I was talking to a friend about a month ago and he was saying that you could underpower speakers. We were referring to my 2000 watt max, 500 rms sub connected to my reciever. Which I'd love to have in my car...
For example, if I went out and bought 4 1400 watt rms subs and hooked them up independently to a 4 channel 50 max amp (all car equipment), would that hurt the subs any?
I don't see why it would. My setup at home hasnt hurt my subwoofer any. Something in it clicks at higher volumes I think, but my recievers can't be pushing out that much power even at four ohms which the sub is at and the recievers for 8. The whole house rattles like crazy. And you can hear it a halfmile away. Which is why I'd like to get the woofers that are in it in my car that way if I ever needed to I could overpower everyone's system that's around here. I got a little off track...
My reciever isn't made for the job that it's doing. But it's doing a very good job of it considering what i've put it through.
It probably seems like I need some help with the stereo but i'm good. Just wondering if it is possible to underpower.
Replies (5)
uochronos on 08/13/2003 04:02:42
You can under power sub woofers infact i have seen it happen to a friends sub. you probaly would have a problem if you hooked a 1400watt RMS sub up to a 50 watt deck. especialy if you where letting the deck try to push high frequencies threw them... the reason you can under power them from what has been explained to me is you arnt alowing the woofers voice coil to work as it was designed to a 1400watt voice coil and a 50watt voice coil where built to take differnt amounts of movement. so you start to get more distrotion if you dont push enough power and thats what makes them eventualy fail. i have also been told its harder to blow subs with too much power then runing them without enough. i dont know if that part is true or not although i did run a 200watt rms sony 12" woofer on a 500 watt phoenix gold 2 channel amp bridged for nearly 6 months and it never blew. hope i could be of some help
Relax_The_Mind on 08/13/2003 06:33:33
Your gonna fry your voice coils. It wont "blow" your subs (overexcursion), but it actually can damage them even worse. Sending a sub a tremendous amount of distorted power (common with highly unmatched sub amps). Sending a sub distorted power (power that it cant use) ends up building heat in the voice coils and ends up acting like a transformer and eventually will burn it up. All it takes is one break in the windings for it to basically render a sub useless.
Id rather buy a cheapo 2000W fancy design amp than a higher quality 100w amp (most likely the same price) thats highly unmatched for the subs.
Put it this way...Its like putting a lawn mower engine in a Chevy suburban. It may get it to roll -2mph but when you try to do anything more than that the engine will go...
Something like that I think.
RTM
Swez on 08/13/2003 08:04:49
Nonsense guys....
We underpower our speakers all the time when we play our system at low listening levels.
The only problem we can have is if we use a small amp, run it well in to high distortion levels (clipping) which is not good to a speaker of any kind. This creates large spikes of voltage that may become harmful to the speaker over extended use as the cone movement is less than a clean signal output.
Less cone movement, means less cooling potential and thermal damage to the voice coil. However, with todays' subwoofer designs, the voice coils can take so much more power than just a few years ago... this is generally not a big issue.
If you want some in depth information on this subject,
GOTO: http://www.eatel.net/~amptech/elecdisc/2ltlpwr.htm
Swez
baine on 08/13/2003 17:02:48
I have heard that you can underpower subs. I do not belive it and never will. I think that is just a gimmick that some company put out so that you will buy a better amp. Now I am not sure if pushing them at a low power at full range will hurt them or not but... thats how I see it
Relax_The_Mind on 08/13/2003 17:01:37
Yes but that just stated basically the same thing. Yes you can play them with a underrated amp. But when you try and turn it up you risk basically frying the voice coils ( overheating overtime). Just as that article stated. But I guess in accusedmonks case i guess it wouldnt pose any problem.
I see it plenty in sedans where the subs are in the trunk and the clipping cannot be heard most of the time and usually always one sub gives up.
This is what i meant. Taken from the site mentioned.
¤ If your speakers are rated for the same power handling as your amplifier is capable of producing cleanly, driving them with a clipped signal for extended periods of time may cause speaker damage and/or premature failure.
¤ If your speakers are rated for the same power handling as your amplifier is capable of producing cleanly, driving them with a square wave signal for extended periods of time will likely cause speaker damage.
RTM
For example, if I went out and bought 4 1400 watt rms subs and hooked them up independently to a 4 channel 50 max amp (all car equipment), would that hurt the subs any?
I don't see why it would. My setup at home hasnt hurt my subwoofer any. Something in it clicks at higher volumes I think, but my recievers can't be pushing out that much power even at four ohms which the sub is at and the recievers for 8. The whole house rattles like crazy. And you can hear it a halfmile away. Which is why I'd like to get the woofers that are in it in my car that way if I ever needed to I could overpower everyone's system that's around here. I got a little off track...
My reciever isn't made for the job that it's doing. But it's doing a very good job of it considering what i've put it through.
It probably seems like I need some help with the stereo but i'm good. Just wondering if it is possible to underpower.
Replies (5)
uochronos on 08/13/2003 04:02:42
You can under power sub woofers infact i have seen it happen to a friends sub. you probaly would have a problem if you hooked a 1400watt RMS sub up to a 50 watt deck. especialy if you where letting the deck try to push high frequencies threw them... the reason you can under power them from what has been explained to me is you arnt alowing the woofers voice coil to work as it was designed to a 1400watt voice coil and a 50watt voice coil where built to take differnt amounts of movement. so you start to get more distrotion if you dont push enough power and thats what makes them eventualy fail. i have also been told its harder to blow subs with too much power then runing them without enough. i dont know if that part is true or not although i did run a 200watt rms sony 12" woofer on a 500 watt phoenix gold 2 channel amp bridged for nearly 6 months and it never blew. hope i could be of some help
Relax_The_Mind on 08/13/2003 06:33:33
Your gonna fry your voice coils. It wont "blow" your subs (overexcursion), but it actually can damage them even worse. Sending a sub a tremendous amount of distorted power (common with highly unmatched sub amps). Sending a sub distorted power (power that it cant use) ends up building heat in the voice coils and ends up acting like a transformer and eventually will burn it up. All it takes is one break in the windings for it to basically render a sub useless.
Id rather buy a cheapo 2000W fancy design amp than a higher quality 100w amp (most likely the same price) thats highly unmatched for the subs.
Put it this way...Its like putting a lawn mower engine in a Chevy suburban. It may get it to roll -2mph but when you try to do anything more than that the engine will go...
Something like that I think.
RTM
Swez on 08/13/2003 08:04:49
Nonsense guys....
We underpower our speakers all the time when we play our system at low listening levels.
The only problem we can have is if we use a small amp, run it well in to high distortion levels (clipping) which is not good to a speaker of any kind. This creates large spikes of voltage that may become harmful to the speaker over extended use as the cone movement is less than a clean signal output.
Less cone movement, means less cooling potential and thermal damage to the voice coil. However, with todays' subwoofer designs, the voice coils can take so much more power than just a few years ago... this is generally not a big issue.
If you want some in depth information on this subject,
GOTO: http://www.eatel.net/~amptech/elecdisc/2ltlpwr.htm
Swez
baine on 08/13/2003 17:02:48
I have heard that you can underpower subs. I do not belive it and never will. I think that is just a gimmick that some company put out so that you will buy a better amp. Now I am not sure if pushing them at a low power at full range will hurt them or not but... thats how I see it
Relax_The_Mind on 08/13/2003 17:01:37
Yes but that just stated basically the same thing. Yes you can play them with a underrated amp. But when you try and turn it up you risk basically frying the voice coils ( overheating overtime). Just as that article stated. But I guess in accusedmonks case i guess it wouldnt pose any problem.
I see it plenty in sedans where the subs are in the trunk and the clipping cannot be heard most of the time and usually always one sub gives up.
This is what i meant. Taken from the site mentioned.
¤ If your speakers are rated for the same power handling as your amplifier is capable of producing cleanly, driving them with a clipped signal for extended periods of time may cause speaker damage and/or premature failure.
¤ If your speakers are rated for the same power handling as your amplifier is capable of producing cleanly, driving them with a square wave signal for extended periods of time will likely cause speaker damage.
RTM
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