> William T Goodall wrote: > > >Sounds like a mutated and garbled version of the well known audiophile > >belief that underpowered amps are *more* likely to blow speakers. See > >http://list.miata.net/miata/1995-04/139.html > >for a standard description of this. > > > The key phrase here is over-driving an underpowered amp. Obviously if > you listen to music at a given volume, it is better to have a bigger > (but not too big) amp working at moderate output than a little amp > working at its peak. In this case the amp is the problem, not the > matching of the amp to the speakers.Unless we're talking extreme > mismatches of power outputs (where the amp has to work at full tilt just > to move the drivers in the speakers), then having higher rated speakers > is not going to make this problem any worse. > Too much power into a speaker can blow it (that's an easy and fun thing > to test next time you're setting up an outdoor or concert type system > and your mate has got his Kmart or Radio Shack speakers lying around), > and running an amp at near it's max power for long can blow a speaker > (more or less irrespective of the speaker's rating), but simply running > speakers of a higher rating than the amp doesn't do it. > I don't remember if Kevin talked about cables in his original post, but > it is something that should be checked, cheap or deteriorated cables can > have the same effect on a speaker as the article describes. > > Cheers > Russell C.
I asked other places and that was the response I got, that it wasn't really 'underpowered amp' but the clipping and the harmonic frequencies produced by clipping. I'm replacing my speaker wire also, but I don't think that was the problem. I used the same guage wire when I wired my six speaker, two amp car and never had trouble for three years. Maybe this is naive of me, but I believe that a speaker should be able to handle straight DC, if the power ratings are correct. Not that a Radio Slack tweeter wouldn't blow from a dance club's amplifier, but if the speaker says 100 W peak handling power, it can take 13.4DC volts at 7.4 amps. The same side of the coin: I've turned my factory stereo all the way up and had no trouble, why couldn't a low to mid CD head unit, Kenwood, not have the correct circuitry to shut itself down or limit clipping? By mid April I'll have the radio and speakers back in the car, we'll see what happens. Kevin T. Just noticed that the messageboard was about Miatas. My troubles are in a convertible. Coincidence?
