Underpowered speakers?

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  • Joe08867
    Joe08867 Posts: 3,919
    edited April 2012
    Dennis, you have it wrong as well. The signal going to a guitar amps speaker is distorted at the amp before the output stage and not at the speaker. So the signal is a controlled wave. Still round at the top, it just sounds like the amp is being overdriven. There is no way a speaker on its own could produce that sound and live to tell the tale.
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  • gp4jesus
    gp4jesus Posts: 1,990
    edited April 2012
    Ive been around audio for over 31 years; doing pro sound for 9+.

    I re-read every post. Didn't click on the links, sorry. Replies #22 & 23 get the closest to what I heard about what can happen to "underpowered" speakers. didn't see anyone spell out "most solid state amps tend to clip or distort at the upper end of the frequency spectrum which the XO will quite naturally route to the tweeters."

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  • Dennis Gardner
    Dennis Gardner Posts: 4,861
    edited April 2012
    Joe08867 wrote: »
    Dennis, you have it wrong as well. The signal going to a guitar amps speaker is distorted at the amp before the output stage and not at the speaker. So the signal is a controlled wave. Still round at the top, it just sounds like the amp is being overdriven. There is no way a speaker on its own could produce that sound and live to tell the tale.

    You must have read me wrong, I never said the distortion in a guitar amp came from the amp. I know the difference between preamp overdrive and power amp clipping.
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  • Joe08867
    Joe08867 Posts: 3,919
    edited April 2012
    I may have read you wrong but I am confused by your comment. If you run a preamp into clip it still isn't an issue. Yes that is true. The problem lies in running an amp into clipping. Not a preamp. Any amp, big or small will kill a speaker when it clips.
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  • Dennis Gardner
    Dennis Gardner Posts: 4,861
    edited April 2012
    Joe, we are in agreement.

    Broad statements like "Distortion kills speakers" isn't 100% true. The overdriven guitar amp circuit is an exception and is considered to be the antithesis of "All distortion is bad" belief. Distortion is good in most rock/electronic music. It fills in gaps in a small band and makes a bigger sound.

    In any situation we should avoid amplifier clipping/distortion coming from the output section.

    I'm done.......dead horse.
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  • BlueFox
    BlueFox Posts: 15,251
    edited April 2012
    Dennis Gardner wrote: »
    Broad statements like "Distortion kills speakers" isn't 100% true. The overdriven guitar amp circuit is an exception and is considered to be the antithesis of "All distortion is bad" belief. Distortion is good in most rock/electronic music. It fills in gaps in a small band and makes a bigger sound.

    I agree this is a 'dead horse', but maybe somebody could clarify. I suspect the 'distortion' in rock music is not the same type of distortion resulting from overdriven electronics. While the word is the same, the result is completely different. An overdriven amp will turn 'rock music distortion' into 'speaker frying distortion'. The rock distortion is still an accepatble musical signal. The clipping distortion is just flat line DC.
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