How much Power is to much Power

[THATpurpleKUSH 5,000+ posts]

Understood, but in the above example, what happens at 1 ohm resistance when the amplifier is dumping 1000 watts of energy into a voice coil rated at 500 watts root mean square? Curious.
Am I misunderstanding something? Kindly advise.

The above example is using a pair of 500w coils. To get to a final 1 ohm load you would have to start with about .33 - .5ohm load. On average impedance rise is about 2-3x nominal which is why you want an amp sized that much bigger.

 

[JTF Vegas]

Ok. Some more reading and research necessary. Thank you.

 

[stephgirl]

An amp rated 2-3x the speaker you are driving is sufficient to provide rated power after impedance rise. Beyond that the amp won't have to work as hard to output the same amount of power as a lesser rated amp aka headroom.

Wow this is good info. keep it going. I'm taking it all in. This is interesting to learn.

So if the amp has same impedance as speaker how will that then affect to much power. If the voltage is adjusted to output correctly and all has been adjusted is there still a, too much power still? I understand that having the power or headroom available for the speaker and so the amp would no have to work as hard is understandable. I would not want to say have a sub or a speaker with such & such wattage and have an amp with say 1/2 of that rated power. In that case the amp would really strugle and poss over heat trying to push out power it did not have to get the sound volume.

So example. If I had some component speakers rated at 100w rms @ 4 ohm and then i had a say high quality amp that put out 200w rms @ 4ohm (and we know that most good quality amps can put out rated & then some, same with a quality speaker can handle more the rms rated ) and then after all adjustments completed, gain adjusted to output so on. Would that be to much power for that speaker to handle.

Wait Wait I may be thinking this wrong. Just came to me. A say 200w rms amp will not be putting out 200w all the time constantly. It will and can put out less like 100w at a given time do to the speaker and inexpedience and the power required to produce that sound at that moment. Oh why was i thinking that a say 200w rms amp would be putting out 200w all the time constantly. The amp can put out more then 200w on a say peak part of a song like a bass note of a song like a kick drum of a rock song. Like if i paused the song or turn down the volume knob to 0 on my HU to speak to someone and the system is still turned on, that amp is not putting out 200w when there is just NO song playing or signal. So that is why a 100w speaker can handle a 200w amp because the speaker is only going to draw the power needed to reproduce the sound and the sound level needed. So that 200w amp will not have to work as hard to provide 100w to that speaker when it is rated to 200w. It will have power to spare. But if i turn up the volume to say rock out loud that amp is still only going to give the speaker what it needs to reproduce the sound volume. The thing i know that will blow speakers in most cases is the distortion. That is mostly when you have an under powered speaker and your trying to put out loud volume and the amp can not put out that much power needed and then distortion happens

Do i have that correct?

So is there still anything like too much power then? Or would it be safe to say that a rule of thumb mite be to something like,
1/2 more power then what the speaker is rated. Say 100w speaker, 1/2 is 50w, so a amp rated at 150w should be just fine. Or even a 1/4 more power. Speaker at 100w, 1/4 is 25w, = 125w amp is just fine The extra power is there if needed and the speaker will not be under powered. Anymore would just be over kill and blowing your money away. Something like that?

Thanks

 

[stephgirl]

Ok just read the other posts. Much clearer now.

Just for referance we are talking about a speaker or amp that is decent brand and properly rated . Not a Boss Audio cheep amp or speakers or something.

"Let's use those Sundowns as an example, rated for 500w rms each. Lets pair them to a 1000w rms amp....using that graph from above the amp will have a load as high as 5 ohms. If the amp is rated 1000/500/250w at 1/2/4 ohms, that puts power as low as 200w when it plays that 5 ohm load. "

Understandable yes. A question that may have a few different answers. Different factors apply. ohm's and impedance and cooling and so on. So maybe a rule of thumb would be to get an amp that is more like 2X the rated power of the speaker.

 

[JTF Vegas]

The above example is using a pair of 500w coils. To get to a final 1 ohm load you would have to start with about .33 - .5ohm load. On average impedance rise is about 2-3x nominal which is why you want an amp sized that much bigger.

The above example is using a pair of 500w coils. To get to a final 1 ohm load you would have to start with about .33 - .5ohm load. On average impedance rise is about 2-3x nominal which is why you want an amp sized that much bigger.

So would it be acceptable to run 825 watts at 4 ohms ( Zapco Reference 1100M) to a 500 watt rms (Audiofrog GB12 4 ohm subwoofer) The peak dynamic power of the Zapco 1100.1 is 1625 watts, not sure of the Audiofrog GB12.

 

[JTF Vegas]

Correction:
Peak power operation stands at 1450 watts driven into 1 channel.

 

[Popwarhomie 5,000+ posts]

Wtf is too much power?

 

[stephgirl]

Wtf is too much power?

That was funny good one.

 

[THATpurpleKUSH 5,000+ posts]

Ok just read the other posts. Much clearer now.

Just for referance we are talking about a speaker or amp that is decent brand and properly rated . Not a Boss Audio cheep amp or speakers or something.

"Let's use those Sundowns as an example, rated for 500w rms each. Lets pair them to a 1000w rms amp....using that graph from above the amp will have a load as high as 5 ohms. If the amp is rated 1000/500/250w at 1/2/4 ohms, that puts power as low as 200w when it plays that 5 ohm load. "

Understandable yes. A question that may have a few different answers. Different factors apply. ohm's and impedance and cooling and so on. So maybe a rule of thumb would be to get an amp that is more like 2X the rated power of the speaker.

The impedance curves I posted are the actual load the amp sees across the frequency spectrum. Impedance changes with frequency.


Every type of driver has its own unique impedance curve- subs, mids, tweets. The shape of the curve changes between free air and different box configurations.

 

[THATpurpleKUSH 5,000+ posts]

So would it be acceptable to run 825 watts at 4 ohms ( Zapco Reference 1100M) to a 500 watt rms (Audiofrog GB12 4 ohm subwoofer) The peak dynamic power of the Zapco 1100.1 is 1625 watts, not sure of the Audiofrog GB12.

Peak power is a made up number, rms is the number you want to use.

A 4 ohm sub will rise to an average of 8-12 ohms, so at the absolute most the sub would get around 412w.

 

[JTF Vegas]

Peak power is a made up number, rms is the number you want to use.

A 4 ohm sub will rise to an average of 8-12 ohms, so at the absolute most the sub would get around 412w.

So i would be presumably safe then?

 

[THATpurpleKUSH 5,000+ posts]

So i would be presumably safe then?

Yea it will be fine

 

[JTF Vegas]

Thanks.

 

[blazian87 10+ year member]

I feel like there's no such thing as too much power if you set your gains right. Not enough power is always the problem, not the other way around. When you think you have too much power, in reality you barely have enough and need to upgrade. It just gets more expensive as you go up in power. The more headroom you have, the better your entire system operates.

 

[stephgirl]

The impedance curves I posted are the actual load the amp sees across the frequency spectrum. Impedance changes with frequency.


Every type of driver has its own unique impedance curve- subs, mids, tweets. The shape of the curve changes between free air and different box configurations.

Thanks that info was so informative. That is why i am on this website. Some here do care to help others and give there expert advice and to inform. Some just want to attack and put down other.

So to then make sure to have more power then the speaker is rated for, But like Blazen87 said

I feel like there's no such thing as too much power if you set your gains right. Not enough power is always the problem, not the other way around. When you think you have too much power, in reality you barely have enough and need to upgrade. It just gets more expensive as you go up in power. The more headroom you have, the better your entire system operates.

I agree then that to much power then just gets more expensive as you go up the power chain. So key is to get a amp that that has extra power or headroom but not so much more power that it just cost more and your throwing your money away. Example a 100w speaker will do just fine on a decent quality amp at 150w or 200w at decent price then to spend a small fortune on a say 500w amp on that 100w speaker. That 500w amp may work fine but it's just over kill and you may be throwing your money away. Also is it safe bet to say that a good rule would be to get a amp that make about 2X rated of speaker rating.

Thanks