What is clipping?

[whoaru99]

Just because a large group of people are doing the samething, doesn't mean it's the smart thing to do. Like hooking up a pair of sixty watt speakers up to a hundred watt amp.

There are speaker manufacturers that recommend it or at least don't discourage it (amp with higher rating than speakers).

Here's one example from Paradigm, a well-known and respected speaker mfg.

The Right Amount of Power
A power-range rating is given as a guide to indicate the approximate minimum and maximum power input of your Paradigm® Reference speakers. Amplifiers that exceed your speaker’s power-range rating are recommended. Their greater power reserves provide better sound. However, exercise caution! Use the speakers within their power-range rating to prevent damage (keep listening levels below the point of excessive woofer cone excursion).

As well, JBL recommends amplifier with up to 2x the speaker's rated power for some applications (and less than for other applications).

 

[Djcoolray]

How so? If you need, say, 15 watts to achieve the desired loudness at your listening position, then 15 watts is what you need. Whether you're using 100 watts amplifier or 1500 watts amplifier to achieve that is irrelevant. Clipping only happens if you need more power than your amplifier can give.



Indeed. Assuming he sits 3 meters from his loudspeakers, and he wants 90 dB loudness at his listening position, then he only needs one watt to achieve that --and it already takes 3 dB headroom into account. Even if he sits 5 meters away from the speakers, he only needs two watts. He would be fine with 5 watt amplifiers like Nelson Pass' First Watt F2. Then I don't understand why he would ever need as much as twice the power of his speaker's power handling capacity.

As far as I know, loudspeakers are unlike light bulbs. Loudspeakers power rating is not the amount of power the speakers consumes, but the maximum amount of power the speakers can take before they break from thermal and/or mechanical stress.

For me...

It's the sound that comes from a much larger cabnet speaker, it's more life like. The tower speakers have adjustable crossovers, the receiver has a graphic equalizer on the ampliphiers output for adjustment of the signal and I'm using a Yamaha "Natural Sound" EQ. For me, adjustment of sound is everything. I just didn't know what clipping was since I never experienced it before. For me, clipping is an indication of doing something wrong.

No offense !

 

[Djcoolray]

There are speaker manufacturers that recommend it or at least don't discourage it (amp with higher rating than speakers).

Here's one example from Paradigm, a well-known and respected speaker mfg.



As well, JBL recommends amplifier with up to 2x the speaker's rated power for some applications (and less than for other applications).

Yes...

My point exactly, and ever since then with the information supplied by certain manufacturers people have been putting systems together and blowing out their speakers or the receivers. So, what does that tell you... I figured something was wrong. I have put together a system and beat it mercilessly for twenty-three years and it specs out like new. I'm not even using the supposedly great silver faced equipment either. But since I'm not doing what everyone else is doing, people don't understand.....

 

[DaveVoorhis]

The advice to use speaker ratings roughly double the amplifier rating, and the advice to use speaker ratings roughly half the amplifier rating, are both reasonable.

The former is based on the assumption that even if you turn the volume up high, you can't put enough energy into the speakers to damage them. You might still damage the speakers if you turn the volume too high -- to the point of clipping.

The latter is based on the logic that you won't need to turn the volume up high, so you won't put enough energy into speakers to damage them. You might still damage the speakers if you turn the volume too high -- to the point of exceeding the speakers' ratings.

If the audio is distorted -- in the former case, because the amplifier is clipping; in the latter because the speakers are over-driven -- then the volume is too high.

 

[DrumminDaddy]

...I push 100db+ a lot (Damn you, Porcupine Tree!)...

Well, if you're gonna crank it...

Gavin Harrison...YEAH!

 

[sKiZo]

He certainly takes it to a new level ... I've a feeling my system's gonna get a workout again tonite ... ;-}

 

[BilboBaggins]

Just because the amp can go to 200 watts, it doesn't mean you should use it. Like a car that can go 100 mph! But, if you ever need the torque, it is there. Same as with an amp. If you need that power, it is there.

I drive Kef Concerto's with an mc2205. The Kefs can take 50 or 80 watts programme, depending on what you read. But I use them together because I get the quality and bass that I love no matter the volume. Mind you, I have rarely ever put more than 30 watts through them. I tried them with lower power systems and they were just meh. But when I plugged them into a high current amp, the speakers came to life.

True, it all depends on what music you play, and how loud you want them. If I want loud, I go to my Bose 1801 and my Kef 105s. But even then, I never push them past 4 leds on the amp. I think measurements are all well and good, and the math is useful, but it only gives you an idea. There is more to an amp and speaker matching than just power ratings. Only, I haven't really found what to measure. The closest indicator I have found is the wpc and the dampening factor combined. At least to what I listen to. The way I like to listen to it.

Just thought I would put this out there. It is never just black and white. There are many shades of grey.

 

[rolex452]

I was informed what "clipping" was when I purchased my first system in the early 1970's. I now still own an antique setup with a Nakamichi TA-2A receiver (only 50 watts per channel but containing a STASIS backup amplifier circuit), and a pair of much maligned Bose 901 Series VI speakers with the matching equalizer. I cannot turn up the volume high enough (without going deaf) to get the system to "clip". The sound may not be as pure as an audiophile would like to hear, but this setup is great at parties in a large room.

 

[woodj]

Think of the amplifier circuits as a container of a size dependent on the amp specs (available power et.al.). and the signal as what we are trying to fit into the container.

To make a signal that is larger than the container size fit in the container it must be foreshortened (compressed or clipped)

Most amplifier circuits do not have compression circuitry (which would cause a new set of problems) so the result is clipping the signal to fit in the container resulting in an incomplete signal which if carried to the extreme can result in distortion or oscillation or worse.