Lutkeveld

That would also depend on the board itself (layout, components used) but that looks okay. If you don't need the remote or bluetooth feature you can get them even cheaper. I've used the TPA boards from eBay plenty of times and they're great. I've also designed my own PCBs with them, which is slightly better but also more expensive. The bang/buck on the china boards is great.

Don't know about that specific board but the TPA3118 (and TPA3116) is a great chip. They can drive both 4 and 8 ohm speakers no problem. As a power supply you can use a 19V 3.42A laptop brick.

There is not really a perfect match. Over- and underpowering both have their pro's and cons. I usually recommend 'overpowering' to avoid clipping, but almost any amp will work adequately. For your 50W speaker, anything between 10 and 250W will do, as long as they support the minimum 4 ohm impedance of your speakers

Sorry to say, but you're quite misinformed for a sound tech. 'a certain amount of power to move the speakers properly' doesn't exist. Quality won't suffer with a smaller amp, only max output will Matching output also isn't really a thing. It's not like a 50W amp is a perfect fit for a 50W speaker. I'm of course open to corrections

No, I meant in general. You're stuck with 12V because that's the car standard. But from an audio perspective it would be much better to have a higher voltage input. A plate amp isn't that expensive compared to a car amp + PSU. Plus it's a much neater solution.

12V is a very low voltage for high power applications. Any real power will demand a huge current flow. That's why all those car audio guys struggle with their huge ass cables. A 24V or 48V system will cut your needed current in 4 or 16 respectively. It also eliminates the need for expensive/complex/inefficient DC-DC boost circuitry in mid to high power amplifiers. Anyway, in home your often much better off using home audio stuff unless you want the challenge. Just leave your car amp in your car and spend some extra dollars on a good plate amp for your sub.

Once in a blue moon. Quoting is indeed the best way to get my attention OT: -Read up on Thiele Small Parameters -Search for a high quality driver (Dayton, Tangband, Eminence) with the parameter set you need -Model the driver in WinISD/Unibox -Design a box with appropriate wall thickness/bracing -Look how much the driver can handle mechanically and choose an amplifier based on that -Set SSF if your enclosure is ported, set LPF and gain to integrate with your main speakers -??? -Profit

Actual efficiency depends on several parameters (mainly Vas, Qts, Fs), but the main point I was making is that people think these huge drivers NEED a lot of power. They don't need it, but they can sure handle a lot. With the same input power, they'll be a lot louder than their smaller brothers. But you sure have a point that a heavy cone (high moving mass) decreases efficiency (in return for more bass). I just wanted to point out that some people think that these drivers can't work with a 100W amp or something, that they NEED several kilowatts of power to even function.

No they don't. They have a thermal limit of 25-100W. But anyway. Just pick an amplifier from a respectable brand with the features you need. It's not like you're going to notice the difference in sound quality between two high-end amps anyway.

But, contrary to popular belief, you need less power to create a certain sound pressure. 1 Watt in a huge driver will give way more output than 1W in a small one. If you want a huge subwoofer I'd suggest picking a huge (18") driver, put it in a huge bassreflex enclosure and hook up a DSP controlled Class-D amp. That alone will give you enough of a challenge, making your own driver would end in a disaster.

In the same setup more watts equal more volume. The actual volume (SPL) is determined by a lot more than just watts (mainly the sub itself and the environment). SPL only indicates how loud something is, it has nothing to do with audio quality. A different impedance (2 vs 4 ohms) only affects how much current will flow at a certain voltage. If your amplifier can handle it, it will have double the output at half the impedance.

*volt

Oh wow, I don't even know where to start here. It's cool to see some actual technical knowledge on this forum, but a lot of it is applied wrong. Clipping is harmful for speakers because it decreases the crest factor of the output (music) and produces harmonic content, which can stress the tweeter. A speaker is far from an ideal coil. It has a high DCR (2-8ohms). There is no "DC" in a clipped signal, it's high frequency content (-> fourier). The output often isn't saturated when clipping, it just reaches the max of the available voltage (rail). I'm always open to discussion of course.

Even if you start your own company, you most likely won't be handling everything yourself. There are a lot of different skills involved in bringing a product to market. If you (think you) know what you want to do later; start now. Let's say you want a headphone company (saturated market and high startup cost, but OK) Start with tearing current products apart, replacing parts, measuring things. Learn what goes into mass manufacturing headphones and see what others have done. 3D print your own testpiece, learn multiple 2D/3D and simulation programs. Make a MinimumViableProduct (MVP) and try to sell it. See what works and what doesn't. Just do as much as possible. This way you'll 1) see if you really like it 2) start gaining experience "Lean Startup" by Eric Ries is an interesting read on this strategy. Working for someone else wouldn't be too unrealistic in this scenario, but your 'requirements' don't seem to fit most job descriptions. Most jobs will assign you with one piece of the process (headphone driver development for example)

Do EE and work on your audio skills in your free time. Get active in small business / entrepreneurial courses. Keep an eye out for internships and general self development opportunities.

@Enderman No they don't combine anything, but their goal is to combine the acoustic output from two sources in to one. They don't alter the input source if that's what you mean, but their output is significantly different from the input (bit redundant to say ofcourse). Almost all crossovers do way more than 'splitting a signal'. Sure in reality it's just a combination of a high and lowpass, but it has to take a lot of external factors in to account. There is a lot of science behind combining two sources in to one flat output. By just splitting you'd have a mid/treble heavy sound signature due to baffle step diffraction and higher tweeter sensitvity, including a lot of roughness in the high end due to diffraction (or even worse, comb filtering due to difference in phase). It's not that shifting the tweeter location is a problem, but it's shifting its position on the baffle and in relation to the woofer that causes problem with phase and diffraction patterns.

Crossovers do change the signal a lot. Its point is to combine the two acoustic outputs into one with a straight frequency response. A couple of centimeter can change a lot, especially at higher frequencies (smaller wavelength). Mainly with regards to combing, lobing and diffraction. A couple cm offset can fuck up your whole crossover. How much you'd care would be another story... In most cases the advantages of a two-way outweigh the advantages of a single-source system.

PSU is probably undersized, so you couldn't push the full RMS power through the voice coil without it shutting down. Don't worry about blowing it even with heavy use.

LOL, what Oyster said was total BS, but this is also not true Clipping will decrease crest factor (and thus increase RMS power) and shift power distribution towards the higher frequencies. In theory your statement could be true, because a fully clipped sine wave (square wave) has 1.414x the voltage (2x the power). If an amp is playing music (10+dB crest factor) at 100W max output, effective power is <10W. Effective ("RMS") power will increase when clipping, if the thermal capacity of the voice coil is smaller than the RMS output it'll indeed blow.

Get the JBL Xtreme

Okay.... What was the point of this topic then?

Why would an under powered amp affect high frequency response? 'Picking a good amp' is over rated. You could hurt the speakers with a small amp, you could hurt them with a large amp. With normal use either would work fine though. IMO over powered is the best way to go (avoids clipping and high frequency loading) ....... 10log(45/40)=0.5dB That's not even noticable. This watt fetish is getting out of hand

Get the cheapest JBL or Pioneer offering

OP, why don't you just try yourself.... It's free and good sound is subjective...

1) a two way can cover the whole needed spectrum 2) with a five way you have less budget per 'way' (/driver) 3) each driver needs it's own crossover, 3/5 even need a bandpass filter. This requires a) good design b) more money 4) the four drivers take up space and cover the the rest