Electronics > Projects, Designs, and Technical Stuff
Yet another Audiophile Question.
DW1961:
From our previous threads, it seems that driving a speaker wit less power than it is rated, much less, does not damage it if distortion is kept low enough., You just don't get any sound, eventually.
(Def: All power is continuous.)
I asked Klipsch what would happen to the R-51M speaker rated at 85/340 if I used an amp at no more than half volume and THD of 1% or less with an amp rated at 22 watts continuous per channel. This is what I got:
"Thank you for contacting Klipsch Product and Technical Support. Supplying the speaker with too little power, even if you mainly use them for low level listening, can cause internal strain and damage to the speaker's components. At a minimum, you should supply this speaker with 60 watts of power at 8 Ohms. Getting as close to the power handling will ensure quality audio reproduction and longevity of the speaker's components."
I asked them to explain how giving the speakers 6 watts from a 20 watt amp (30% rated power) is different from 6 watts coming from a 60 watt amp, where both amps are putting out less than 1% THD. I don't know if that is a relevant question, but from our discussions, it seems so.
tooki:
I’ve never, ever heard of it being problematic to use an amp capable of less power than the speakers, and it happens all the time.
If I had to guess from their customer-service-rep-attempting-to-pass-on-some-technical-thing-they-didn’t-understand-themselves reply, the only possible concern would be if an overstrained amp starts severely clipping or something. That would add a DC component that is indeed bad for the speaker. But it’d sound awful at that point.
But with your stated constraint of “1% THD”, this variable is already accounted for.
P.S. These aren’t “audiophile” questions. Audio ≠ audiophile. “Audiophile” is a highly loaded term with lots of connotations that I don’t think you intend to insinuate.
Gyro:
You seem to be starting a lot of threads on the same subject. :-\
The reason for what they're saying is that they are trying to stop your low powered amplifier from clipping and stuffing lots of energy into their tweeter. How do you know that your 22W amplifier is only outputting 5W? Music is very dynamic with low average level and high peaks. Your low powered amplifier (at some notional 5W) is far more likely to clip (and fry the tweeters with excessive HF energy) than the equivalent 60W+ one.
It has long been known that you are more likely to kill the tweeters on speakers by using under-powered amplifiers than high powered amplifiers, used with caution of course.
TimFox:
Here is a classic discussion of required amplifier power, from the vacuum-tube era.
https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/Stereophile/60s/Stereophile-1962-09-10.pdf
Technology and fashions change--sometimes it is hard to tell the difference.
Note that Paul Klipsch, who developed high efficiency speakers and founded the company, passed away in 2002, so he bears no responsibility for that reply.
DW1961:
--- Quote from: tooki on August 04, 2020, 09:49:12 pm ---I’ve never, ever heard of it being problematic to use an amp capable of less power than the speakers, and it happens all the time.
If I had to guess from their customer-service-rep-attempting-to-pass-on-some-technical-thing-they-didn’t-understand-themselves reply, the only possible concern would be if an overstrained amp starts severely clipping or something. That would add a DC component that is indeed bad for the speaker. But it’d sound awful at that point.
But with your stated constraint of “1% THD”, this variable is already accounted for.
P.S. These aren’t “audiophile” questions. Audio ≠ audiophile. “Audiophile” is a highly loaded term with lots of connotations that I don’t think you intend to insinuate.
--- End quote ---
From now on it will be "Audio" question :)
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