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Does a song that clips damage your speakers?
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| G-Con |
I'm not talking about playing a track "live" and it clips in real time.
But what about if for instance, someone records a mix which was clipping badly. They then burn it to cd. You play the cd and can hear the tracks distorting. Can this damage your speakers or is it only when playing a track that is clipping in real time that damages them?
Hope that makes sense? |
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| MrJiveBoJingles |
There are two different things here: digital clipping and "live" clipping as you called it.
Digital waveform clipping means that the signal isn't being represented properly -- it has been distorted, causing loss or damage of information. This doesn't necessarily have anything to do with your speakers or amp being overdriven, and won't necessarily damage them.
"Live" clipping means that the signal going through the amplifier and speaker is too strong -- this can happen regardless of whether the digital waveform itself is clipped. It could happen with a plain sine wave if you turned it up loud enough.
So the answer is "no, not necessarily." |
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| G-Con |
Not necessarily??
So if I'm playing the cd at a reasonable volume, then there is no chance of it damaging the speakers? |
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| MrJiveBoJingles |
| That's correct. |
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| MrJiveBoJingles |
Think about it this way: clipping a digital signal enough just turns it into a square wave. But you can use square waves in your productions as much as you want without harming your speakers, as long as the volume is okay.
:) |
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| G-Con |
| Ok, thanks very much |
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| MrJiveBoJingles |
| That thread is talking about amplifier / speaker clipping, which isn't what G-Con asked about. |
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| Zild |
No. Many elements of music are distorted. For example guitars are almost always run slightly overdriven into full on distortion, or look at Schranz music. Almost all the instruments in schranz are completely distorted.
So yea listening to a distorted sound won't blow speakers or your speakers would blow every time you listen to rock music, schranz music, etc...
Just be sure to run your own amplifiers at normal levels and avoid overdriving them which can and does cause excessive wear to your system. |
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| kitphillips |
Clipping is a type of distortion, usually digital these days, although people used to talk about clipping a tube - overdriving was the more common word. It has nothing to do with speakers.
Clipping is to do with amplifiers, and you won't damage an amplifier by clipping it AFAIK. If you run your speakers too loud for too long you will blow the cones, but you need to isolate whether distortion is coming from before the speaker or the speaker itself in determining whether you are about to blow your cones. |
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| richg101 |
recording a piece for burning to cd where a peak level is set is fine. you could record a track of pure distorted bassdrum onto cd and play it full volume (the maximum the amplifier/speakers can handle before driver burnout of amp overdrive) all night long.
if you then take an undistorted cd recording signal and turn the mixer output up too loud for the maximum amplifier input level then you will 'clip'. clipping is what happens when the amp tries to go above its maximum output level. the amp has a maximum it can push out (determined by its power supply). clipping means that the sine wave that amps output reaches a peak point and then runs out of steam. the paek of the wave is then 'clipped' off. so you end up showing the speaker a sine/square hybrid. at the clip point, the speaker is not being controlled by the amp and it does its own thing. because the amp is not controlling the peak excusions on the cone the cone is subjected to a harsh movements and can be damaged due to over stressing on the mechanicals. clipping can also lead to voicecoil burnout or deformation. a deformed voicecoil is one that still functions, but emits a scraping sound when played. this sound is the voicecoil rubbing against the magnet assembly.
its a case of knowing the limits of your amp. often they have clip indicators and usually with really good amps it is ok to see the clip lights coming on now and again during the night. |
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