Is clipping worse for the sub or amp?

[dennisthamenace 10+ year member]

topic says it all

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[Immacomputer 10+ year member]

If the sub can handle the extra power with no problem, then the stress is on the amp.

If the sub can't handle the extra power, then I would say both are at risk of being damaged with prolonged use.

 

[Raven 10+ year member]

IIRC, it doesn't affect the amps one way or the other. I could be wrong (Don't quote me) but I've been told an amp's highest efficiency is when it's playing fully clipped. That of course means less heat in the amp, and smoother operation.

*shrugs*

 

[iceteebone 5,000+ posts]

If the sub can handle the extra power with no problem, then the stress is on the amp.
If the sub can't handle the extra power, then I would say both are at risk of being damaged with prolonged use.

a clipped signal will kill a sub no matter how many watts it can handle. clipping an amp isn't good on it either cause you can cause it to go into protect from trying to create too much power and overheating

 

[Death By Bass 10+ year member]

IIRC, it doesn't affect the amps one way or the other. I could be wrong (Don't quote me) but I've been told an amp's highest efficiency is when it's playing fully clipped. That of course means less heat in the amp, and smoother operation.
*shrugs*

i would have to agree with you there //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

a clipped signal will kill a sub no matter how many watts it can handle.

Hrm?

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[stuckinok 5,000+ posts]

its really hard on your wallet

 

[iceteebone 5,000+ posts]

Hrm?
//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

well, most of the time. maybe if you sub is rated 3-4 times more then what the amp is.

moral of the story is don't clip your amp //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Thnking 10+ year member]

A clipped signal will only damage a speaker if the power of the amp's clipped waveform is greater than the speaker can handle for whatever time period.

A clipped signal will only damage an amplifier if the load impedance is lower (current higher) than the amplifier's components can handle for its rail voltage.

So really a clipped signal in itself isn't bad, but it won't sound good if it's clipped enough.

 

[iceteebone 5,000+ posts]

A clipped signal will only damage a speaker if the power of the amp's clipped waveform is greater than the speaker can handle for whatever time period.
A clipped signal will only damage an amplifier if the load impedance is lower (current higher) than the amplifier's components can handle for its rail voltage.

So really a clipped signal in itself isn't bad, but it won't sound good if it's clipped enough.

my understanding was that when playing an unclipped signal, the cone on the woofer moves in direct corealation with the amount of power given, but when it's clipped, the cone doesn't move in corelation with the power, and therfore it won't dissipate the heat like it would causing the voice coil to burn up, so my thinking was that if you keep playing a clipped signal, eventually the voice coil is gonna burn up

 

[T3mpest 10+ year member]

it can still dissapate heat though, becuase it is still moving. It's overall cooling is diminished, and the amount of power the amp is actually putting out is higher than the clean power it could normally produce. However, if the amount of power was still fairly low, even with the decreased ability to cool, it would be fine.

 

[Immacomputer 10+ year member]

my understanding was that when playing an unclipped signal, the cone on the woofer moves in direct corealation with the amount of power given, but when it's clipped, the cone doesn't move in corelation with the power, and therfore it won't dissipate the heat like it would causing the voice coil to burn up, so my thinking was that if you keep playing a clipped signal, eventually the voice coil is gonna burn up

Incorrect. Your reasoning doesn't even make any sense. I can run my av12 off of my ghetto profile amp (rated at 100rms) for hours with a fully clipped signal and the sub will not be stressed and the coil will be fine. The extra power will cause problems only if the sub cannot handle it in the first place.

As far as amps, in my experience, when driving an amp into clipping, it has heated up faster than when set to max power. If your amp doesn't have proper cooling, you can overheat it. More power delivered is going to mean more heat expelled. If the amp is already coming close to overheating with max power, clipping it could set it over the edge.

 

[iceteebone 5,000+ posts]

Incorrect. Your reasoning doesn't even make any sense. I can run my av12 off of my ghetto profile amp (rated at 100rms) for hours with a fully clipped signal and the sub will not be stressed and the coil will be fine. The extra power will cause problems only if the sub cannot handle it in the first place.
As far as amps, in my experience, when driving an amp into clipping, it has heated up faster than when set to max power. If your amp doesn't have proper cooling, you can overheat it. More power delivered is going to mean more heat expelled. If the amp is already coming close to overheating with max power, clipping it could set it over the edge.

the resistence of the coil causes the input voltage to drop, and that is usually dissapated as heat, and with the cone movement, that heat is able to evaporate. now with lower power on a high power handling woofer, i'm guessing that it would still have the ability to cool.

 

[Thnking 10+ year member]

Movement of the coil is only a portion of the speakers cooling.

Even with a clipped waveform, the loudspeaker will still be moving back and forth. If the waveform is completely square, the cone is still moving. Most of the heat is dissipated through static means, motional cooling is less of a factor. Still though it depends on the VA in vs Force (force as a complete acoustical model) exerted by the loudspeaker. If the power in doesn't exceed the power the speaker can transfer, there are no problems.

Imma- I completely agree, and you said the same thing I did basically. If current in exceeds the VA dissipation of the electrical components of the amp, the component will fail. Since rail voltage is already used to select amp components, clipping waveform won't affect it's potential, but if the current is increased to a point you'll fry some components. Often the components are selected for a constant VA, like FET's. So clipping it won't increase the current past it's rating....definitely not the case for all amplifiers.

 

[nauc 10+ year member]

my amp clips all day long, but my HC can handle it cause its a small amp

a 100 watt amp at full clipping is like putting out 200 watts so a 300 watt sub will be fine

just dont use a 100 watt sub and a 100 watt amp and clip the amp