Boston Z6's

[T3mpest 10+ year member]

I have never understood this. Unless these speakers are rated at 60db/w/m they don't "need" 300 watts to get loud. Just hooking up a bigger amp to a speaker won't make an audible difference unless your physically using the extra power, which on low and mid levels you won't. I'd love to see how much power these people are ACTUALLY putting at their mids daily, especially on music. My friend has a set with 125 per side on these and they do fine.

 

[3.5Max6spd 10+ year member]

I'll bet the output they get from midbass sending a set 400rms via passive xover is not far off from a quarter of that rated power actively. Just wasted power, and alot of saturation when more attention to install and tuning could get'm there I bet. But i guess more power is the easy way out, at the expense of wear and longevity.

 

[KasparD 10+ year member]

I'm not a car audio professional, but I am an electrical engineer, so I know how to set an measure gains. When my pioneer 860 is set at 35/40 I am pushing 300 clean watts to the z6's in my 04 dakota quad. Going down the freeway with my windows wide open (I love the air flow) I will often set the h/u to 35. Loud, definitely, but so is the background noise.

I'm running active so that is 300 watts to the 6.5" driver. The install and tuning may not be perfect, but I have set it as best I could, by ear and by instrument.

 

[3.5Max6spd 10+ year member]

I'm not a car audio professional, but I am an electrical engineer, so I know how to set an measure gains. When my pioneer 860 is set at 35/40 I am pushing 300 clean watts to the z6's in my 04 dakota quad. Going down the freeway with my windows wide open (I love the air flow) I will often set the h/u to 35. Loud, definitely, but so is the background noise.
I'm running active so that is 300 watts to the 6.5" driver. The install and tuning may not be perfect, but I have set it as best I could, by ear and by instrument.

But realize the power your speakers see is judged by the signal (music), not your gain setting. Even at max volume you speakers are not seeing 300'RMS', and hardly ever in music do you come across a peak so high as a test tone to demand all that power.

Thats not taking even account CREST factor. For music, the crest factor can be as high as 15 dB (average power about 32 times lower than peak output power).

 

[FoxPro5 5,000+ posts]

I'm not a car audio professional, but I am an electrical engineer, so I know how to set an measure gains. When my pioneer 860 is set at 35/40 I am pushing 300 clean watts to the z6's in my 04 dakota quad. Going down the freeway with my windows wide open (I love the air flow) I will often set the h/u to 35. Loud, definitely, but so is the background noise.
I'm running active so that is 300 watts to the 6.5" driver. The install and tuning may not be perfect, but I have set it as best I could, by ear and by instrument.

How efficient is the amp at delivering power?

How about we summarize it like this. Start with an amp budget. Find the features you need. Find the size and aesthetics you desire. Then get as much power as you can. IF that is 1000watts, then get it. As chadillac mentioned, they don't NEED it. But if you have the power, then by all means throw it at them. I saw a great quote the other day on this subject by someone who quoted competitor Mark Eldridge who said: "Power is like money in the bank. It is better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it."

For me personally, If I ran those speakers and I had the money to do so, I would have an Audison or Genesis monoblock on each side and would run them as hard as they could. But I like to live life dangerously //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/greedy.gif.5a53e6246569d7ab79867170f3b06629.gif

 

[chadillac3 10+ year member]

I'm not a car audio professional, but I am an electrical engineer, so I know how to set an measure gains. When my pioneer 860 is set at 35/40 I am pushing 300 clean watts to the z6's in my 04 dakota quad. Going down the freeway with my windows wide open (I love the air flow) I will often set the h/u to 35. Loud, definitely, but so is the background noise.
I'm running active so that is 300 watts to the 6.5" driver. The install and tuning may not be perfect, but I have set it as best I could, by ear and by instrument.

Ahh, another fellow EE. Do tell me: what kind of load does a speaker provide to your amplifier?

At the frequency of your test tone, do you know the exact impedance the Z6 is providing to the amplifier?

 

[KasparD 10+ year member]

Ahh, another fellow EE. Do tell me: what kind of load does a speaker provide to your amplifier?
At the frequency of your test tone, do you know the exact impedance the Z6 is providing to the amplifier?

Okay, okay you got me. I will admit that 300 watts rms with a 1khz test tone into a 3 ohm load is not the same as a real world musical sourced 300 watts rms, but the 85wx4 rockford amp that the original posted asked about was not going to deliver 85 watts rms in real world terms either. I was just trying to communicate that from my experience of powering the z6's with 100 watts rms that 85 watts rms was likely not enough to bring them alive musically. I'm truly sorry that my communication skills were inadequate to the task.

 

[bri487 5,000+ posts]

Okay, okay you got me. I will admit that 300 watts rms with a 1khz test tone into a 3 ohm load is not the same as a real world musical sourced 300 watts rms, but the 85wx4 rockford amp that the original posted asked about was not going to deliver 85 watts rms in real world terms either. I was just trying to communicate that from my experience of powering the z6's with 100 watts rms that 85 watts rms was likely not enough to bring them alive musically. I'm truly sorry that my communication skills were inadequate to the task.

thats all people on this site depend on once they get any form disagreement. if someone disputes them then they take it to a level that doesnt apply to the topic anymore. like how many people really see 50 real watts.... not many people are really seeing what their amp is putting out. if you have a 100 watt amp you arent seeing 100 watts, so go for a 300 watt amp, its all relative. you an amp that is rated at 300 per side on those z6's to really get all that they have to offer. sometimes it isnt as hard as people make it seem.

 

[remhunter 10+ year member]

Ok, I think I'm going to run a rockford amp, but have not chosen yet between the T8004 or the T15004. The advertised rms is so confusing. Any suggestions? Thanks for all the help so far!

 

[Echo42987 10+ year member]

Read my sig....great amp for the job IMO

-Nick-