You CANNOT "underpower" subs or speakers?

Question

ANYONE who says you can is a moron!!!

If I turn my volume down, I'm actually "underpowering" my subs!!! Low volume, low power!! Understand!!!!

Tell me again how this will blow them?!?!?!?

People are confusing "clipping" with "underpowering". THEY ARE NOT THE SAME THING!!!!

This guy explains it VERY well.

http://www.bcae1.com/2ltlpwr.htm

To LOW,

So...with your statement, I MUST run at watts RMS to keep from destroying a driver?!?! So turning my volume down doesn't provide less power??

The point is, I can have an amp @ 200 watt RMS with gain set correctly push a 400 watt RMS or even 1400 watt RMS driver with NO ill effects, period! (oh, and I never said it would sound good.)

It's when people try to overcompensate with the gain control that gets them in trouble, square waves "clipping" and such.

20 year electronics technician, I know how drivers work.

Answer 1

While we are on dispelling myths lets look at a couple more.

Distorion kills speakers- WRONG! 3 things kill speakers 1. Exceding thermal limits. 2. Exceding mechanical limits 3. Material degradation.

Speaker Wire- Speaker wire is speaker wire. Brand x does not sound better than brand y.

Interconnects- Same as above.

Capacitors- They are not magic devices that fix all your car audio problems like the salesmen try to make you believe. They smooth out the dc voltage to your amp, and for VERY VERY brief moments can power your amp(fractions of a second), and it can be argued that they extend the life(for you sparky :) ) but I have seen no evidence of this. That is ALL they do.

Batterys- Contrary to what most people think, adding a second battery does NOTHING to give more power to your system. Why? Because power flows from the source with the highest voltage, which is the alternator. A battery is only useful when listening to your music for extended periods of time with the vehicle OFF. If you are not going to do that, then you are wasting your money.

Running your RCA's near your power wire introdeuces noise into your system. This one is so ingrained into peop[le that they will refuse to believe it. A simple tes can prove it though. Just hook up an amp and some speakers outside your vehicle, and take the RCA's and power cable and wrap them around each other TRYING to introdce noice. Then stand back and marvel when it does not happen.

Amplifiers- Brand x does not sound better than brand y. Class A sounds no better than class D. A watt is a watt.

That is all for now. If you can think of any more let me know.

Answer 2

Underpowering Speakers

Answer 3

Underpowering is a dissipative word. The others that have responded are correct. Underpowering will never destroy your speakers. The power requirement to correctly drive a speaker is proportional to the resistance the magnet has on the voice-coil. The grater the resistance the more power the amp needs to overcome that resistance to attain the desired decibels. For example it will be easier for a 100 watt amp to drive a 12” sub with a 35oz magnet at 98db, than a 12” sub with a 105oz magnet, but will drive both at 36dbs with no problems. So it all depends on how many decibels you want to get out of your system. Trying to achieve a decibel level that is out of reach of your amp and speaker combination will produce distortion and like the person said earlier the voice-coil will just vibrate, which could cause the speaker failure.

Answer 4

Power requirement of speakers is determined by the physical make up of the materials used to make the speakers.

Speakers are made up of metal with so many turns of wire on it, connected to a paper like cone. When current is applied to the wire, the metal becomes a magnet; this forces the cone to move relative to the strength of the magnet.

All of these issues are rooted in resistance among other things.
The required current for a given speaker is that which is required to over come the resistance and make the cone movement function as it was designed to do.

More turns of wire on the metal, type of metal, Cone material collectively determine watt requirement to drive the speaker, add to that the Speaker Case.

Each speaker is designed to function within a certain range of signal strength. If the lower end of the Tweeter is too low for its design, it will be destroyed in use. The same is true with the mid range.

The bass usually destroyed because the power amp is not capable of generating the continuous power required to drive it. The amp actually puts out so little power, because of it design, that the cone just vibrates instead of moving, and that cause it to shatter.

The volume up or down will not correct these issues, requesting more volume will quickly reflected the seriousness of these issues.

Answer 5

Preach on brotha no such thing as underpowering a speaker, there is such thing as trying to get too much power from an amp thats not strong enough to push the speakers though which will damage your amp or speakers

Answer 6

haha... I feel your pain man.
I have been running sound for many years and have heard this debate way too many times.
The reason that most people will say that you can blow a speaker by underpowering it is because most people will try to push an amp too hard when it is underpowered, causing it to clip, sending a square wave to the voice coil, and letting the magic smoke come out.
Rock on

Answer 7

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
You CANNOT "underpower" subs or speakers?
ANYONE who says you can is a moron!!!

If I turn my volume down, I'm actually "underpowering" my subs!!! Low volume, low power!! Understand!!!!

Tell me again how this will blow them?!?!?!?

People are confusing "clipping" with "underpowering". THEY ARE NOT...

Answer 8

Here's another great debate:

large "stiffening" capacitor added to the power circuit to supposedly improve amplifier performance.

http://community.discovery.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/9701967776/m/2571980638

You are correct, by the way. "under-powering" a driver won't blow it. But, people "under-powering" a driver often push it too far into the "clipping" zone, causing the damage.

Answer 9

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Yes! And I laughed so hard, the guy turned red in the face when the crowd gathered. He took leave very quickly.