Pushing the subs too hard?

[5509433]

Hi,
I just wondered if there is any way of telling when you have the volume cranked up to high, that could damage the subwoofer?

I have 2 12" subs running from 1 amp (i have a second amp which i may hook up but i will need to post on here first about the quality of the amp)

The subs and amp i am using, i have no idea what wattage any of them are, , how ever from what i have seen on the internet none of the other subs or amps are even similar to the brand name that are on them. (i cant remember the name i will have to check).

They punch pretty hard, but i need to know how hard is too hard. I know you can sort of tell through distortion, but the music i listen to is mostly noise.
And to be honest i don't want to be turning it up till i get distortion in case its too much and blows them!

I spoke on here about a wattage gauge a while ago, but theres no such thing, (compare the max wattage on the subs to how loud it is playing to see what wattage was passing through it, if that makes sense?)


any help would be appreciative. thanks!

[jonny6n2]

i think it really just depends on the quality of your sub mate, a dont think its neccesery to link up another amp so long as the combined wattage of your two subs isnt more than what the max wattage is of the single amp. im guessing you should be ok tho bud

[david burton]

You're always better off having an amp that's more powerful than the RMS power of the subs. If you underpower speakers with a badly rated amp and try to turn it up to "force" volume you will end up damaging the speakers. You need to work with RMS power though, not peak power.

It doesn't sound like you've got an underpowered setup anyway, but you will want to listen for clipping and distortion when you turn the volume up, and then this is just a bit too much for the speakers. It should be easy to spot.

[5509433]

what does clipping sound like?

Thanks for all the help guys!

[david burton]

like a very artificial mechanical sound, almost like two metal plates hitting each other!