what causes clipping ?

[ttt123]

I have been trying to get my system ironed out in my bronco and .. keep hitting road blocks

long story short... I now have two nvx 10" 1000rms subs in a proper box according to specs and a kicker 800 watt amp. I ran good wire to the amp, capacitor, low level inputs... seems like I've done everything correct but I'm getting clipping when I turn it to high.

Is my amp just not big enough to push those 10"s or am I possibly doing something wrong ?

Any thoughts ?

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[dragon.breath 10+ year member]

Clipping is what happens when you reach the limits of the amplifier’s output power.
If you believe that the subwoofers can make significantly more sound than they are currently making, ( and you want them louder ) then you need a larger amplifier.

 

[ttt123]

Clipping is what happens when you reach the limits of the amplifier’s output power.
If you believe that the subwoofers can make significantly more sound than they are currently making, ( and you want them louder ) then you need a larger amplifier.

ok so a larger amp is probably needed. It moves those 10" but not nearly as much as they are capable.

thank you for chiming in, very appreciated

 

[Jimi77 Premium Member]

That amp can handle a small amount of clipping (~3db) as long as you're not clipping for long periods of time.

 

[ThxOne Premium Member]

Check these two sine waves out. One is unclipped and smooth and the other hard clipped.

Picture your woofer following those sine waves. The first unclipped as the cone travels up and down with no pause. This is the goal.

The second is the amplifier hard clipping. Now picture the woofer following the sine wave up and down but now it is pausing at the top and bottom. This pause in the cones movement means the electrical signal is still passing through the voice coil only now there is no air moving over the coil to cool it. Hotter and hotter until the speaker eventually blows a coil.

Even underpowering the speaker if the amp is clipped can cause the speaker to blow.

 

[ttt123]

Check these two sine waves out. One is unclipped and smooth and the other hard clipped.

Picture your woofer following those sine waves. The first unclipped as the cone travels up and down with no pause. This is the goal.

The second is the amplifier hard clipping. Now picture the woofer following the sine wave up and down but now it is pausing at the top and bottom. This pause in the cones movement means the electrical signal is still passing through the voice coil only now there is no air moving over the coil to cool it. Hotter and hotter until the speaker eventually blows a coil.

Even underpowering the speaker if the amp is clipped can cause the speaker to blow.

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great info.. thanks for sharing. I'm coming up on 50 so blasting the subs isn't something I do often. it only clips with certain bass and I've learned what level I can go to before it happens to avoid it.

There is a song from KB (Christian artist) called 10K that .. it clips no matter what lol I have more amps laying around.. just need to get back into the panels and try a bigger one and see how it does.

 

[Jimi77 Premium Member]

great info.. thanks for sharing. I'm coming up on 50 so blasting the subs isn't something I do often. it only clips with certain bass and I've learned what level I can go to before it happens to avoid it.

There is a song from KB (Christian artist) called 10K that .. it clips no matter what lol I have more amps laying around.. just need to get back into the panels and try a bigger one and see how it does.

Sometimes the bass is clipped in the recording and maybe your amp is picking that up.

 

[Blackout67]

Yea there will be songs that clip unavoidably without turning down your gain. For me that song is Breath by Yeet. The mix is very bass heavy with lots of transients and I have to crank my gain way down.

Could be a voltage issue as well. You can stick a voltage meter on there and see what the voltage sag looks like when the bass hits. Also if that capacitor is just the traditional cylinder style one that the big name audio companies sell, it'd probably be best to swap that out for either a second battery or replace your starter battery with an AGM. 1 farad is only good for a couple watts. So you'd need several thousand farads to make a good difference. Usually the ones they sell online at places like Crutchfield or Sonic Electronix are good for 4 or 5 farads so they will only have the capacitense equivalent of a few dozen watts at most. The capacitors used by pros in competition are usually several capacitors rated for a couple hundred farad "wired" in series. They look more like a lithium bank than the traditional tube style capacitors they are heavily marketed

 

[RobGMN Premium Member]

What cap? Unless it's a really good one, you could actually be causing issues.

Cheap caps are known to reduce total power output. Maybe not by a ton, but why throw away power unnecessarily?

 

[ttt123]

What cap? Unless it's a really good one, you could actually be causing issues.

Cheap caps are known to reduce total power output. Maybe not by a ton, but why throw away power unnecessarily?

I just grabbed the highest rated one on amazon with what seemed to be a match to my amp. its 1.5 something something cap. sorry .. I don't know the technicals on this stuff. I'm a hook up wires and avoid the ones that spark kind of guy

 

[spokey9 5,000+ posts]

I just grabbed the highest rated one on amazon with what seemed to be a match to my amp. its 1.5 something something cap. sorry .. I don't know the technicals on this stuff. I'm a hook up wires and avoid the ones that spark kind of guy

Never trust amazon ratings...there's so many fake ones to puff up things

 

[ThxOne Premium Member]

Wait, let us slow down and help this guy. We know Kicker under rates their amps. Original Poster, do us a quick favor and fill in this list....

Vehicle and engine:

What size power and ground wire: Brand? CCA (Copper Clad Aluminum) or OFC (Oxygen Free Copper)?

Amp model: Kicker CX800.1 ?

Subwoofer Model: I hope these are 4 ohm dvc. VSW104v ?

An 800w RMS Kicker brand amp should have NO problem pushing a pair of 10 inch subs. Like, no problems.