Clipping

Hello there!

I am new in this matter.
I want to ask you about Clipping.

How could I know when an amp is or will drive into clipping?
Is it In the gain level?
The sub has distortion?
How to correct it?

Thanks a bunch.

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Eggs putines!

I am curious about this myself. I have a 4 channel amp that delivers 100watts per channel. My fronts are rated @ 100w RMS and the rear @ 75w RMS. At high volumes, my rear speaker clips everytime the bass hits hard. I have to cross-over bass @ a higher herz to rid of the clipping, but I lose the bass I desire. Does it clip because I'm over powering the rear speakers?

Clipping is when an amp is being told to reproduce a sound at a higher level than it can. Example:

I have a 100w amp. I have this amp running at 75% of it's rated power output. If I turn it up higher the amp will start to clip the sound and distortion will be heard. This can ruin both your speakers AND amp.

pumara_iep wrote:

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I am curious about this myself. I have a 4 channel amp that delivers 100watts per channel. My fronts are rated @ 100w RMS and the rear @ 75w RMS. At high volumes, my rear speaker clips everytime the bass hits hard. I have to cross-over bass @ a higher herz to rid of the clipping, but I lose the bass I desire. Does it clip because I'm over powering the rear speakers?

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Your speakers are probally not clipping. What is happening is you are trying to make them reproduce a frequency that it is not suppoed to reproduce at a higher level than it is supposed to. Example:

A 6.5" speaker will play a 60Hz signal at a lower volume, but once turned up, will heavily distort. Not good for your speaker.

Paul

Francious70 wrote:

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Clipping is when an amp is being told to reproduce a sound at a higher level than it can. Example:

I have a 100w amp. I have this amp running at 75% of it's rated power output. If I turn it up higher the amp will start to clip the sound and distortion will be heard. This can ruin both your speakers AND amp.

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So, everything is in the gain level?
not in the amp by itself

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Eggs putines!

Cool, I'm understanding a little better now. I understand that my speakers can't handle low frequencies but its only my rear speakers that is making this very loud scratched noise. Dont know how to really describe the noise but its like a Loud " ErECkKCKckkKK" , not a continuious one but when the bass hits hard. i have my fronts crossed at 63hz and it handles fine, but my rears cant take anything below 100hz. So does that tell me my front speakers just handle low frequencies better or is my rear speakers just over powered? Should i  Just get new rear speakers that match the amplifiers output rating?

"ErECkKCKckkKK"?

Sounds like the speakers are blown, even a clipping amp won't sound THAT bad :).

Probably time to replace the speakers, and then add a subwoofer so you don't have to force the small speakers to reproduce bass they can't really handle anyway.

///Leif

What is "clipping"? From the Rockfordfosgate.com site.

I hope this will help you guys out.

"The term "clipping" refers to the amplifier's electrical condition when driven beyond it's maximum "clean" output level. All amplifiers have positive and negative "rails" in the power supply, and depending on signal conditions and levels, some or all of this rail voltage is used. When asked to deliver more power than the amplifier is normally capable of producing, it will "clip off" the top and bottom of the signal. This appears as a waveform that is somewhat flat at the top and the bottom of the sine wave when viewed on an oscilloscope. The clipped output has two distinct undesirable properties: Distortion and excessive power.

While the distortion produced by clipping doesn't cause any damage to either speakers or amplifiers (it is just "dirty" or "sloppy" sounding), the excessive power produced when driving the amplifier to that level can cause speakers to fail quite easily! A heavily-clipped amplifier will develop up to 2 times it's rated power, and will draw excessive amounts of current through the amp's power supply as a result. Over time, this will begin to damage both the amplifier and the speakers that are connected to it. Some keys to recognizing an amplifier that is clipping is to remember that if the amplifier shuts down regularly and runs very hot to the touch, it is probably not set up correctly and is heavily clipping as a result."



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Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it.

pumara, that's some good noise spelling :)  You could probably do fine with those rears if you also had a subwoofer, but you are depending on them for bass.  So they should definitely be upgraded to match or exceed the amp's RMS rating.  Make sure, also, that you have damping material installed on the rear deck.

German, yes it all boils down to gain level of the amp.  As long as the sub is wired to the rated impedance of the amp...in other words, that you have matched the amp and sub properly...if the amp gain is set according to the voltage input it gets from the head unit, it will provide clean power, as long as you don't turn up the volume control on your deck past the point where the music sounds good.  Clipping can be caused by the deck as well as the amp when the volume is too high.  The deck signal becomes distorted, and the amp just amplifies the distortion.

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Build the box so that it performs well in the worst case scenario and, in return, it will reward you at all times.

stevdart wrote:

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German, yes it all boils down to gain level of the amp.  As long as the sub is wired to the rated impedance of the amp...in other words, that you have matched the amp and sub properly...if the amp gain is set according to the voltage input it gets from the head unit, it will provide clean power, as long as you don't turn up the volume control on your deck past the point where the music sounds good.  Clipping can be caused by the deck as well as the amp when the volume is too high.  The deck signal becomes distorted, and the amp just amplifies the distortion.

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Well, first my amp is matched with sub impedance.
What I don´t know, is what is the voltage input from the HU. How could I know it?

All of this is because I checked the other day my amp, and it was very hot.
an I wasn´t playing it too loud!

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Eggs putines!

Well, to find out the amp voltage output, check your owners manual. It should say somthing to the effect of "Pre-amp/sub/RCA out" Most values that I've run across are 2.2volts and 4 volts. You can buy a line driver to boost that voltage some (as much as 12 volts), that way you can turn the gain on the amp down. Check your amp's manual to see what the maximum input voltage is.

And for furthur reference, post what you have and the kind folks here will be even more informative. Example:

HU:
Front Speaker:
Rear speakers:
Sub:
Sub Amp:
Main's Amp (if applicable):

Paul

*EDIT* Someone should create a sticky for terms like this with definitions.

Here is a very good discussion of amplifier gain: https://www.bcae1.com/gaincon2.htm

And this page discusses clipping in an application-oriented fashion: https://www.bcae1.com/2ltlpwr.htm

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