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buying subwoofer, speaker terminology?


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rdorris84 
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Member spacespace
Joined: November 23, 2008
Location: Michigan, United States
Posted: November 24, 2008 at 4:44 PM / IP Logged  
 im buying some subs,  i dont know anything bout speakers. my question is what does peak power mean? and continous power?
p01110101 
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Joined: January 12, 2004
Posted: November 24, 2008 at 5:17 PM / IP Logged  
Peak power is what the Speaker can handle for very short bursts without breaking the speaker, continous power is what it can handle the entire time its playing, you want to mach your amp power to the continous power and you'll be all good.
Nothing last's like the temporary.
rdorris84 
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Posted: November 24, 2008 at 6:10 PM / IP Logged  
ok so if i bought 2 subs both wit 1000 watts each of continous power, so i would to have buy an 2000 watts amp?
DYohn 
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Joined: April 22, 2003
Location: Arizona, United States
Posted: November 24, 2008 at 7:15 PM / IP Logged  

rdorris84 wrote:
ok so if i bought 2 subs both wit 1000 watts each of continous power, so i would to have buy an 2000 watts amp?

No, it means you could use any amp you want to use UP TO 1000 watts per speaker.  What subwoofers are you considering that are rated at 1000 watts continuous?

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ckeeler 
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Posted: November 24, 2008 at 7:44 PM / IP Logged  
DYohn, can you set me straight? i am a little confused now that i read this thread. i always thought that you could have an amp that had a much higher power rating than your speakers and thought that was actually better. let me explain.

it seems that other than physical damage to a speaker because of being played past its physical limits, most, and i say most because not all, but most damage to a voice coil is caused due to distortion from the amp which happens most of the time when it runs out of headroom. i have seen tons of woofers that were destroyed by guys with little cheap amps rated at much less than the woofer who thought they would just turn up the gains and the resulting distortion caused a failure. i always thought that if your amp was rated with more power that the driver just turn down the gain on the amp and adjust the amp as needed and you still have plenty of clean power without reaching the end of the amps headroom. meaning clearer sound and less damaging distortion. after all its not like your gonna(well, at least not me) turn things up until they are maxed out. i always thought of it like having a Ferrari that can easily go 160mph but you can only drive it half that speed because of the road you are on at that moment. or a 18 foot colapseable ladder to get on your 15 foot roof. ive always followed this rule and it has never let me down yet all these years and quite a few serious home audio enthusiasts I know use this school of thought as well. my question to all of you out there who know(because apparently i dont), is this wrong thinking? have I been thinking wrong all these years?

DYohn 
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Joined: April 22, 2003
Location: Arizona, United States
Posted: November 24, 2008 at 8:43 PM / IP Logged  

The difference is if you know what you're doing or not.  My answer to the OP was based on dispelling the myth that you must use an amplifier that matches the continuous rating of your speakers.  You do not have to do that, and you are safest if you choose an amp rated less than your speaker's maxes and then set it up properly so it does not clip.

Distortion by itself does not harm speakers.  Only too much power harms speakers.  Heat is the enemy of loudspeaker voice coils.  The reason some people blow their speakers with under-rated amps is because once the amp goes into clipping, it is difficult to know how much power it will deliver to the voice coil and often it will exceed their thermal rating.  It is easier to overdrive small amplifiers because people  often want more than they can produce.  Using a small amp is fine as long as it is set up correctly and the user does not overdrive it.  Once you know what it sounds like, it is fairly easy to hear when an amp clips and turn the volume down.

In speakers with small voice coils like tweeters, high frequency distortion is bad but again not because of the distortion itself, because of the very high power levels that can be behind that distortion, and which you may not be able to hear.  Using larger amplifiers allows you to drive the speaker to its max levels without fear of over driving the amp into clipping.  But again, it's all about knowing what you're doing, as if your amp is capable of over driving your speakers within it's normal operating range, you can fry a voice coil and never know there was any issue because you would never hear any clipping.

Depending on the application and the user, using larger amps than a loudspeaker's rating is a good thing because it give you head room - you can operate at the max levels of the speakers with room to go on the amp, and the amp is not likely to clip during transients.  But it is also normal to use amps that are rated at less than the loudspeaker's ratings in order to protect the speaker from thermal damage.  It's all about knowing what you're doing, and choosing the right tools for the right task.

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ckeeler 
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Posted: November 24, 2008 at 8:48 PM / IP Logged  
good. thanks. i will continue to live by the school of thought i always have then. i have never damaged a speaker or overheated an amplifier and i get much better sound quality in any install i do like this. way better sound.
98neonr/t 
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Posted: November 24, 2008 at 10:20 PM / IP Logged  
its not my place to tell you that you are right or wrong after all ive only been doing this for 5 years  and i assume that you have  more experience than me, but the rule that i have allways gone by is to go with an amp that is no more than about 200watts within matching the coutinus powers of the woofer. the reason that I say that is that i have seen too many customers come in and get a big amp and some cheap subs and have it installed. I would tune the amp to match the subs and also let the kid know that they need to brake in the subs before they turned it up too loud so the subs wont blow. and it would never fail that the kid would be back within the week because the subs blew when they let their buddie that said they knew what they were doing turn up the amp and when i check it the  gain, subsonic, frequiency, and bass boost are maxed out. but if its for your personal use and you know how to tune an amp corectly than haveing an amp that is bigger than you need shouldnt bee a problem
whiterob 
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Posted: November 25, 2008 at 2:14 AM / IP Logged  
98neonr/t wrote:
its not my place to tell you that you are right or wrong after all ive only been doing this for 5 years  and i assume that you have  more experience than me, but the rule that i have allways gone by is to go with an amp that is no more than about 200watts within matching the coutinus powers of the woofer. the reason that I say that is that i have seen too many customers come in and get a big amp and some cheap subs and have it installed. I would tune the amp to match the subs and also let the kid know that they need to brake in the subs before they turned it up too loud so the subs wont blow. and it would never fail that the kid would be back within the week because the subs blew when they let their buddie that said they knew what they were doing turn up the amp and when i check it the  gain, subsonic, frequiency, and bass boost are maxed out. but if its for your personal use and you know how to tune an amp corectly than haveing an amp that is bigger than you need shouldnt bee a problem
That is why many installers mark where they set the gain on the amp using nail polish or something similar. Then, when a customer comes in complaining they blew their subs you can check if the settings were changed. You can point them out to the customer that they changed the setting. That can help to show that you are not responsible for their subwoofers blowing.
98neonr/t wrote:
I would tune the amp to match the subs and also let the kid know that they need to brake in the subs before they turned it up too loud so the subs wont blow.
You don't need to worry about breaking in your subs when they are right out of the box. You will not be in any risk of blowing your subs if all the settings are correct. You can turn it up full blast without doing any damage.
Speaker break-in is only necessary if you want to change some of the T/S parameters of your sub. It is not necessary to keep your subs from blowing. Some people do this because they say it improves the sound of your sub(s).
If you do break in your sub basically all you need to do is push your driver near it's Xmax value. The link below describes it better...
https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=73120&PN=1&tpn=2#post
soundnsecurity 
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Posted: November 25, 2008 at 4:40 PM / IP Logged  
yeah its true ive seen plenty of people blow subs (mostly kicker) with tiny little amps. and its true that its never really one thing that blows a sub, its a combination of power,(too much or too little)build quality of the sub, your own musical tastes X knowing what you are doing. even enclosure volume can come into play, if you have a sub in such a small box then it can destroy your sub mechanically through stress on the cone (especially in square woofers. the same can be true with boxes that are waaaay too big. lack of back preasure combined with too much power or gain and the cone will act stupid and might damage the coil. but like they said if you know what can go wrong and why it makes all the difference whe trying not to blow a sub
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