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clipping problems


dobber80

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Hey all. i have a question I hope you all can answer. I have been having some problems with my receiver clipping. My receiver is a Kenwood VR-3090 and it has the indicator on the front display. Well, I WAS having a lot of problems with the clipping even at low volume levels. At this time I had a really cheap EQ hooked up with it. I unhooked the EQ to see if that was causing it and the indicator stopped blinking. Can a lower end EQ cause a receiver to clip? That is my question. Can you guys answer it?

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What speakers, and how were you setting the EQ?

QUALITY of equalizer will not cause clipping. SETTING of equalizer might. Quality would affect amount of hiss, clarity of sound, stuff like that, but simply putting an equalizer into the circuit is not going to cause the amp to clip no matter how good or bad the equalizer is.

If you are using the equalizer to boost the bass response of your speakers, that's the problem. Keep in mind that each 3dB increase in bass level is going to require the amp to deliver TWICE as much power. That is, if the amp is putting out, oh, say 25 watts into the bass with the eq flat at the highest volume level you typically listen to, then nudging the bass EQ settings up by 3dB (barely perceptable change) is going to mean the amp has to push 50 watts into the bass load. Moving eq to plus 6dB would require 100 amps. Moving eq to plus 9dB would require 200 amps. Moving eq to plus 12dB would require 400 amps. If your eq setting top out at plus or minus 15dB (I've seen lots that do), and you push the bass to plus 15dB, your asking the amp to push THIRTY TWO TIMES as much power into the speakers.

It's unrealistic to think any amp is going to be able to do this if you're using any appreciable amount of power when you listen with the settings flat. An even if it could, the odds that the speakers could absorb that much power and survive is pretty slim.

To really push the point, if you have speakers rated at, oh, 95dB sensitivity (VERY Sensitive speakers, will play really loud with not much power), and you want to hit peaks of 115dB (really LOUD), your amp will have to provide 100 watts. That's with no eq. Now, push the bass setting up by 15db, and the amp is being asked to deliver THREE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED WATTS. eek.gif

That help?

Ray

------------------

Music is art

Audio is engineering

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Well, yeah, and when you go out to dinner at a really posh restaurant with a famous chef you shouldn't dump salt and pepper all over your food, and you ought to watch your TeeVee with the black level, contrast, grey balance, convergence et al as set by your friendly neighborhood Imaging Sciences Foundation approved tech instead of boosting that color knob a bit so everyone looks all heathly and tanned, and neutral grey lenses in your sunglasses will give you a more accurate color balance that the amber lenses that make everyday look like a bee-youteeful summar morning...

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  • 1 month later...

In my early days I used an EQ but quickly realized with KLIPSCH FLAT IS THE WAY TO GO!!! Anything else would be an insult to the grace of KLIPSCH. It's hard to get used to at first but you'll see what a lot of people mean about running flat.

------------------

Onkyo TX8511

ADCOM GCD-700

KLIPSCH CF3,s

KLIPSCH KLF20

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Concerning EQ:

I If it feels good do it.

II ...But don't do it too much!

III digital beats analog.

IV parametric beats "graphic".

V you can cut a room resonance down to

size, but...

VI ...you can't fill up a "black hole"

null.

VII in a perfect world, they would not be

needed.

VIII the world ain't perfect!

IX we are all equal under the law.

X except some are more equal than others.

(right, bill? hill?)

These are the ten commandments of EQ

-Blind Melon

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That's probably what fried my tweeters in the KLF-20's. I was pushing +12db total over flat (old speaker settings that I didn't change when these came in a week ago...DOH!).

------------------

Tom

KLF-20 Mahogany

Carver Receiver MXR-150

Yamaha PF-800 Turntable/ Sure V15 Type V Cartridge

Carver TL-3100 CD

Yamaha K-1020 Cassette

dbx 1231 EQ

dbx 3bx Series Two

H.H. Scott 830z Analyzer

Monster Interlink 300 mk II

Original Monster Cable

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