The speaker has a low power output - Audio Players & Recorders

In-car entertainment systems, especially the types chosen for camper vans, etc., are often capable of quite high power outputs and usually need speakers capable of being driven at those high power outputs without damage.

The trouble is, such speakers usually don't sound so good at the very low volume settings needed for evening and late night use in a campsite environment to avoid annoyance to neighbours.

It is a big problem choosing speakers that sound good at low volume and yet can withstand the higher volume needed to overcome the wind and road noise of driving. There have been many technological advances in speaker design and a hi-fi specialist will undoubtedly be able to make suitable recommendations that are resistant to damp conditions, long-lasting and with cones free enough for good reproduction at ultra low volumes but robust enough to withstand high power outputs and such drive units are likely to be fairly expensive.

For myself I would choose to use a dual speaker system with a multi-speaker system comprising several low-powered speakers strategically placed for low volume use and a fairly standard high-powered system for normal use and a selector switch.

Speaker requirements are likely to be 8 ohm, most modern hi-fi speakers are. A few low-fi systems have used special high impedance speakers and the old hi-fi standard for valve amplifiers was 15 ohm and 3 ohm or lower has been used in televisions a lot.

4 ohm speakers are commonly used where a higher power output is desired at the cost of some quality of sound reproduction but depending on how the sound is listened to can soon overload some amplifiers primarily designed for 8 ohm as it will try and deliver more power into the lower impedance speakers and perhaps exceed the rating.

8 ohms is a safer choice. The lower the wattage rating of the speakers the more efficiently they tend to be able to reproduce sound at low volume levels so for background music in a small domestic environment the average power requirement will be in the order of half a watt so even with a high powered amplifier the volume would rarely be turned up above 1 - 2 on the typical scale of 10 and ten watt speakers would be more than adequate. It is unfortunate that it is almost impossible to obtain quality speakers rated at such an unfashionably low power rating.

With the stiffer cones of a higher power rated speakers the volume has to be turned higher before the speakers become efficient and listening at low levels can be difficult. In a domestic environment a 50 watt rating is perhaps the best compromise as if there are neighbours to consider a ten watt average power output will be sufficient even if the amplifier is capable of higher powers. Just don't turn the volume up more than necessary.

The greater the power rating the more power will be required for efficient reproduction. For electrical and mechanical safety of the speakers the rating should exceed the maximum output of the amplifier but listening at low levels with quality of sound can become virtually impossible.

It is all a matter of taste and environment.

follow this instructions and fix it. God bless you
Instructions

1. • 1
     Plug one end of a shielded input cable into the mixer's main output, and the other end into the crossover's input. The cable connectors will be dictated by your particular mixer and crossover, and will be either standard 1/4" or 3-pin XLR connectors. Consult the owner's manual of all components for specific details and recommendations.
     
     
   • 2
     Plug another shielded input cable into the crossover "high" frequency output, and the other into the crossover's "low" frequency output.
     
     
   • 3
     Plug the cable coming from the crossover "high" output into the channel one input on the stereo power amp, and the cable from the crossover "low" output into the channel two input of the power amplifier.
     
     
   • 4
     Plug one end of the unshielded speaker cable into the power amp channel one speaker output, and the other end into the horn tweeter.
     
     
   • 5
     Plug one end of the second unshielded speaker cable into the power amp channel two speaker output, and the other end into the woofer. The connections are now complete.
     
     

This amplifier has a VERY complex output section with a bunch of parallel transistors and several of those may have failed resulting in low output. Two other things can happen: Use of small gauge speaker cables eats up the available power. Changing or using damaged speakers can draastically change perceived sound levels. Checking the output waveform amplitude and voltage under load is with an oscilloscope the only way to diagnose this problem.

I was trying to find an owner's manual or picture of the rear panel of the sub, but had no luck. The subwoofer is a powered type - or "active" speaker. This means it has a built in amplifier. These active subs usually provide for one or both "low level" and "high level" inputs. Low level signals are usually carried by shielded coaxial cables and have RCA type plugs on the end. The low level is also called "line level". This is an un-amplified signal that might be heard on cheap earphones - but that's about it. It is similar to the output of a tape deck, DVD or phonograph. These signals require an amplifier to be heard. If you have a sub woofer output on your receiver or amplifier, you could run a patch cable between the low level input on the subwoofer and the subwoofer output of the amp or receiver. You receiver or amp may call this output "low frequency effects" or similar. The front and rear speakers would then connect directly to the receiver or amp's corresponding connections.

If you lack low level outputs on the amp or subwoofer, you'll need to run speaker wires from the amplifier or receiver's front left and right speaker output terminals to the subwoofer's high level input terminals. High level signals are speaker connections or amplified signals. These are typically connections that accept bare wire connections. The front speakers would then connect to the subwoofer's front left and right speaker output terminals. The rear speakers connect to the amplifier.

I hope this helps - and good luck!

An RMS power value is referred to as the real music power output of a speaker

At this point, I would be looking at the main power suply for the final output stage. You may be attempting to drive the output with the driver section rather than the final amp stage. The center pin of the output transistors should have B+/B- on them. Measure that to ground and report the value here.

Dan

Your Aiwa speakers are passive units and need considerable power to drive them to a reasonable volume level, comparative to the output of a PC.

The sound card of a PC produces a reasonable quality output but in the terms of power is a very modest output which is why the usual speakers used with a PC are active types - i.e. have a self contained power amplifier, usually driven by a remote power supply.
This type of active speaker is designed to connect via the headphone/speaker socket and still produce a good quality sound. This is possible as the speaker's internal amplifier is built with a particularly low impedance input that matches the low output impedance of the PC headphone output that would be unsuited to be connected to the average hifi amplifier.

Many PC sound cards have a Line Out socket that would be suitable for connection to many hifi amplifiers.

You would need a 2 or 3 way crossover, depending on whether or not you biamp your tops. Simply go out of your main outs on the mixer into the input of the crossover. Go from the low output of your crossover to your low power amp input (subs), and the high output of the crossover to the high power amp input (tops). Then go from your outputs of your amps into the speakers themselves.

Are the Philips speakers powered ????
Try in the headphone socket on a radio and check the sound then.