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Can a 50watt rms amp blow 100+watt rms speakers?

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DirtFarmer

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Silly and general question?

I recently installed Alpine Componets SPR-60C and a 4 channel amp Alpine MRP-F300. The amp puts out 50 rms watt max and the speakers can take 110 rms watt max...can I blow these speakers with this amp?

The reason Im asking is I'm having problems. I hear a crackling in the speakers when I turn them up. They sound amazing and loud until i reach a certain volume level then they sound like ****. I have the gains at about 50% right now on the amp, when I hooked them up the gains were at 80%....ouch. So im wondering if I blew my speakers.

Im planning on taking them out this weekend and bench testing them, I have a feeling some of the crackling im hearing may be rattling from the car doors, at least I hope so. These things have me very frustrated.

I've been tuning the system a ton and I do get it to sound better but I'm not satisfied with then at the moment. Also, some songs I can't hear anything wrong and others I hear the crackle. Ive tested my ipod in another system and I dont hear the crackle so I know its not my ipod. the entire system is new.

kenwood KDC-x696

Alpine MRP-F300

Alpine SPR-60c

Alpine Type r 6x8 co-axel (not installed yet)

JL Audio Slash 500/1

JL Audio 12"w3v3 power wedge box

I know Im a noob and should probably get professional help, I would just like to see if I can resolve this before I pay someone else to do it.

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you're giving them half the power of what they ask for so thats why they're distorting at higher levels. there's not enough power to have them go full volume clearly. they're most likely not blown don't worry

 
ok..that makes sense. I was wondering if I was underpowering them. I'll bridge the amp to get the 75 watts and see if that helps.
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It'll help a little bit. It won't solve your problem 100%, but I think you'll notice a difference. Just make sure you don't crank the amp too much, you don't want to clip them.

 
NOOOOOOOOBS have no business answering questions.

Yes you can blow speakers with an amp that is underpowering them. Too little power will not blow a speaker, but using the gain knob like a volume knob will. If you turn the gains up too high and clip the crap out of a speaker you are basically sending a DC signal to them and they are getting way more electricity than they are supposed to. This is super hard on the amp, your cars electrical system, and it will/can over heat your speakers.

Also if youre using the headunit to power your speakers, it will not go to full volume or probably much past half volume before distorting. turning up the bass/treble or any other eq on the deck or ipod will only speed this up. you should never use the ipods eq when plugged into the stereo either.

 
The reason Im asking is I'm having problems. I hear a crackling in the speakers when I turn them up. They sound amazing and loud until i reach a certain volume level then they sound like ****. I have the gains at about 50% right now on the amp, when I hooked them up the gains were at 80%....ouch. So im wondering if I blew my speakers.
Click to expand...
A couple of things to consider...

If you're pushing your amp beyond its limits so it's distorted it'll sound like crap. Push it hard into clipping, and yes you can damage the speakers.

But the amount of power you can give speakers depends entirely on install variables and how low you want them to play. If you're hipassing them at 50 Hz and have the bass turned up they won't take anywhere near rated power. If your "crackling" noises are on bass notes like drum beats then this is probably the case.

 
If your "crackling" noises are on bass notes like drum beats then this is probably the case.
Click to expand...

Now that you mention this I think this is whats going on. I don't think my HP filter is below 100hz but I'll double check after work.

So it appears there are probably multiple factors and I need to get a bit more educated...

 
Now that you mention this I think this is whats going on. I don't think my HP filter is below 100hz but I'll double check after work.
So it appears there are probably multiple factors and I need to get a bit more educated...
Click to expand...
In time you will find, you could ALWAYS use a bit more education //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/rolleyes.gif.c1fef805e9d1464d377451cd5bc18bfb.gif but yea all the settings matter more then most people understand

 
Bzzzzt, the only correct answer given was regarding sending too much bass to the speakers. What blows speakers, besides mechanical failures caused by the kind of abuse the OP certainly seems to have the knowledge to listen for and avoid, is heat over time. Your speakers aren't going to blow the first time you send them clipped power. In fact, you will be listening to some clipping any time you have a well tuned system turned up loud. Clipping isn't some monster that jumps out and assaults your ears and eats speakers.

 
I would not jump immediately to the conclusions that you don't have enough power for your speakers. In my observations, the 110watt rating is a B.S. rating. I'd like to know how they got it.

The noise that you're hearing is almost certainly the speaker's voice coil hitting the back plate or something like that. In other words, your speakers are probably bottoming out when bass hits at higher volumes. What's your high pass filter setting for the woofers? In my experience with the older Type-Rs, if you listen loud bass tracks at high volumes, you need to set your high pass crossover at 80Hz or higher. I could get them to bottom out even with a 60watt amplifier if I set the high pass crossover low enough. They had good midbass sensitivity but would not take too much power.

 
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you're giving them half the power of what they ask for so thats why they're distorting at higher levels. there's not enough power to have them go full volume clearly. they're most likely not blown don't worry
Click to expand...
Has nothing to do with it. Has everything to do with the install and tuning/settings.

 
Hey guys, thanks for all the feedback.

Update time!! I went ahead and bridged my Amp to 150 watts rms x2. It fixed the problem instantly. I still have some adjustments to do because I'm still hearing some distortion with bass notes thru the componets. It's very minimal and only noticiable on some songs, more so on acoustic songs with heavy vocals.

My amp is at 50% gain so Im not pushing it very hard and 99% of the problems i was having have dissappeared. I'm much happier about all of it. pretty much the speakers went from 50 to 150 rms watts, now all my gains are low and its just a matter of fine tuning everything. I didnt have much free time this weekend so hopefully I can follow up with more info this coming week.

Thanks again guys!

 
NOOOOOOOOBS have no business answering questions.
Yes you can blow speakers with an amp that is underpowering them. Too little power will not blow a speaker, but using the gain knob like a volume knob will. If you turn the gains up too high and clip the crap out of a speaker you are basically sending a DC signal to them and they are getting way more electricity than they are supposed to. This is super hard on the amp, your cars electrical system, and it will/can over heat your speakers.

Also if youre using the headunit to power your speakers, it will not go to full volume or probably much past half volume before distorting. turning up the bass/treble or any other eq on the deck or ipod will only speed this up. you should never use the ipods eq when plugged into the stereo either.
Click to expand...
^This. As long as the gains are still set correctly, you have nothing to worry about, but don't go thinking you can turn everything up to 11 just because it's not as much power as the speaker can take. Still have to be careful.

 
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DirtFarmer

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