can you tell blowing point?

9 times out of 10 the amp being underpowered will blow a speaker versus too much power...

Whatever the speaker is rated at RMS-wise, you should be able to run twice that amount without a problem....IF....that's a big IF....the power is clean going to the speaker....A speaker will take whatever signal that comes through it and reproduce it...The speakers voice coil will travel in and out in a linear movement (straight line)...If you send a clipped signal (distorted) through the voice coil, it will try to reproduce that...Clipped signal is non linear and it will try to make the voice coil move in a way that makes it cock...The tolerance is very close so if it turns it can short out...burning up the coil = blown speaker....of course putting tons of clean power through a driver well beyond it's limits can blow it apart...push it so hard that it rips or just comes apart....too much power for too long can overheat the voice coil..

I would say in your case you will be ok...use your ears....if you hear the sounds get strained or harsh, back the volume down...

 

i'd have to disagree

 

IMO, too much power will fry the VC's but clipping with ultimately be the death of your speakers. You can clip the signal with too much power and not enough power.

 

i dont think underpowering speakers is what ultimately kills them, neither does it harm them. when manufacturers put out the rms for a speaker, thats pretty much the amount of watts that its safe to put to the speaker. so think about if they say a sub is rated at 500 watts rms, you should think of it as you should run the speaker anywhere from 50-500 watts rms, while setting your gains correctly. a lot of times when people use an amp thats too small for a speaker, they crank the gains (which makes up for the watts in their mind), which sends a clipped signal and thats what hurts speakers and causes them to blow. another example, running a component set off of your HU does not hurt your speakers, you just arent using them to their full potential

 

running the comps off the head unit can hurt the speakers if you listen to them to the point of distortion.

 

true, but i think thats where you ears come into play.i just dont feel like running a speaker below rms hurts it at all. thats like saying if you run a 500 rms speaker at 425 watts rms is bad for it..

 

I get your point now. I also agree with ya.

 

Let me clarify....I didn't mean that sending 50 watts to a 100 watt speaker is bad for it...What is bad is when the amp is small and it is cranked up to try to get volume and it clips...usually running an amp that is way underpowered and pushed, clips and that is what blows a speaker alot of times....

So you can blow up a speaker if it is rated for 100 watts rms and you are running a 50 watt rms amp....and by the same token you can run a 200 watt rms amp on a 100 rms speaker and be fine....

No matter what amps or speakers you have, there will be a limit to where it can be turned up and still be clean. Once you pass that point you are asking for trouble...I have never blown a speaker up in my life....

I ran a set of home speakers that were 4 ohm rated at 100 watts RMS off of a Carver THX certified amp rated at 400 watts rms...I played them alot and they were pretty damn loud...I still have the speakers and they sound as good as the day they were new...


I see alot of times where someone will have a speaker or set of speakers rated at let's say 75 watts RMS and they are afraid to run them off of an amp rated at 100 rms....

I have an article in one of my car audio mags (need to dig it out) where a guy says that he would love to run all of his speakers each on their own amp and that amp rated at 1,000 watts to prove it can be done and that is more about headroom than pushing the full 1,000 watts

 

I like that explination. Well done. My center channel speaker is rated at 60 watts RMS and its hooked to an amp rated at 180 watts RMS. I've had this set up in my truck for many years and never a problem.

 

Good explanation willy! I also understood where Kvo was coming from as well.