can an amp fry a speaker?

The amp going on or off, could be a couple of things. It could've been overheating, and it's thermal protection was shutting it down to protect itself. It could've been a short somewhere, also causing it to trip. However, as for "frying" a speaker, it depends. The biggest thing with a speaker, especially subs, is pushing distorted and crappy sound to it. For example, if you had the amp turned up and the speaker was clipping, or really muddy, it could cause damage to the sub.

The other thing, is you mentioned used speakers. That may be part of the problem as well, if you are using used equipment, since 99% of the time, you don't know how the previous owner treated it too.

I would try to find the source of your amp issue though, before investing in another speaker. Check your wiring, and grounds, and also it's mounting location. Make sure there is airflow sufficient to cool it. If it's pretty open, and keeps turning off, and the wiring is ok, it may have another issue inside.

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I had bad credit. Anyone have any they can loan me? lol

CharlzO wrote:

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The biggest thing with a speaker, especially subs, is pushing distorted and crappy sound to it. For example, if you had the amp turned up and the speaker was clipping, or really muddy, it could cause damage to the sub.

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That is absolutely false! You can run an ampifier at 100% output disortion, and it will NOT blow a speaker... ANY speaker.

Overpowering blows speakers, not distortion.

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It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

Unless you toss it into a big skillet full of boiling oil, an amp is the only way to fry a speaker.

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Oh Haemo - thanks again!

[.... Although distortion caused by fault that introduces a dc offset....nah..... I'll clip that in the bud....
Besides, we all know a series cap can block that DC - that's if paralleling it to the speaker doesn't smooth out the distortion.... ]

sparkie, sparkie, sparkie...

And even pure, straigh-up DC won't blow the speaker, unless that DC can generate enough POWER to overheat the voice coil! Huh... back to power, again!

...but you knew that! LOL

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It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

Well, yes...
It does take a fair bit of DC offset....

Some see the DC volts x current as a pure heat generator (which it is), but the RMS voltage x current probably outweighs that eh?

And there is the thermal inertia. And extra cooling effect of more air turbulence....


And FTR - I was serious about thanking you...
It's like my joy when I see certain comments about stiffening caps (with some exceptions)...
But distortion.... If it is merely signal distortion within the speakers range....
Now if it pounds against its stops, will that cause dollar$? Hmmmm...

Yes - I have read some excellent posts about under-powering speakers, distortion and clipping etc. And I generally agreed with those with comments similar to yours.
There were some semi-valid points about certain modes which could cause (eg) dc offsets or back EMFs, but the "literal logic" of some (eg: back EMF) was NOT logical (ie, that's what PROTECTS an alternator from over-supplying current). And others (like DC offset) tend to be impracticable to be significant.
Or so I thought at the time, or now remember it (since I stopped thinking).

But speakers and amps are not my forte.
I was recently VERY wrong regarding higher impedance speakers possibly damaging amplifiers. (I confused audio amps with other amps etc, and probably pre-solidstate amps.)

Though when people argue that a half-cycle is like DC, whilst I can see their "literal logic", I easily see how false it is. (Whilst it may be difficult visualising that a reactive VA doesn't cause heating (assuming the voltage and current are DIFFERENT frequencies), I'd simply ask what frequency the "half cycle DC" is. If it is NOT zero Hz, then it is NOT DC.)
And AC electricity must be considered over a full cycle. Our common models do not cater for sub-cycle extrapolations. (Ha! What is electricity anyhow? There are some interesting answers, but few can define it as a single quantity.)

Anyhow, the rest of my previous post was punning the use of filter, ooops, stiffening caps. Oh sorry - stiff & filter - same thing.


I may yet apologise after the sun rises (in 2 hours?) - I just inverter-101 rambled on mp3car. And my thirst overtook my brain. Again. (Or will I simply think clearer by lunch time?)

Cheers!

The volt-amp-power-resistance relationship is:

P = VxV/R = IxIxR (ie into a 1-Ohm speaker (R), 100W = 10V and 10A).

But they are RMS and a unless a DMM is "true-RMS" reading, it won't give an accurate reading unless you use a single frequency test tone.

Pretty complex answers for such a simple yes or no question....

Ya gotta love this place!

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Yes.

mcdavid000 wrote:

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.is there a simple way to test a amp .(volt meter)?

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You can do it the way Boss Audio does it. What you do is you take a multi-meter and set it to "volts". Take the red lead and touch it to "B+" and take the black lead and touch it to "Gnd". Now here is where the math get's tricky. Find the fuse size on the amplifier and multiply it's value by 10 and then multiply that total by the reading on the meter. So as an example their really high end $45 amplifier which uses a 30 amp fuse would be 30 X 10 X 12.6 = 3780 watts.

A more exact measurement of how much peak power you were delivering to your subs would be much more difficult and require specialized testing equipment.

Steven - that sounds a lot like advertising power - I know it well.

Alas as per the KarTuna, it isn't simple. Measuring voltage across a known resistor MIGHT give an indication....

DYohn] wrote:

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nless you toss it into a big skillet full of boiling oil, an amp is the only way to fry a speaker.

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x2  LOL