RAPTORMAN Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 The other day a buddy and I tried how loud can his cheapo speakers go. We crank it up to the tunes of Pink Floyd up to the point that it clipped. Now when something like that happens... I know it's not a good thing, but why exactly does that happen. I would like some kind of technical answer. How bad is that on the speakers and amps??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Spinner Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 the amp really don't care..... now the tweeters ...that's a different story .... the "clipped" waveform, is just that ... it has a higher average level than a sine, or music, not to mention harmonics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 Below is some chicken scratch on MS paint of what happens when viewing a sine wave on the scope. The top chicken scratch is a normal un-clipped sine wave. The bottom is what clipping looks like on the scope. With music clipping the wave forms are multiple frequencies at once all doing the bottom figure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAPTORMAN Posted November 11, 2005 Author Share Posted November 11, 2005 Below is some chicken scratch on MS paint of what happens when viewing a sine wave on the scope. The top chicken scratch is a normal un-clipped sine wave. The bottom is what clipping looks like on the scope. With music clipping the wave forms are multiple frequencies at once all doing the bottom figure. Craig When this happens, which one gets the beating the speakers or the amps?? Now, going back to a non technical discussion-- The amp cannot produce the "Juice" the speakers require at a certain volume and as a result it clips. Is that correct??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted November 11, 2005 Share Posted November 11, 2005 Well both really when an amp is ran beyond its power rating its producing an over current on whatever output device it may use and in the case of a tube amp the output and power transformers. With a tube amp it would have to be really clipping and left that way for a while before any real damge is done. You ought to feel the heat when you drive a tube amp past its full power rating on the bench into a load resistor. They do get hot! It's pretty hard to drive a tube amp to 100% clipping if it has reasonable head room play music though. But still not a good idea. With speakers it can easliy take out the drivers especially the tweeter. Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAPTORMAN Posted November 11, 2005 Author Share Posted November 11, 2005 Got it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazytubepower Posted November 12, 2005 Share Posted November 12, 2005 Isn't clipping when the signal into the speaker turns to pure dc, thus melting the voice coil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrot Posted November 12, 2005 Share Posted November 12, 2005 When I hear someone mention clipping, the first thing that comes to mind is SET. Low-watt amps are going to clip a lot unless you baby them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauln Posted November 12, 2005 Share Posted November 12, 2005 It is not fair or accurate to claim that SETs clip unless babied. My SETs don't clip, and I am a tested verified golden ear - I hold the high score on the listening test. http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/624148/ShowPost.aspx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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