JL shipped me a turd in a box labelled W3 for $159

BigNate · 05-30-2012, 08:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vjarnot

Speakers do not 'blow' from too much power. Speakers are damaged by too little power; driving a speaker to volume levels which require a level of wattage greater than the amplifier can provide will produce 'clipping', which can easily damage a loudspeaker.

Clipping (audio) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The way to damage a speaker which is driven by an adequately powered amplifier is too go berserk with the volume - causing the loudspeaker to draw more and more power, play louder and louder until it physically fails.

The volume knob acts just like a dimmer switch for a light: crank it up and the bulb (speaker) draws more power and produces more light (volume), turn it down and the bulb (speaker) draws less power and produces less light (volume).

The bolded statement is incorrect. The are two things that can damage a speaker, pushing it beyond its mechanical limits or pushing it beyond its thermal limits. The mechanical limits of a speaker are the distance which the speaker can travel safely (Xmech). Exceeding this can lead to the voice coil leaving the gap or tearing of the spider or tinsel leads. Exceeding the thermal limits of a speaker can only be accomplished with an excess in power sent through the voice coil. This can and often is caused by clipping. "Driving an amplifier into clipping may cause it to output power in excess of its published ratings." That is a quote taken directly from the very beginning of the link you posted. While yes clipping is often caused by someone with too little power setting their gains incorrectly, too little power in and of itself can not damage a speaker.

To the op no matter what you can and volume level are at currently it is still possible that you were getting the full power of that amplifier. You can assume all you want that because the gain was low and volume was low that you are not but unless you set you gains with an o-scope you do not know the input voltage that amplifier is seeing to it is a real possiblity.

vjarnot · 05-30-2012, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigNate

The bolded statement is incorrect. The are two things that can damage a speaker, pushing it beyond its mechanical limits or pushing it beyond its thermal limits.

If you keep reading past the semi-colon you will see that I stated as much.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vjarnot

driving a speaker to volume levels which require a level of wattage greater than the amplifier can provide will produce 'clipping', which can easily damage a loudspeaker.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vjarnot

The way to damage a speaker which is driven by an adequately powered amplifier is too go berserk with the volume - causing the loudspeaker to draw more and more power, play louder and louder until it physically fails.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigNate

While yes clipping is often caused by someone with too little power setting their gains incorrectly, too little power in and of itself can not damage a speaker.

Now that is just pedantry. Too little power for the selected level is exactly what causes an amplifier to clip, which blows speakers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigaudiofanat

I will agree that it did blow however there was no clipping of the signal after tuning, they just were overpowered because I wired them at 1 ohm instead of 4 ohms like I had thought I wired it. Installer error

To say that a speaker was overpowered by an amplifier implies that amplifiers "push" power to speakers... which they don't: speakers draw power from amplifiers. How much they draw is determined by the level selected and the speaker's impedance and efficiency. Again, (and strangely enough, BigNate and I seem to agree on this) the only way to blow a speaker with too much power is to play it at levels which exceed its physical or thermal limits... which doesn't seem to be the case here. It's simple: speakers don't draw any more power than they need to play at the level you've selected.

BigNate · 05-30-2012, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vjarnot

If you keep reading past the semi-colon you will see that I stated as much.

Now that is just pedantry. Too little power for the selected level is exactly what causes an amplifier to clip, which blows speakers.

To say that a speaker was overpowered by an amplifier implies that amplifiers "push" power to speakers... which they don't: speakers draw power from amplifiers. How much they draw is determined by the level selected and the speaker's impedance and efficiency. Again, (and strangely enough, BigNate and I seem to agree on this) the only way to blow a speaker with too much power is to play it at levels which exceed its physical or thermal limits... which doesn't seem to be the case here. It's simple: speakers don't draw any more power than they need to play at the level you've selected.

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