Can a clipped song cause damage to my sub?

[RSDXzec 10+ year member]

Just got my new sub setup and I've been trying to find good bass music. I came across "gucci mane - swing my door", this song shakes my car like crazy but I am concerned about any damage it may cause. Watching it with the scope view on windows media player the clipping is obvious. Using audacity the clip detector picks up loads of clipping. I am aware that generally amplifier clipping is the type of clipping to be worried about but I have no concerns there, will playing this song maxed cause damage to my sub?

By maxed I mean 75% on my head unit which is where I set my gains to 350wrms with a DMM and a test tone.

And my sub is 350wrms, my amp is 400wrms if this is relevant in any way.

Cheers.

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[stl_314 10+ year member]

On that power I would not worry about it, BUT majority of people would disagree.

My view on it is I have never blown a sub to this day, and I set everything by ear and play full tilt for hours at a time. Clipping has never been a problem for me unless I was doing 3000+ rms then it start to stink/ damage coils

 

[Tupolev 10+ year member]

I remember reading an article about how clipped bass waves increase "perceived" loudness.

Why are you listening to mainstream rap anyways?

D'oh, I forgot this was CA.com, not the SONAR forums.

 

[nateberrier 10+ year member]

Mainstream rap usually has a nasty bassline in it. Good hip-hop does not because they want you to pay attention to the lyrics haha.

On 400 wrms I think youll be fine. I used to play some terrible youtube "bass boosted" songs on my CVRs back in high school and was likely clipping the **** out of them. Never had any issues.

You start putting 1500-2000-3000 etc rms to a sub and get a little clipping or dirty/clipped music and you will smell your coils lol

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Too little data. All things being equal a clipped singnal of the same current and voltage will hurt a speker faster than an unclipped signal. I'd bet dollars to donuts that at very few times are you really seeing true max power out of your amp.

Sadly a little sub like that may not give you a lot of warning before coils burn. Hate to say it but the only way you'll know that sub's true limits is when you burn a coil. A good rule of thumb would be to not listen to more than 1 track of that sort of "music" without a few minutes cool-down just in case. Then again, if you can listen to more than 3 minutes in a row of that shite you're built of stronger stuff than I am.

 

[itsblown 10+ year member]

honestly some will disagree but with your set up I wouldnt worry about it... but if you start to hear distortion through the sub turn it down. if you sit there and play clipped songs over and over and over your coils will start to heat up but on such low power I honestly wouldn't worry about it.

 

[THATpurpleKUSH 5,000+ posts]

Clipping isnt always audible. Turn it down when you smell it.

 

[nateberrier 10+ year member]

Clipping isnt always audible. Turn it down when you smell it.

Rofl this is a good policy unless its a sealed box. Setting with a DMM or OScope are best, but I feel like most of us do it this way

 

[bds0688 10+ year member]

Long as you don't do what my friend did. Crappy PA amp with just bass boost on? Better turn that on. Charcoal black coils later -.-

 

[RSDXzec 10+ year member]

On that power I would not worry about it, BUT majority of people would disagree.
My view on it is I have never blown a sub to this day, and I set everything by ear and play full tilt for hours at a time. Clipping has never been a problem for me unless I was doing 3000+ rms then it start to stink/ damage coils

good to know, never set gains by ear, but considering that's generally less accurate than DMM/o-scope I'd say I should be safe on my setup. Specially with much less RMS.

I remember reading an article about how clipped bass waves increase "perceived" loudness.
Why are you listening to mainstream rap anyways?

D'oh, I forgot this was CA.com, not the SONAR forums.

indeed they do, feeling the bass much more than usual.

Honestly not really a fan of rap, just trying to get good music to show off the subs potential, considering the music I generally listen too doesn't have excessive bass.

Mainstream rap usually has a nasty bassline in it. Good hip-hop does not because they want you to pay attention to the lyrics haha.
On 400 wrms I think youll be fine. I used to play some terrible youtube "bass boosted" songs on my CVRs back in high school and was likely clipping the **** out of them. Never had any issues.

You start putting 1500-2000-3000 etc rms to a sub and get a little clipping or dirty/clipped music and you will smell your coils lol

Sweet, before I asked here I have run my setup with constant heavy bass music for about half an hour so they don't instantly fail. I think CVRs are 400wrms so it's pretty close to my setup.

Too little data. All things being equal a clipped singnal of the same current and voltage will hurt a speker faster than an unclipped signal. I'd bet dollars to donuts that at very few times are you really seeing true max power out of your amp.
Sadly a little sub like that may not give you a lot of warning before coils burn. Hate to say it but the only way you'll know that sub's true limits is when you burn a coil. A good rule of thumb would be to not listen to more than 1 track of that sort of "music" without a few minutes cool-down just in case. Then again, if you can listen to more than 3 minutes in a row of that shite you're built of stronger stuff than I am.

the max power on the amp is 800watts so I never push it that far. lol I did run it for half an hour with heavy bass before asking here so lucky for me I guess soundstream used quality materials. I saw on another forum someone saying these subs can handle 600wrms, I'm not crazy enough to go that far, but I try to look after my gear and stay at the rated rms.

honestly some will disagree but with your set up I wouldnt worry about it... but if you start to hear distortion through the sub turn it down. if you sit there and play clipped songs over and over and over your coils will start to heat up but on such low power I honestly wouldn't worry about it.

good to know, unfortunately I haven't heard enough bass to tell when they're distorted too easily, unless they're obviously bottoming out.

My ambient temps are pretty high as well, I'm in the tropics so the car heats up a fair bit, do you think this may make it easier for the coils to heat up and cause damage?

Clipping isnt always audible. Turn it down when you smell it.

lol, subs are in my boot, so it would take a while to get to me, specially if the windows are open.

Long as you don't do what my friend did. Crappy PA amp with just bass boost on? Better turn that on. Charcoal black coils later -.-

Care to explain that a bit more? not too sure what you meant. I have my bass boost all the way down/off, not risking bass boost on my system.

 

[VisceralSound 10+ year member]

Posted this not too long ago, 'roux fixed it

http://www.caraudio.com/forums/video-database/534546-gucci-mane-swing-my-door-clipped.html

/thread

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

good to know, never set gains by ear, but considering that's generally less accurate than DMM/o-scope I'd say I should be safe on my setup. Specially with much less RMS.

Assuming every piece of music you play has the exact same recording levels that may be helpful. Your ears and common sense prevail.

 

[bds0688 10+ year member]

My friend's amp ahd a crappy bass boost switch, I'm guessing some obscene +db on whatever frequency. When I helped him tune I told him to leave that off, as the gain was set for whatever fun he may have with the HU.

He calls me one morning with smoke pouring out of his trunk. I look at the amp, he had turned it on cooking both his subs.

 

[RSDXzec 10+ year member]

Posted this not too long ago, 'roux fixed ithttp://www.caraudio.com/forums/video-database/534546-gucci-mane-swing-my-door-clipped.html

/thread

well, it's not really /thread as my question had to do with music in general, but thanks for the link.

Assuming every piece of music you play has the exact same recording levels that may be helpful. Your ears and common sense prevail.

Havent been around car audio long enough to be able to set them by ear. Also, I use test tones, I had a dmm connected to my amp while playing very bass heavy music and it never got to the voltage that I set the gains to with test tones. Which to me means it's very safe to set it by dmm as it shouldn't reach dangerous levels.

My friend's amp ahd a crappy bass boost switch, I'm guessing some obscene +db on whatever frequency. When I helped him tune I told him to leave that off, as the gain was set for whatever fun he may have with the HU.

He calls me one morning with smoke pouring out of his trunk. I look at the amp, he had turned it on cooking both his subs.

That is funny... well not for him, but afaik bass boost is one of the easiest ways to kill subs and your post demonstrates that.

It's why I never touch bass boost on my systems lol.