Is this true?

[turtles1118 1]

"To low of amp wattage will cook the sub" is what ive heard a few times and always thought that it was false.

I have normally under powered my subs and never had a problem, not even on installs for other people and never a problem at all. Just want to hear what other people have to say?

Edited June 21, 2007 by turtles1118

[almond 0]

most of the time people will crank the gains with an under power amp and the square wave will cook it. if to little of wattage killed subs your sub would die every time you turned it down right??

[JimJ 11]

"To low of amp wattage will cook the sub"

Totally false.

[flakko 1]

yes. false false false. like almond said, clipping kills the sub.

people are just too stupid to to set their gains correctly, or use a smaller amp in fear of overpowering thier speaker.

[turtles1118 1]

most of the time people will crank the gains with an under power amp and the square wave will cook it. if to little of wattage killed subs your sub would die every time you turned it down right??

thats what never made cents to me, sum jakcalope at the local circuit city was telling this to a customer while i glancing around at what they had while i was with the wife getting her laptop fixed and i waited till the c.c. jakcalope was finished and told that customer that what he said was B.S. then the c.c. jakcalope came over and started talking smack, till i pulled the wifes car into there install bay and dropped his jaw with 1 MJ18 and a 500 watt max {into 4 ohms} Amp in a 98 2 door Cavalier{she likes the BASS to} and told him that i was going to take his job!!! made my day c.c.

Edited June 21, 2007 by turtles1118

[///M5 2,833]

yes. false false false. like almond said, clipping kills the sub.

people are just too stupid to to set their gains correctly, or use a smaller amp in fear of overpowering thier speaker.

Actually it isn't clipping the amp that kills it but exceeding the thermal limits of the subwoofer, caused when the sub sees too much average power.

[helotaxi 46]

Clipping increases the average power beyond what it would normally be for the amp's rating, therby sending the sub more power than the amp should be able to produce. If this excess average power is more than the sub can handle the result is a cooked coil.

[johnecon2001 82]

Where do Square waves come in then? while sine waves are smooth and curvy, a clipped signal is usually jagged or even square if the signal is extreme enough.

[almond 0]

a square wave is just an extremely clipped signal

[DevilDriver 28]

a square wave is just an extremely clipped signal

Exactly. A sine wave is smooth as it is a single fundamental frequency. A clipped signal is the fundamental frequency and some higher order harmonics. When you are badly clipping, the waveform becomes square because there are many higher order harmonics present.

Just to give you an idea, if the fundamental frequency was 50Hz, then 100Hz would be the first order harmonic, 150Hz would be the second order, 200Hz the third order, etc. If you have enough of these present, you have a full on square wave, carrying a large amount of power under the curve (average power over time is substantially higher).

If the speaker is capable of dissipating that average power, though, there is no damage done. It will simply sound terrible.

[///M5 2,833]

a square wave is just an extremely clipped signal

Exactly. A sine wave is smooth as it is a single fundamental frequency. A clipped signal is the fundamental frequency and some higher order harmonics. When you are badly clipping, the waveform becomes square because there are many higher order harmonics present.

Just to give you an idea, if the fundamental frequency was 50Hz, then 100Hz would be the first order harmonic, 150Hz would be the second order, 200Hz the third order, etc. If you have enough of these present, you have a full on square wave, carrying a large amount of power under the curve (average power over time is substantially higher).

If the speaker is capable of dissipating that average power, though, there is no damage done. It will simply sound terrible.

I am always surprised how much clipping most peoples ears can tolerate and think is okay as well.

[DevilDriver 28]

a square wave is just an extremely clipped signal

Exactly. A sine wave is smooth as it is a single fundamental frequency. A clipped signal is the fundamental frequency and some higher order harmonics. When you are badly clipping, the waveform becomes square because there are many higher order harmonics present.

Just to give you an idea, if the fundamental frequency was 50Hz, then 100Hz would be the first order harmonic, 150Hz would be the second order, 200Hz the third order, etc. If you have enough of these present, you have a full on square wave, carrying a large amount of power under the curve (average power over time is substantially higher).

If the speaker is capable of dissipating that average power, though, there is no damage done. It will simply sound terrible.

I am always surprised how much clipping most peoples ears can tolerate and think is okay as well.

Ahem, GedLee metric

[mrray13 30]

a square wave is just an extremely clipped signal

Exactly. A sine wave is smooth as it is a single fundamental frequency. A clipped signal is the fundamental frequency and some higher order harmonics. When you are badly clipping, the waveform becomes square because there are many higher order harmonics present.

Just to give you an idea, if the fundamental frequency was 50Hz, then 100Hz would be the first order harmonic, 150Hz would be the second order, 200Hz the third order, etc. If you have enough of these present, you have a full on square wave, carrying a large amount of power under the curve (average power over time is substantially higher).

If the speaker is capable of dissipating that average power, though, there is no damage done. It will simply sound terrible.

I am always surprised how much clipping most peoples ears can tolerate and think is okay as well.

leave me outa this.

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee