Why You Do That?

[dB Dom 10+ year member]

There is a thing called a volume knob.

Aww man, I was under the impression this was supposed to be turned up to the max all the time like the bass boost... DOH:laugh:

 

[BOOKER 10+ year member]

There is a thing called a volume knob. This knob controls how loud the stereo is played.
Think about this logically:

Does your "1000watt" amp put out full power when your volume knob is at 1 out of 50?

Think about how speakers work before answering this question.

OK, I got your point.

So there is some sort of "guessing" when trying to match an amp to a sub?

For me the rms rating is to eliminate the "guess factor".

I've always had the impression that is better to "underpower" than to "overpower".

I would take the risk if I'm into the SPL competition scene, but I don't think it's worth it on a daily basis. Bt then that is just me.

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[Hintzyboy 5,000+ posts]

Better to have more power than not enough. You can always adjust the gains to back off a little bit. When matching an ampto your sub, do some research and find out what the sub can really handle in a daily environment. For example, an Alpine Type R is only rated for 500w, but they can easily take 1000w safely every day.

 

[jeremiah 10+ year member]

I had read a lot of threads on "how much woult it take?".//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/uhoh.gif.c07307dd22ee7e63e22fc8e9c614d1fd.gif
Every manufacturer says how many watts to power their product, so why would you like to run say 1000w rms to a 600w rms rated sub?//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/eyebrow.gif.fe2c18d8720fe8c7eaed347b21ea05a5.gif

Did I missed something?, 'cause I don't see why would you put more power than recommended, since they suggest that amount for some reason.

Then when the sub blows, you say is garbage and that it can't handle the power, well it wasn't designed to.

Will like to hear some thoughts on this.

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if u have A amp that is 1000rms on A 600rms sub with the amp gain at like 1/4

its easier on the amp less distortion/over heating //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[coolahan 10+ year member]

you set all of your settings via calculations to see the power rated

 

[creyc 10+ year member]

I've always had the impression that is better to "underpower" than to "overpower".

Actually it's the opposite. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/eek.gif.771b7a90cf45cabdc554ff1121c21c4a.gif

Take at peek at this JBL Professional document on the matter, explains it very well: http://www.jblpro.com/pub/technote/lowpower.pdf

Basically when you run off an amp that is underpowered, it's very very easy to clip. This can be more harmful to the speaker than running 25-50% MORE clean power than the sub was actually rated for. It takes more clean power to damage a sub than clipped, DC biased power.

 

[Immacomputer 10+ year member]

It takes more clean power to damage a sub than clipped, DC biased power.

That's not true at all. It's not "DC biased" because the wave is squaring off. It is still in every way AC power. Power is power and excess heat due to too much power will damage a sub.

I have played around maxing the gain on my 300wrms amp and sending the most clipped nasty signal to my sub and it handles it just fine and did so for about 30 minutes until the amp overheated and shut off.

Overpowering can be even more dangerous when in the hands of somebody who has no clue what they're doing.

 

[newusername 10+ year member]

That's not true at all. It's not "DC biased" because the wave is squaring off. It is still in every way AC power. Power is power and excess heat due to too much power will damage a sub.
I have played around maxing the gain on my 300wrms amp and sending the most clipped nasty signal to my sub and it handles it just fine and did so for about 30 minutes until the amp overheated and shut off.

Overpowering can be even more dangerous when in the hands of somebody who has no clue what they're doing.

Yuppers.

From the driver's standpoint, overpowering (when referring to the average power over time) is dangerous whether it is clipping or not.

Neil

 

[creyc 10+ year member]

That's not true at all. It's not "DC biased" because the wave is squaring off. It is still in every way AC power. Power is power and excess heat due to too much power will damage a sub.
I have played around maxing the gain on my 300wrms amp and sending the most clipped nasty signal to my sub and it handles it just fine and did so for about 30 minutes until the amp overheated and shut off.

Overpowering can be even more dangerous when in the hands of somebody who has no clue what they're doing.

Power is power, but when the amp clips it is sending quite a lot MORE power to the sub.

I'm really not making this up guys. Look at that JBL tech document. People much smarter than I can describe it better...

 

[newusername 10+ year member]

Power is power, but when the amp clips it is sending quite a lot MORE power to the sub.

It is true that the average power over time is higher, but a sine wave with the same average power over time as a clipped signal is equally as bad.

I have never understood the recommendations for amplifiers grossly over the recommended power handling. If we assume someone cannot set gains to avoid clipping with a smaller amplifier, why would we recommend they get a larger amplifier that they can set the gains incorrectly with again?

Neil

 

[creyc 10+ year member]

I have never understood the recommendations for amplifiers grossly over the recommended power handling. If we assume someone cannot set gains to avoid clipping with a smaller amplifier, why would we recommend they get a larger amplifier that they can set the gains incorrectly with again?
Neil

The idea is to have some headroom, both for transients and improved woofer control or damping factor.

 

[bikejunkie223 10+ year member]

dynamic headroom FTW

 

[newusername 10+ year member]

The idea is to have some headroom, both for transients and improved woofer control or damping factor.

How much headroom is enough though?

Neil

 

[Immacomputer 10+ year member]

Power is power, but when the amp clips it is sending quite a lot MORE power to the sub.

How does that change anything I said? I know this is true and I also understand why this is true.

Excess heat due to overpowering, whether clipped or unclipped, will damage a sub. Did I really need to spell that out?

 

[BOOKER 10+ year member]

Actually it's the opposite. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/eek.gif.771b7a90cf45cabdc554ff1121c21c4a.gif
Take at peek at this JBL Professional document on the matter, explains it very well: http://www.jblpro.com/pub/technote/lowpower.pdf

Basically when you run off an amp that is underpowered, it's very very easy to clip. This can be more harmful to the speaker than running 25-50% MORE clean power than the sub was actually rated for. It takes more clean power to damage a sub than clipped, DC biased power.

Interesting, but how about this http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/scripts/rightnow.cfg/php.exe/enduser/std_adp.php?p_sid=BAx426mi&p_lva=&p_faqid=24&p_created=945732715&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MjM0JnBfcGFnZT0x&p_li=

not to argue or anytihng but these is from another manufacturer.

This is a good discussion and a lot of people is learning something.

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