is it possible to blow 800w speakers with a 260w amp?

[notladstyle@yahoo.]

Originally Posted by CBFryman

negative, i can feed my speakers a perfectly square wave with a signal generator (no not free sigjenny off of the internet, i forget the name but it is the only audio program i have payed for).

and i is impossible to blow a speaker that has coils that cane truely handle 15000w with an amp that is purring out a true 800w. it is a physical imposibility. that is like trying to blow a 1000w woofer with a 9v battery.
when i get bored i blow spekers for fun, but one day i wanted to play with DC.... a $15 speaker from walmart rated to 300w but could probably handle a true 40w RMS would suffice. i have a power supply capeable of 14a@24v 30a@12v and 60a@6v. i set it on the 6v setting running it through a 4ohm coil. it had a resistance of 3.6ohms
lets to the math shall we?
6v/3.6r = 1.666a (continuous)
1.666a*6v = 10w

that speaker at there slamed agianst its suspension limits for 45min. coil didnt die.

so i doubled the voltage...
12/3.6= 3.333
3.333*12 = 40w

agian, stayed slamed agianst its suspension limits for quite a while, i felt the magnet, it was pretty hot, but the damn thing still played....

so i doubled voltage agian...

24/3.6 = 6.666
6.666*24 = 160w

slam, current jump, pop, flame, smoke. that quick.
good thing these come in pairs....
the next one saw the wall....4ohm 60Hz...3600w...tore the surround. but that is beside the point.
It is a physical imposobility to blow a speaker with an amp rated to 6% of its power capasity....though i doubt there is a woofer in the world that can handle a true 15,000w RMS.....

the rated power refers to the limits of the vc melting. I dont know if you were directing your comments to me but it is possible for pure clipping signal from cheap 200w amp to pop a 400w vc its been done...

[Diceman83]

yeah, I remember someone's story about how mismatched rms ratings are bad for subs. Something about 2 identical subs, say 250 watts. He hooked up a cheap 50 watt amp to one, and a 1200 watt amp to the other. The one connected to the 1200 watt amp played great, and the one connected to the cheapo fried.

[CBFryman]

the amp maybe, not the woofer. unless it was faulty tobegin with. now if you are talking about sending 1200w to one woofer and 50w tothe other and they share the same chamber, it is possible, but you arent going to send the coild out of gap and have it come back into gap off center, clip the pole, and brake the coil from the suspension/cone. that is what the spider is there to controll.

[notladstyle@yahoo.]

Originally Posted by CBFryman

the amp maybe, not the woofer. unless it was faulty tobegin with. now if you are talking about sending 1200w to one woofer and 50w tothe other and they share the same chamber, it is possible, but you arent going to send the coild out of gap and have it come back into gap off center, clip the pole, and brake the coil from the suspension/cone. that is what the spider is there to controll.

once an amp starts clipping rated output is irrelevent - thats why its clipping - its exceeding its rated output already. The only control is how fast the mosfets melt and how much current runs through them before they do. I do agree i dont think a 50 watt amp would be able to channel enough raw current through the fets before they crispied, but it could happen.

[CBFryman]

that isnt what i am saying, im saying that you can send coils out of gap all day long, you arent going to break the coil off. you can make it look like a mushroom by slaming it into the back plate a few times but you arent going to break it off from throwing it out of gap, clipped signal or not.

there is a limiting factor to an amp with a clipped signal, not only the fact that the amp can only make the voltage go so high (which makes it clip in the first place) and that maximum voltage can only flow so much current resulting in so much wattage with a given load, but also the fuse...800w amp with 50% efficency should have a 120a-140a worth of fuses. most fuses wont blow untill you send a short burst of nearly twice their rated current or go very ver over their rated current for any viable ammount of time. if a coil can handle 15,000w that 800w amp would be having to suck 2500a from the electrical system, obviously not only is the fuse limiting but also the vehicles electrical system.

[sr20de4evr]

Originally Posted by notladstyle@yahoo.

once an amp starts clipping rated output is irrelevent - thats why its clipping - its exceeding its rated output already. The only control is how fast the mosfets melt and how much current runs through them before they do. I do agree i dont think a 50 watt amp would be able to channel enough raw current through the fets before they crispied, but it could happen.

Rated output is very relevent, the reason that it's clipping is because it's trying to swing the output voltage beyond that of the rails, so it hits the rail voltage and then stops. The voltage cannot pass the rails, no matter what happens, those are like cement walls. When an amp is clipping completely it's simply bouncing between the + and - rail voltages and it looks like a square wave. The rms power of this wave is exactly double that of the highest power sine wave the amp is capable of generating, which means that a 50rms amp can do no more than 100rms if it's clipping (normally less due to power supply inefficiency). The very definition of clipping and rms means that it can't be any more powerful than this.

It also means that on a given amp, the cone will be moving no farther with a completely clipped wave than with a full power sine wave. The peak voltage is the same, so the cone excursion is the same. You will get some very very slight overshoot due to the higher momentum of the cone, but unless you're within 1-2mm of the mechanical limits of the sub with the sine wave, moving to a square wave won't make it move far enough to bottom out or do any other kind of damage, other than the extra heat being burned up in the coil.