# How many e-caller speakers?



## EW6 (Oct 22, 2007)

I'm going to build an e-caller and was wondering what number of speakers and wattage you guys would go with. Is two 100 watt speakers better than 4 50 watts or vice versa? I'll be running 700 dekes, does that spread size make me want to lean towards four or two speakers?


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## goose_caller (Jul 5, 2005)

The sound quality out of the bigger ones is much better...I would take two of them over 4 of the smaller ones any day


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## shooteminthelips (Jun 13, 2007)

When I put my full spread out I will run 8 100 Watt power horn speakers. To make sure I get coverage thoughout my entire spread!


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## SDwaterfowler (Mar 2, 2006)

As goose_caller mentioned, go with the 100w for the sound quality. If that is the only e-call in the spread, go with 4 speakers to cover all directions that the birds will be working. If you will be running more than 1 e-call you can get by with 2 speakers at a minimum.


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## Save Hens (Mar 15, 2008)

goose_caller said:


> The sound quality out of the bigger ones is much better...I would take two of them over 4 of the smaller ones any day


 +1


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## Feather Freeks (Jan 21, 2008)

would 2, 100 watts be enough for a spread of about 250-300 decs?


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## aboller (Dec 24, 2006)

I am not an electronics expert but I dont believe it is the speaker watts that give you your volumn. You are married to the output of your amp. If you have 1 amp that will only put out X amount of watts or ohms it does you no good to go with 4 100 watt speakers as you would never reach that capacity anyways. In this senario it would be most cost effective to go with 4 50 watt speakers and the clarrity would still be there. Correct? (for you electronics experts)

Adam


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## SDwaterfowler (Mar 2, 2006)

You have to look at the RMS wattage on the speakers, not the max. The label that is stamped on almost all speakers and amps is the max output. It is actually deceiving and misleads the consumer into buying something they think is more powerful than it really is. Some amps may say 1000 watts but the RMS wattage may be 1/10th that. I don't remember the RMS wattage on the 50 watt powerhorns vs. the 100 watters but usually the 100 watters are the recommended horns as they have a higher RMS rating. The RMS wattage is the wattage that an amp or speaker will put out with clear sound. If you try to push 100 or even 75 real world watts out of a 100 watt powerhorn you are going to get distortion.

This post may not be 100% accurate as I haven't read up on my electronics for a while but I used to mess around with car stereos a lot and this is how I remember things.


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## Feather Freeks (Jan 21, 2008)

So i'm a taxidermist and a plumber.. lol, so i don't have the electronic skills u guys have. ok so am i getting this right? are u saying that 2 100watt powers horns would be clearer than 2 50 watt powwer horns with a 1,000 watt amp? or vise versa?


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## aboller (Dec 24, 2006)

I run an e caller that has two 275 watt amps in 1 case. I run 4 50 watt speakers off each on with a total of eight 50 watt speakers. I run a seperate I pod to each amp so I can have calling - feeding loud or soft sounds, in my opinion it works really well. I have a "Boosteroo" from radio shack that I turn on inline with the I pod, this gives it more volumn if needed and helps with clarity. Overall I am very happy with my caller. I have used it for 3 years now and would not go with another set up, (yet). I am one of the few guys who dosen't believe in an ear piercing ecaller. From my experience with callers I think 100 watt speakers are not woth the extra money. Just my opinion.

Adam


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## SDwaterfowler (Mar 2, 2006)

I am in the same boat about ear piercing volume when birds are working. But I do like to crank mine up for flocks in the distance, especially on really windy days.


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## bluebill25 (Mar 29, 2006)

I am with u guys keep the volume at a medium level and the birds have worked a lot better


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## EW6 (Oct 22, 2007)

So if I run 4 100watt speakers, 50 watt rms, would I only need a 200 watt 4 channel amp instead of a 400 watt amp?


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## GVGoose (Oct 8, 2005)

You need to look at the RMS wattage for your amp and your speakers. Typically RMS wattage is about 50% of the max output. Therefore if you have a 400 Watt max amp you can expect the RMS wattage to be about 200...200/4 is 50 watts per channel. Therefore you will be better off running the 100W powerhorns because the RMS wattage for the 100W horns is 50W. The RMS wattage for the 50W horns is 25W. If you choose to buy a 200 watt 4 channel amp you could go with the 50W powerhorns. If you are unsure how to determine the RMS wattage, the specification tags should say rated output or RMS output somewhere on the box, description, etc... You will often see something like 4 X 50 for example which means that it will put out 50W per channel times 4 channels.

So to answer your question the choice is completely up to you. You can buy the smaller 50W horns if you go with an amp that puts out less than 50W RMS per channel. Either way you will have a nice set up, it only comes down to whether or not you want to save about 60 bucks.


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## EW6 (Oct 22, 2007)

Well I just picked up 4 100 watt power horns for $80 bucks shipped on ebay. Haven't got them yet but I've had nothing but good luck from ebay so far. If anyone else is interested here is the add:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0023200904

It is open for offers and I offered $10 a piece for 4 speakers and he accepted. Good luck and thanks for all the advice so far.


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## ValleyCityHunter2008 (Jan 13, 2008)

I also bought my powerhorns from this guy on ebay I offered him $9.50 and he excepted my offer, speakers are great, and the more you buy the cheaper shipping is. I'm guessing he will even go lower than $9.50 if you want a bargin.


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## extremehunter (Dec 13, 2004)

i've never seriously hunted spring snows and never hunted with an ecaller. if i'm running about 2-300 dekes, what would be the fewest # of speakers you would recommend using as well as the smallest watt speakers/amp? i need to spend as little as possible. preferably like $50 tops for the whole setup. thanks for the info.


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## Bustem36 (Feb 5, 2008)

$50 would be alittle cheap I would think.

I would run atleast two speakers. Good speakers alone should cost around $100 but you may be able to find deals.

You could use a Radio Shack mini amp with and MP3 player and run a splitter for two speakers.


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## SDwaterfowler (Mar 2, 2006)

I don't think you're going to be able to do it for $50.


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

As mentioned, you don't need LOUD ecallers except for when you're trying to turn stuff in the distance. I think mine usually run around 1/3 of the total volume for all of them. But I prefer to have more speakers so there isn't any "dead zones" when the birds are circling your spread.

I'm almost finished with another 4 speaker unit. Can't wait to test it out.


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## FowlBoysInc (Sep 14, 2006)

I am looking into building a e-caller also,but am a little confused on the speaker and amp issue.Of what I have seen and read,the powerhorns are all 8 ohm,car stereo or amp are usually rated at 4 ohm's.If you hook up 8 ohm speakers to a 4 ohm stereo you lose almost half of your watts.Or you can hook up your 8 ohm speakers in parallel to get them back to 4 ohms,then what does this do to the wattage of your speakers? This is all the stuff I have read and it has me confused as heck on what to buy.


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## GVGoose (Oct 8, 2005)

If you were to hook up 2 8 Ohm speakers parallel the total resistance would fall from 8 to 4 because 8/2=4. Therefore if you have a 4 channel amp you best not install more than 2 8 ohm speakers per channel. If I were you I would just install the 8 ohm speakers 1 per channel to the 4 ohm amp. You will get plenty of volume and you won't be disappointed.


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## extremehunter (Dec 13, 2004)

ok, so at least 2 speakers for a 2-300 deke spread. what's the minimum watts i could go with on those as well as the amp?


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## FowlBoysInc (Sep 14, 2006)

Thanks GVGoose,I was probably overthinking and making things harder then needed. :beer:


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## SDwaterfowler (Mar 2, 2006)

GVGoose said:


> If I were you I would just install the 8 ohm speakers 1 per channel to the 4 ohm amp. You will get plenty of volume and you won't be disappointed.


+1 That's what I do and it sounds just fine and is plenty loud.


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## GVGoose (Oct 8, 2005)

extremehunter said:


> ok, so at least 2 speakers for a 2-300 deke spread. what's the minimum watts i could go with on those as well as the amp?


This is a subject that you could probably get alot of opinions on. But since you're looking to spend as little as possible with the greatest greatest result, this will be my recommendation.

This amp will put out 35W RMS x2. I know I guy that has used a lot of these amps and never had a problem when installed, so I would suggest this amp for roughly 40 bucks shipped.
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdet ... er=265-079

I'd then pick up these speakers at 50W RMS (second on the page). If you want to save 20 bucks you can go with the smaller 25W RMS horns, but if you run the volume high, you have a chance of blowing them (which I doubt you'd turn em that loud anyway). This'll run about 77 or 56 depending what route you choose.
http://www.radioshack.com/search/index. ... akers&sr=1

Then you're gonna need speaker wire. You can get by with 50 foot of wire if you're only gonna run 2-300 decoys. So pick up 50' of 16 gauge speaker wire. This'll run about 10 bucks give or take a few. Then you'll need to decide how you're gonna go about carrying it around. I've seen decoys, boxes, bags, and other devices to store it in. Depending on what you decide to use will depend on how you wire everything up. I would expect your cost to make this to be around $150 at the most. This is figuring in about 30 bucks for accessories such as battery clamps, wire, connectors, switches, rca cables, and so on.


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