|   Can I safely run 125w speakers with a 100w amp at full power | newbie4486
Apr 11, 2003 1:22 PM | | I have 125watt rms speakers run by a 100w rms amplifier and its a really powerful and complimenting combo. Whenever I really start to kick it, theres always the urge to crank it even more but I'm worried about blowing something. With loudness off and flat tone controls should I be able to safely turn it up ALL the way? Its more of a hypothetical question and a precaution but it would be nice to understand the systems limits. Thank you |
| re: Can I safely run 125w speakers with a 100w amp at full power | f0rge
Apr 11, 2003 1:37 PM | | no you cant
at some point, before you hit the max volume, your amp will start to distort. and distortion is what will blow/damage your speakers. this "clipping" happens on all amps, and the worse the quality, the sooner it will happen |
| Clipping distortion has very little effect on tweeters | Richard Greene
Apr 11, 2003 2:57 PM | | "at some point, before you hit the max volume, your amp will start to distort."
RG
amps distort at all volumes
"and distortion is what will blow/damage your speakers."
RG
speakers don't care whether they play music or distortion -- it's all electrical voltages to them whether it sounds good to our ears or not
"this "clipping" happens on all amps,"
RG:
Clipping can happen on all amps but is far more likely with a 50wpc amp rather than a 500wpc amp, for one example
"and the worse the quality, the sooner it will happen"
RG
Clipping correlated with maximum power output -- a very expensive 50wpc amp is far more likely to clip than an
inexpensive 500wpc amp
Tweeter voice coils burn out from too much power input for too long (too loud for too long) -- heat melts the voice coil adhesives and eventually the wires. If bass frequencies are clipping continuously there will be a tiny amount of clipping harmonics added to the tweeter output -- probably less than one watt. Since most dome tweeters can handle at least 10 watts, clipping harmonics will account for no more than 10% of the power needed to burn out the voice coil -- and probably much less than 10%.
Clipping is not to be feared -- it is far from the speaker destroyer many people believe it to be. |
| Clipping distortion has very little effect on tweeters | f0rge
Apr 11, 2003 5:19 PM | | well i stand corrected
one thing i wanna get straight tho, so when i blow a speaker, its not the distortion that kills the woofer, its that the woofer could not handle the 100 watts of power that my receiver was putting out even tho the whole speaker (just not the woofer) was rated at 150watts? |
| woofers damaged by overexcursion or overheated voice coil | Richard Greene
Apr 13, 2003 5:43 PM | | Drivers do not care whether the voltages reaching them sound good (music) or sound awful (distortion) or somewhere in between (rap music).
Woofer surrounds can tear from over excursion or voice coils can overheat.
With tweeters it's the voice coil that gets overheated and damaged. |
| If they were honestly rated at 125watts maybe (but you'd go deaf | Richard Greene
Apr 11, 2003 2:47 PM | | Typically an average of 90% of the power goes to the woofer in a two-way speaker, and roughly 10% to the tweeter. But those ratios can vary quite a bit depending on the music you listen to. If the woofer could really handle 125 watts continuously (most subwoofers can, most regular woffers can not) and the tweeter could handle perhaps 10 watts continuously, the speakers might survive ... but you would lose your hearing it would be so LOUD. And if you played some music whose content generated 11 watts of treble,
the tweeters might burn out. |
| re: Can I safely run 125w speakers with a 100w amp at full power | RGA
Apr 11, 2003 7:08 PM | | As a rule(I'm assuming you're talking about a receiver)...and this has changed I'm sure over the last 5 years but my experience was that turning the volume knob of the Top of the lIne Pionner Elite Flagship which also was rated at 125Watts RMS continuuous at 8ohms .00025%THD that the amp would begin to clip at 1 O'clock. Of course distortion was too high by then anyway, making a mess of most everything. The Receiver which was better(or at least no worse) than comparable Denon and Marantz Units back then 1995, simply could not handle the speaker load. The load you ask? Yes a 3-way 95db sensitive horn speaker with ultra light 10' Fibre-woven woofer and into 8ohms nominal. Basically one of the easiest speakers you'll find to drive. They handle 175Watts RMS.
So in my case they got loud very quickly very easily, still too much for the hapless Pioneer Elite VSX 95 and Denon AVR 3000. The latter fried a Martin Logan Aerieus i at well below medium volume. Darn those crappy power supplies.
Ohh but wait, now I have a 50 Watt amp...can crank it right up distortion free at higher levels. And bass is actually deep, not flabby.
Quality amp over watts. Don't think amps sound different here's what you do. Set your receiver to no surround mode 2channel and set your tone controls FLAT. Listen to music and then Push the Direct button. Notice a difference...Yes. And we have not even switched a preamp and amp...all we have done is bypassed a couple of switches(2 or 3)...those switches which make up a tiny part of an amp made a noticeable sound difference. Some yutz will claim that flat isn't set right...but on on every single receiver and integrated made by everyone the switches are all defective? None are set right? Ha.
I digress...You can do this by ear. Once you hear the bass start to double then turn it down. Everything should sound distortion free as though you were listening at low level...ANY distortion and the amp is grinding to provide that level...Receivers tend to sound bad at low volume so you crank them up to make the vail go away...and then you keep cranking and then they run out of gas.
Luckily the makers know they're lousy and some are nice enough to add power amp jacks on the back...you can then add a real amplifier. The receiver can still utilize the neato surround modes and most receivers are a LOT cheaper than add on dedicated surround processors. Indeed, I'm not dissing receivers...When I go back to surround I intend to get one...To serve stricly as a processor...and let it run the surround channels. |
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