Amp clipping - Why!!???

CTU_Agent

Hi,

I recently purchased a set of speakers and amp. Speakers are 300 watt each through 8 ohms and amp is 800 watt. Im finding though, on bassy tracks in particular, il get clipping lights on the amp and if I allow it clip long enough the speakers blow. I have had them replaced twice...

I have a spare set of 100 watts and 200 watt amp always in the car, and I find these rarely clip but just arent strong enough...

Anyone able to help?

acman

Is your equipment grounded properly? I had similar issues in the past due to poorly grounded equipment...

CTU_Agent

i havnt checked...how would I ground my speakers...?

acman

Assuming that your speakers are passive (unpowered), its not the speakers you need to ground, its the amplifier (and the equipment before it) that needs grounding properly.

But all this could be much more trivial...have you checked the gains and output levels on your mixer? Check that both your line channels and master output channels are not clipping. Furthermore, does you amp have a seperate gains on it too? If you tell me the model of your equipment maybe I could help further.

Poorly seated speaker cables can also cause problems, make sure they are connected firmly to amp with NO fraying cables touching the casing etc.

One more thing to try is switching your RCA connections around (mixer to amp RCA's)....try swapping around the left and right channels...this solved my problem on several occassions.

CTU_Agent

Thanks for the response...here is the kit i purchased

http://www.whybuynew.co.uk/INT115-&-DA800-Mobile-Speaker-&-Amp-Package.html

Il try give you a brief overview of my setup here goes.....

Laptop running mixmiester software out to a USB 8 channel mixer (alesis 8 channel usb mixer)

Mixer out to amp using 1 meter cable with jack connectors

Amp out to speakers using standard speaker cable 8 meters each.

Wireless mics reciever are also plugged into mixer and when these are in use, i find the amp clips a lot too...

I use the same setup with my spare speakers and amp - the only difference being the speaker cables connecting the amp and the speakers. Instead of standard speaker cable with +/- wires into the rear of the speaker as in the setup above i have a slightly thicker cable with jack connectors...clipping is far less of an issue with this setup..

Clank

Sounds like signal overload in the amp, your looking for big bass and having to push too much signal to achieve it, are you sure of your ratings?none of them are RMS ratings are they?

CTU_Agent

Speakers are 300 watt max not sure of RMS rating

Should I be using MONO OR STEREO Balanced or unbalanced 1/4" jack leads from AMP to Mixer

Also the input sensitivity ow should I set that?

1v or
1.44v or
.775v

??
Amp rating is
Power Output (4 Ohms) - 400 watt
Power Output (8 Ohms) - 250 watt
Power Output (8 Ohms Bridged) 800W

ED E

Speakers 300 each? If so there is the problem. Bridged would do it, but that is for one speaker, when using two speakers you get 2 x "Power Output (8 Ohms) - 250 watt"

Also, from what I've read its always good to have more power in the amp than you need. Underpowering is just as dangerous as overpowering.

That said, I have 2X350W at 8Ohm powering my two 350W speakers:p Though the Amp appears to be well able to do the job. I have yet to max the system, its f@ck loud as is

CTU_Agent

Lethal_Bullet wrote: »

Speakers 300 each? If so there is the problem. Bridged would do it, but that is for one speaker, when using two speakers you get 2 x "Power Output (8 Ohms) - 250 watt"

Also, from what I've read its always good to have more power in the amp than you need. Underpowering is just as dangerous as overpowering.

That said, I have 2X350W at 8Ohm powering my two 350W speakers:p Though the Amp appears to be well able to do the job. I have yet to max the system, its f@ck loud as is

Surely if I use both speakers which are 300watts a side through 8 Ohms and the AMP puts out 8 Ohms @ 250 watts a side, I should be ok, no??

ED E

Nah, I dont think so. You're 50 short of the minimum. Ideally you'd want 350 a side out of you're amp.

CTU_Agent

Lethal_Bullet wrote: »

Nah, I dont think so. You're 50 short of the minimum. Ideally you'd want 350 a side out of you're amp.

Ah, so maybe ur right, maybe underpowering is the problem? Why would they describe the package like this??

"Serious power and sound quality at a bargain price is what you get with the Warrior Audio DA800 & Audio Intimidation INT115 speaker and amp package. The amp pumps out 400 Watts a side into 4 Ohms and the speakers handle 250 Watts at 8 Ohms making this reat matched system that because the amp has more headroom the carity is better and the amp will not run into distortion for a more reliable system. The speakers have a 15" woofer for deep punchy bass and a compression driver tweeter for excellent treble reproduction.
The whole kit comes complete with speaker cables and the speakers can even be pole mounted (see stands section).
Great value kit for anyone looking to provide a mobile sound system for discos, bands or karaoke.
"

ED E

Its B-Stock stuff, they're just trying to sell anything and everything. I'd say if you grab a new T-Amp from thomann.de you'll sort it, but thats gonna set you back 200-250 including 5/6day shipping.

Thomanns Guide:

Amplifier output is best measured in Watts RMS - for more details of what this actually means, see our Power Amplifier Online Advisor. The same measure is also applied to loudspeakers - they are rated according to the number of Watts RMS they can accommodate without sustaining damage. As a rule of thumb, the power output of the amplifier should exceed the capacity of the speakers by about 30%, and you should budget for about 50% more power overall than you will actually need. This will allow you to get a big, rich, warm sound, without distortion, even at high volumes. Here's a rough guide to room sizes and likely power requirements:....

ianhobo

Hey,

First, you need to check if your speakers are rated in RMS or PMPO
A 300W RMS rating would mean that the speaker could sustain a 300W RMS input.

However, the trend now adays is to quote speaker ratings in PMPO, which is Peak Music Power Output. What this means is that it's the amount of PEAK power that a speaker can handle, but only for a very short time.

A 300w PMPO rated speaker would only be the equivelent of a 150W RMS speaker.

You should try and always match speaker power ratings to amp output power ratings. If your speakers are rated too high, you can damage the amp output over time, obviously if your speakers are rated at less than the output of the amp, they blow when you turn up the volume and put too much power into them!

If your speakers are rated at less than the output of your amp, you need to keep the volume lower to prevent them from blower. Also, you can pull back on the bass a bit if you really need to increase the volume a little bit more, its the bass frequencies which cause the speaker cone to move the most, but don't nessecarily give the impression of loudness

CTU_Agent

ok...My stupidity led me to believe that and 800watts power amp could easily handle 300watts each speaker....clearly im wrong...so if i picked up a new amp what rating should it be?

Savman

You don't have enough rig for the gig.

BTW, this simply does not exist:

manufacturer horsesh*t wrote:

Serious power and sound quality at a bargain price

CTU_Agent

Savman wrote: »

You don't have enough rig for the gig.

BTW, this simply does not exist:

I can certainly see this now...:mad:

ED E

CTU_Agent wrote: »

ok...My stupidity led me to believe that and 800watts power amp could easily handle 300watts each speaker....clearly im wrong...so if i picked up a new amp what rating should it be?

I use a T.Amp 1050. Thats 525/side at 4 or 350/side at 8. Thats enough for you.
http://www.thomann.de/ie/tamp_ta1050ii_endstufe.htm
Its 198 inc vat and 15 for shipping.

Remember, set it on bridged and you'l blow your speaker:)