cilvia

Ok, i might of heard somewhere that if you have upgraded speakers, and dont have a amplifier to power it, it can ruin your speakers. is this true?? ALSO, say i got 1000watts total peak power (as in all 4 of my speakers), and i got a 4-channel 400 watt amp just so i could power each speaker 100 watts. Can this ruin my speakers if i dont get a 1000 watt amp or higher?? because i also heard something about under powering your speakers (as in getting an amp with less wattage than the intended speaker wattages) can also ruin your speakers. are all these true?? thanks...

Tankard

No. But anything is possible. The only way you will ruin a speaker is if you volume it up to distortion and leave it up, reguardless if it's to little or to much power(amps). Well, not the only way, but the most likely way.

TTT

Yes, you can ruin your speakers even if they are under powered. If you push your amp hard enough to where it sends a clipped signal to your speakers, the signal power could be double the RMS output of the amplifier. But, if you set your gains properly and use common sense, you won't blow them.

Ludemandan

Curious, what is RMS? Is that the normal continuous output?

Dan

MPerson

RMS (Root Mean Squared) is a measure of the amp's ability to supply clean power over a continuous period. This rating is important because it is used to indicate the realistic power handling capability of a speaker. Ideally, the RMS ratings for the amp and for the speaker should be similar. Peak power on the other hand is the maximum power a speaker can handle before the speaker begins to get damaged.

TTT

Since I've got a few minutes to burn, hopefully you can follow all this...

*puts EE hat on*

RMS is really sort of like a formula, it stands for root mean square. See, when you have a power output, it is not constant. It will be outputted in the form of a sine wave if you look at it in the time domain (power on the y axis and time on the x axis). Here is an oscilloscope image of a sine wave for example, disregard the bottom input, look only at the top (yes, I am a nerd and using my own pictures h: )




Now, usually the power output signal would be centered, if you will, on the x-axis, meaning the average value of the signal would be 0. Just imagine that. Now, to find the RMS value of this signal, we must follow the 'formula'. First, we square the signal. Then, find the average value of the signal, using an intergral (oooo, calculus...), and finally we take the square root of that value. The resulting value is the Root Mean Square, or RMS, value of the signal

It is just a universal way of putting a constant value on a non-constant signal.

Now, when companies use 'max power' ratings, this is the maximum value the load will see at a certain point in time, referring back to the sine wave. This value is misleading, because your speaker will only see this value for a fraction of a second, where as RMS value is for an infinite time.

b00gers

False to a point. If your speakers end up blowing that way, it would be a user problem. Here is what usually happens. You have a 100 watt speaker, only using a 50 watt amp. You turn the speaker on, everything is dandy. You want more volume, so you turn it up. At this point the amp is struggling to give the speaker enough power, but you want more volume. You continue to turn it up, the signal that the amp is sending turns into a clipped signal. That clipped signal kills the speakers.

Same as above. It wont ruin the speakers. Will it give you the max performance out of the speakers, no. If youdecide to turn it up and strain the amp to the point where it sends a clipped signal, then yes, thatll ruin the speakers. Giving it the RMS power or more will give you more head room and keep the amp happy.