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"falsely claim that too little amplifier power is dangerous for speakers" -- thanks for repeating the myth

Posted by Richard BassNut Greene on February 11, 2009 at 07:37:28

In Reply to: "falsely claim that too little amplifier power is dangerous for speakers"? ... posted by andyr on February 10, 2009 at 18:57:33:

Speakers are damaged by overexcursion and/or heat.

Both get more dangerous as power/SPL increase.

Clipping in home audio is rare, but typically creates a very small amount of distortion harmonics which are sent to the tweeters intermittently, and unintentionally, so I suppose you could try to blame clipping for a tiny percentage of speaker damage (of couse you would have to ASSUME there was clipping, as no measurements were being made just before the speakers were damaged).

When speakers are damaged, clever audio salesmen, and gullible audiophiles, quickly decide (after the damage is done) that the amplifier in use must have been "underpowered".

Strange that no one thought the amp was "underpowered" before the damage was done, as everyone was enjoying the (usually) loud music ... but AFTER the damage was done, the party boys will gather around the dead speakers and declare, after a brief external inspection, that "THE AMP HAD TO BE UNDERPOWERED!"

This is nonsense, of course, as damage is always caused by more power than the speakers can handle.

And whether the music sounded distorted or clean just before the damage was done, makes no difference to the speakers, because too much power = too much excursion and/or too much voice coil heat.

If underpowered amplifiers were dangerous, then the most dangerous amp in the world would be a 1 wpc amp!. And if you believe that, then you have little knowledge of physics.
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Richard BassNut Greene.....................................................................
The "Cliff Claven" of Audio
and the "The Floyd R. Turbo of Bingham Farms Michigan"

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