Too little power

[rthorsten]

He if my speaker is 1000w continous and 2000 max and my amp is a 1000w amp. Do this hurt my speaker. I mean it will never blow the speaker obviously but i won;t be playing it at full blast so it will never see a continous 1000w. So my question is will the speaker be damaged by giving it less than ideal wattage. I dont really want to spend the money on a 2000w amp but I got a good deal on the speaker.

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[Selkies 10+ year member]

I try to match the RMS wattages or go over by a little bit on the amp. So if you're talking about a 1000W RMS amp then that should be fine. 1000W max might be a little iffy. The amp may have to strain to play the sub and the amp may be ruined over time...or you just may not be realizing the full potential of the subwoofer. I dunno...just my impressions from what I've read. Damage to a speaker is usually caused by clipping (when an amp is pushed too hard and puts out a very distorted signal.

 

[Serpent710 10+ year member]

rms is the continuous power ratting so by giving it 1000 you are giving it what the factory recommends. so pretty much 1k watts is what your subwoofer is recommend to play. what subwoofer do you have? If it is a good brand, underated etc.. then your sub might be able to handle more.

 

[Trey803 5,000+ posts]

set your gain on the amp with a dmm and your subs will be ok

 

[rthorsten]

I got a re sx 12 which is 1000w rms and 2000w max. i would have got a se but they were the same price so i got the bigger of the two. As for the sub there is a fosgate t1000 or us amp md 1. Both do 1000w watts at 1 ohm. Are these good enough or so i go bigger. Much bigger and i will have to upgrade the electrical system and I didn't want to spend more money. I have a 160amp stock alternator and a huge battery i figured that would be enough with the current set up.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

If running less than RMS would damage the sub, you'd damage it everytime the volume was below max and any time you played something other than a test tone. RMS rating is a MAX continuous value. It isn't what the sub needs, it isn't a goal. It's a limit.

 

[thevic24 5,000+ posts]

you will be fine as long as the amp dosnt clip alot

 

[ultimate157 5,000+ posts]

Forget about max power ratings, they are inconsistent and only for marketing. There is no industry standard for these ratings, so a manufacturer could easily change it from 1kw to 50kw.

RMS is the only thing you should be concerned with

 

[SPL Blazer 10+ year member]

Keep in mind too that your only giving the sub the full 1000 watts when your volume is at full and the voltage is at 14.4 volts. If your electrical system isn't very good then your probably not going to see 14.4 volts when it's cranked up, so therefore you won't be getting the 1000 watts either. underpowering a sub never blew one up, distortion and clipping is what blows speakers.

 

[DBfan187 5,000+ posts]

Distortion doesn't blow speakers!

Clipping doesn't kill speakers!

Only thing that kills speakers is time and power, average power over time.

 

[ultimate157 5,000+ posts]

underpowering a sub never blew one up, distortion and clipping is what blows speakers.

Distortion doesn't blow speakers!Clipping doesn't kill speakers!

Only thing that kills speakers is time and power, average power over time.

Word. You can send a sub a full square wave and not damage it so long as the RMS (Quite high for square waves) does not exceed the thermal capacity of the voicecoil.

 

[SPL Blazer 10+ year member]

so you think that your speakers will be fine by sending distorted clipped signals to them? Your nuts.

 

[DBfan187 5,000+ posts]

so you think that your speakers will be fine by sending distorted clipped signals to them? Your nuts.

Then every time someone who listens to Jimmy Hendrix, their speakers would blow.
Clipping & distorion DON'T hurt your speakers!

 

[ultimate157 5,000+ posts]

so you think that your speakers will be fine by sending distorted clipped signals to them? Your nuts.

I'm not nuts, I'm an EE.

 

[Immacomputer 10+ year member]

so you think that your speakers will be fine by sending distorted clipped signals to them? Your nuts.

For about 2 years now I have had very underpowered amps on my sub and I have clipped the shit out of them when running full tilt and I have had no problems. The thermal power handing of my sub is greater than the clipped power that I send my sub when listening to any bass heavy music where I don't care about detail.

It isn't the signal, it's the power. Period. You're crazy if you believe that a speaker can't produce a square wave at low volumes without ripping itself to shreds.