaned the pot out but no joy. Anyone got any ideas?