How Many Watts You Have Running?

[xTrEmEoVrClOcKr]

I wanted to see, how many watts are you guys running in your system for your comp, home entertainment system, and car audio. Right now, I have around 640W with 4 Pioneer speakers (4 x 160W) with a Sherwood Receiver @ 100W per channel. How many watts you have?

BTW, I need a sub. Planning to do a DIY Project with a 15" woofer :).

[Nico3k]

My home system (on this computer) consists of 5 bose satellites, the amp powered sub. reciever is a sony str-de335 puttin out 65watts/channel (i know, needs to be replaced:)), secondary amp is sony 215r powering 2 custom speekers at 200watts RMS each.
the sec speakers are powered with audiobahn 6.5 midbass's (mixed and matched home and car audio :))
Whole thing hits around 720+watts. I can make stuff move off my desk if there's alot of bass

[stratcatprowlin]

I got 110x2 with my Sony TA-N55ES or 500watts bridged mono for the regular stereo and 100x2 with my GLI pro for the pc.

[Buhammot]

400 wats! wee! 60 per chan from the reciever, 5 speakers, and a 100w sub!

[madcow235]

Uhhh .05watts MAYBE. A nice pair of Grado Sr225 headphones.

[xTrEmEoVrClOcKr]

Oh, and forgot my Zalman Headphones :).

[Azzkiller]

2 x 750 watt (constant rms) amplifier for my woofers
2 x 40 watt amplifier for my compression drivers

One thing I'd point out though is that just because you have a lot of electrical watts doesnt necessarily mean your system will be louder than one with less power. :)

Also, to measure actual acoustical sound pressure levels, you can use an acoustical watt (which would tell how loud your system is) but most people's systems put out 1 acoustical watt or less (loudspeakers are really ineficient)

[xTrEmEoVrClOcKr]

Lets just say, with my 4 speakers, I can make my stomach hurt from the bass and have to turn it down. When my friend comes over with his 2 Jbls and 2 other pioneers, we can bearly step foot in my room.

[Turd Furguson]

dBA level means nothing if you don't have clarity....

[Bugalaman]

watts don't really mean anything...

but anyways... 200w from my PM 2.1's
and my HT 100 x 5 + 440 w sub = 940 watts

[Mr. Chambers]

Everyone knows watts doesn't = quality or loudness levels of course, but I'll post anyway for fun.

Home:
7 x 50w = 350w RMS (although I'm currently only running 5 channels, and subwoofer will add 250w when it comes - also HK is pretty conservative with their ratings output ratings).

Car:
790w per 15" Phoenix Gold Ti sub (2 total) = 1580w RMS @ 4ohms
4 x 50w = 200w from Pioneer Deck (probably not RMS)

[RobxMcCarthy]

Subwoofers:
1400 watts rms to a sealed sub 123 hz crossover (for music)
300 watts to a ported sub, crossover 80hz (mainly home theater)
2x250 watt rms towers getting 150 watts per channel.

Grand total of 2,000 watts rms... probably somewhere around 3000-4000 peak.

And yeah it doesn't mean much.. but it means enough to cause structural damage. (a crack in the wall is developing behind one of the subs)

And yes, it's clear past 123 dbs at 2 meters.. That's as high as the spl meter goes that we tested it with. (ear plugs of course)

[veryhumid]

Crown D-75A amp with is 45 watts @ 4 ohms per channel (very low distortion power amp)= 90 Watts
Hsu Research VTF-2 Subwoofer = 150 Watts

So that's 240 Watts total. keep in mind this is a 10" sub that does about 105-110 dB at 32Hz. the whole thing together has more juice then i need and that is exactly what i want :D

[TekXoID]

ProMedia Ultra 5.1, before they were discontinued of course. They are the BEST.
I also have some Klipsch ProMedia GMX A-2.1's that have just as much clarity and capable volume, just less quake. :D

As for wattage...which I do not like to rate speakers by, 500w with the Ultra's, 78w with the GMX's.

[Wicked Klown]

Well so far 400watts rms and 800watts peak. Give me enough time and I'm sure I could do 1000watts rms.

[Droban]

Well my receiver is 85 watts x 6...watts are fairly meaningless

The sub is 150 rms

[veryhumid]

yeah we need a max spl @ xx Hz thread ;)

[stratcatprowlin]

The sensitivity rating on all my speakers are 90db or more so I would never even come close to full volume in my house.I think I could live with 25wattsx2.

[zabomb4163]

I'd like to point out that most receivers do not push what they are rated for. Sorry to burst anyone's bubble, but a 100$ receiver or even a 500$ receiver is NOT going to push 100 watts per channel.

[RobxMcCarthy]

Depends on the receiver zabomb... A lot of the cheaper sony's are way over rated. Camelot recievers are terrible. Mine is probably not 150 per channel, but it probably comes close. maybe 130. That's RMS.

I mean the mackie 1400i pushes 1400 watts bridged at 4 ohms... RMS... used you can get one for around $350. And that's with .1% distortion at 1400 watts... You'll never need near that much and your speakers will probably have more than .1% distortion anyway.

So, to finalize this statement. What exactly are you saying? That no recievers push 100 watts rms per channel? or that you can't get one for less than $500. Because either statement is wrong.

[Ryan T]

So, to finalize this statement. What exactly are you saying? That no recievers push 100 watts rms per channel? or that you can't get one for less than $500. Because either statement is wrong.

I have yet to see any multi channel receiver under $500 (retail) that can cleanly push 100 watts with all channels (5 or more) driven full bandwidth. I dunno how accurate sound & visions lab reports are but most recevers under $500 they test only are able to output about 25~ watts with all cahnnels driven at full bandwidth. Another thing you can look at is current draw. If your receiver only pulls 300~400 watts at peak output you can bet the actual power it sends out is around half (then you have to devided that power into each channel). My AVR 230 is supposed to draw 890 watts at full power. Since its rated at 50 watts RMS per channel full bandwidth, I assume its could ouput about that much. But really as many have said watts dont mean much in the long run. Unless you have very inefficient speakers or your trying to hit concert levels.


Ryan

[zabomb4163]

So, to finalize this statement. What exactly are you saying? That no recievers push 100 watts rms per channel? or that you can't get one for less than $500. Because either statement is wrong.

really? try finding one. send us all a link when/if you find it.

[veryhumid]

yeah i agree, you won't find a multichannel or surround receiver for under $500. But definitely a 2-channel power amp.

[Ryan T]

I would be somewhat suprised to see a multi channel receiver under $1000 that can output 100 watts per channel (again real watts. Full bandwidth all channels driven). But the point is you really dont need very many watts. Think of it this way. Say your speakers are 85 dB 1w/m. Thats fairly poor sensitivty but not uncommon to see. With 1 watt your hitting roughly 80~85 dB depending on the size of your room and how far you are from the speakers. Now 80 dB is above what most people listen to on a regular basis. You can probably find some decent SPL charts online if you want some referance to other things and SPL numbers. When you double the number of watts you get a 3 dB increase in output. So you can do the math and see what numbers your likely to hit and how much power they will take to hit. Its usually accepted that somewere around 6~10 dB sounds about twice as loud. Anyway when you jump from 50 watts to 100 you only gain 3 dB. Which isnt very much in the long run. But you will get cleaner peaks from that little bit of extra headroom.

For my computer sound system I have a DIY subwoofer based around the Dayton titanic 1000 and i'm only using a 25 watt plate amp. Now 25 watts is enough to make some people cringe but really I can hit VERY loud levels with that "small" amount of power. The titanic is supposed to be 91 dB 1w/m and with the sub next to a wall I can hit over 100 dB without much trouble.



Ryan

[Azzkiller]

Say your speakers are 85 dB 1w/m. Thats fairly poor sensitivty but not uncommon to see.
I personally wouldnt classify that as a poor efficiency rating, but to each his own. Besides, aren't your AV-1's only 86dB 1w/1m? ;) I would probably say that 85dB is average for smaller and medium sized bookshelf speakers, at least if they have any reasonable bass extension :o

[Ryan T]

I personally wouldnt classify that as a poor efficiency rating, but to each his own. Besides, aren't your AV-1's only 86dB 1w/1m? I would probably say that 85dB is average for smaller and medium sized bookshelf speakers, at least if they have any reasonable bass extension

Well I think that 85 dB is fairly low. But as I said its pretty common (especially for smaller speakers) for them to have a "low" sensitivity. I would consider a good sensitivity close to or above 90 dB. But what is or isnt a good sensitivity rating is pretty subjective :D. Yes my AV 1's are 86 dB :/. I dont mind them being that low but in my opinion the higher the sensitivity the better.



Ryan

[amdperson]

1400 watts PMPO (NOT rms)
From my 3 year old Samsung Mini Hi-Fi. Which is more than enough for my needs.
And the clarity Is excelent at full power.

[breez]

Around 0.01W or less, Sennheiser HD555 :p

[Bugalaman]

Around 0.01W or less, Sennheiser HD555 :p
My new HD-280s are rated at .5w, those 555's must really suck :D

[xTrEmEoVrClOcKr]

Haha, but those headphones pwn. I loved my Sennheiser PC150's but I went through 3 pairs... I dont know what it was but the woofer couldn't produce bass.. it would bottom out.. on everything. But, I just got these Zalman 5.1 Headphones.. and wow there awsome.. no problems yet.

[DaWiper]

I have a denon avr1601(5x65w) running the small speakers and a old sony 530ES running my 15" Celestion AD15H subwoofer. The 530ES is suppose to deliver 2x80w@8ohm but I'm running it at 4. Not sure how much maximum output is... I'm currently using only one channel.

[RobxMcCarthy]

Ok, I thought you meant stereo receivers. Because there are hundreds of 2 channel power amps or receivers below 500 that can output over 100 watts.

Both my TX-8511 (140 watts * 2) max power draw 545 watts, and my mackie 3750 watts max draw, 1400 watts rms, cost me less than $500.


And yes, many people have said "watts don't mean ****" BUt I'm not 100% sure that their statements were thought through.

Everyone likes to crank their music every now and then. The problem with this is, if you have an under rated low watt amp you will most likely be driving it into clipping. Most amps below the insanely expensive line will clip and not protect themselves or your speakers. Not everyone knows what this clipping sounds like and they end up burning out their amps / speakers. Not to mention the fact that the music becomes muddy and abrasive at clipping.

And it's not that hard to clip an amp, Hell, at 8 ohm loads I've driven my mackie to clip at an 8 ohm load at peaks in the music. That's 260 watts RMS per channel. So I can only imagine that lesser amps would be clipping even more often.

That's the biggest problem. ANd the more (quality...) watts you have the less likely you are to get to this state of clipping which is damaging to speakers, amplifiers, and your ears.

[Azzkiller]

Everyone likes to crank their music every now and then. The problem with this is, if you have an under rated low watt amp you will most likely be driving it into clipping. Most amps below the insanely expensive line will clip and not protect themselves or your speakers. Not everyone knows what this clipping sounds like and they end up burning out their amps / speakers. Not to mention the fact that the music becomes muddy and abrasive at clipping.

And it's not that hard to clip an amp, Hell, at 8 ohm loads I've driven my mackie to clip at an 8 ohm load at peaks in the music. That's 260 watts RMS per channel. So I can only imagine that lesser amps would be clipping even more often.
Most expensive amps don't "protect" the speakers from clipping either. I don't know of many home amps that have any type of limiter - but even inexpensive pro-sound amps do.

It's pretty easy to determine what heavy clipping sounds like, it just sounds bad. And clipping an amplifier wont destroy it unless it is poorly made, or you clip the amplifier for extended periods of time. It wont destroy speakers either, as long as you dont exceed the speaker's thermal or mechanical limits by clipping the amplifier.

With music, it typically requires an overdrive of 10 or more decibels of the input to even start to hear the clipping with music.



That's the biggest problem. ANd the more (quality...) watts you have the less likely you are to get to this state of clipping which is damaging to speakers, amplifiers, and your ears.
Clipping is not worse on your ears than a "clean" signal of the same amplitude. All clipping is is odd (or even for valve based amplifiers) harmonics of the fundamental.

If you would like to read more about this, this forum already had this discussion in this thread starting on post #40:
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=303420&page=1&pp=50

[RobxMcCarthy]

Most expensive amps don't "protect" the speakers from clipping either. I don't know of many home amps that have any type of limiter - but even inexpensive pro-sound amps do.

The speakers don't clip the amp does. Clipping occurs when the wave's peak is beyond the means of the amplifier and is thus turned into a make shift square wave. This heats up the amplifier, thus shortening its life (therefore eventually destroying it). Yes a lot of pro sound amps will tell you when its clipping, and some of the more expensive home theater amps will as well.

It's pretty easy to determine what heavy clipping sounds like, it just sounds bad. And clipping an amplifier wont destroy it unless it is poorly made, or you clip the amplifier for extended periods of time. It wont destroy speakers either, as long as you dont exceed the speaker's thermal or mechanical limits by clipping the amplifier.

Yes but not everyone knows what this sounds like. I've been in a bunch of cars where people say listen to this and crank the system into HEAVY clipping. I tell them to turn it down and they just think it's "loud" not necessarily "bad" not everyone knows what clipping sounds like because not everyone knows what clipping is or what it does. Also, I'm not sure that you realize your amp is probably clipping at a lot of the 'peaks' in music. In this case it's not terrible for the amp or speakers as there's little heat exchange, but the music doesn't sound as good.

And yes, almost all clipping is bad for speakers, it creates excess heat and has the chance to throw the driver out of its mechanical limits. This is very possible with tweeters where the driver is extremely sensitive to heat.

With my current amps I have yet to drive the system to clipping. But using the same speakers on a sony amp in a store I was able to hear clipping at moderately high volume levels. I used to clip my sub often, now this has also been made nearly impossible. The bass starts causing objects in the room to rattle so loud that the music is inaudible before clipping occurs.

(I don't know how loud you consider loud to be, take that into consideration as well)

Clipping is not worse on your ears than a "clean" signal of the same amplitude. All clipping is is odd (or even for valve based amplifiers) harmonics of the fundamental.

Yes... and the square wave which odd order harmonics create 'sounds' much 'louder' and is way more abbrasive on the ears.

[Azzkiller]

The speakers don't clip the amp does.

OBVIOUSLY. When did I *EVER* claim that speakers clip? :bang head
Are you not understanding what I am talking about? If you dont know what I am saying, dont guess that I am asking one thing, ask for clarification...


Clipping occurs when the wave's peak is beyond the means of the amplifier and is thus turned into a make shift square wave. This heats up the amplifier, thus shortening its life (therefore eventually destroying it). Yes a lot of pro sound amps will tell you when its clipping, and some of the more expensive home theater amps will as well.

An amplifier can never output a true square wave, nor does it even approach output of anything that resembles a square wave until MASSIVE clipping, which would correspond to a duty cycle of near 100 percent.

A square wave has 50 percent more current and 50 percent more voltage than a sine wave of the same peak amplitude. What crappy amps are you talking about that actually get destroyed when driven into clipping? If clipping shortens life, then so does using the amp in a warm room, using low impedence speakers, playing music with a high duty cycle or any other number of reasons. BUT, as long as you arent a fool, there is no reason that it will eventually destroy the amplifier any more than those other reasons will.

I played my amplifier (Behringer ep2500) for over 4 hours non-stop once with moderate clipping (less than 10dB overdrive), and it NOR the speakers failed.



Also, I'm not sure that you realize your amp is probably clipping at a lot of the 'peaks' in music. In this case it's not terrible for the amp or speakers as there's little heat exchange, but the music doesn't sound as good.

You need to quit with your assumptions. I already knew that. In fact, it is typically reccomended to provide a 3:1 voltage overlap between the output device and the amplifier. Yes, that corresponds to a decibel rating of almost 10dB. In other words, it is RECCOMENDED to set the gain on your car amp so that it does clip. Small amounts of clipping is not audible with music especially when its dynamic. The situation you are talking about with obvious nasty sounding audible distortion is when people overdrive their amplifiers by excessive amounts, say 20 decibels or higher. Slight overdrive of a signal wont even be audible. Would you like to participate in a blind test in order to hear this for yourself?


And yes, almost all clipping is bad for speakers, it creates excess heat and has the chance to throw the driver out of its mechanical limits. This is very possible with tweeters where the driver is extremely sensitive to heat.
Uh, and so is using a larger amplifier. A fully clipped 100 watt amplifier has the same electrical content of a 200 watt amplifier that is at maximum output, just before clipping.

And as for clipping causing the driver to exceed its mechanical limits I find that hard to believe, since the harmonic content will be at a minimum of 3 times the fundamental frequency with a solid state amplifier.

Im interested in knowing what you consider to be clipping that isnt bad for speakers though?


With my current amps I have yet to drive the system to clipping.
Are you sure about that? And don't say that it hasnt soley because you havent seen the clip lights illuminate on your amplifier, because slight clipping will not even cause the led's to register.


I used to clip my sub often, now this has also been made nearly impossible. The bass starts causing objects in the room to rattle so loud that the music is inaudible before clipping occurs.
What does this have to do with the argument that clipping hurts speakers? What are you trying to say here? Are you bragging about your system? I seriously don't understand why you are telling me this? :confused:



Yes... and the square wave which odd order harmonics create 'sounds' much 'louder' and is way more abbrasive on the ears.
What are you saying here? That it subjectively sounds worse to human hearing, or that it actually is more damaging? There is a big difference between the two....

[stratcatprowlin]

In fact, it is typically reccomended to provide a 3:1 voltage overlap between the output device and the amplifier.

Why is that and what is the advantage?

[RobxMcCarthy]

OBVIOUSLY. When did I *EVER* claim that speakers clip?

Most expensive amps don't "protect" the speakers from clipping either.

Try to make more specific statements next time.

A square wave has 50 percent more current and 50 percent more voltage than a sine wave of the same peak amplitude.

Hence when people drive amps into clipping at high volume levels it throws speakers out of their mechanical limit. Creates a lot of heat, burns out amps, etc.

And YES having an amp in a hot room shortens its life.. Same as running a processor hot or any other piece of electrical equipment... AM I saying that clipping an amp for 3 hours will ruin it? No, I'm saying that it might last 3 years instead of 20.

Prior to this post I assumed you knew SOMETHING about audio equipment, now your statements are just getting idiotic.



You need to quit with your assumptions. I already knew that. In fact, it is typically reccomended to provide a 3:1 voltage overlap between the output device and the amplifier. Yes, that corresponds to a decibel rating of almost 10dB. In other words, it is RECCOMENDED to set the gain on your car amp so that it does clip. Small amounts of clipping is not audible with music especially when its dynamic. The situation you are talking about with obvious nasty sounding audible distortion is when people overdrive their amplifiers by excessive amounts, say 20 decibels or higher. Slight overdrive of a signal wont even be audible. Would you like to participate in a blind test in order to hear this for yourself?

Clipping is almost always noticeable. I'm not going to argue this because it's subjective and idiotic. But...

Im interested in knowing what you consider to be clipping that isnt bad for speakers though?

Pay attention to the message. I just stated that clipping at merely the peaks of the music won't create enough heat to damage drivers or amplifiers. Constant clipping will. You still run the risk of causing physical damage though.

uh, and so is using a larger amplifier. A fully clipped 100 watt amplifier has the same electrical content of a 200 watt amplifier that is at maximum output, just before clipping.

Yes but people don't know this, so they take 100 watt speakers plug them into a 100 watt amp, figure they're safe... Then they crank it up figuring that the amp can go to 100 watts and the speakers can handle that. They drive it into heavy clipping and the tweeters blow up. I've seen it before and I'll see it again. I'm not talking about people who know what they're doing. You need to begin to recognize these statements so that I don't have to write a novel every time I post here explaining every tiny statement in minute detail.


I used to clip my sub often, now this has also been made nearly impossible. The bass starts causing objects in the room to rattle so loud that the music is inaudible before clipping occurs.

I just mean that the clipping isn't a problem any more. But I get more distortion through other objects shaking. Which is even more annoying.

I played my amplifier (Behringer ep2500) for over 4 hours non-stop once with moderate clipping (less than 10dB overdrive), and it NOR the speakers failed.

And finally... This is the kind of statement that made me not want to respond.

[Azzkiller]

Try to make more specific statements next time.


"Most amps dont "protect" the speaker from clipping". Thats what I said. If you construed that to meaning speaker clipping then great. If I was actually trying to say a speaker clips, I would say "Most amps dont protect against speaker clipping". How else could I possibly word that so that it would suit you?


Hence when people drive amps into clipping at high volume levels it throws speakers out of their mechanical limit. Creates a lot of heat, burns out amps, etc.
Like I said, so do other factors - that isnt just associated with clipping. Are you trying to sensationalize clipping like it is some magical process that no one understands?


And YES having an amp in a hot room shortens its life.. Same as running a processor hot or any other piece of electrical equipment... AM I saying that clipping an amp for 3 hours will ruin it? No, I'm saying that it might last 3 years instead of 20.

I NEVER said an amplifier running hot doesnt shorten its life. The key word you use is "Might" since you have no evidence to back that up, am I correct?



Prior to this post I assumed you knew SOMETHING about audio equipment, now your statements are just getting idiotic.
Except we both know that the majority of what I bring up, you really dont understand. You pretend to follow along, and make rebuttles to things you dont fully understand. :) Instead of admitting you dont understand what I am talking about, you'd rather call my statements idiotic. And you argue semantics. Have you read the other clipping discussion Randyman and I had in the other thread? Oddly, it seems to go differently than the one I'm engaged in with you. :clap: What's even more interesting is that at the beginning Randyman thought similarly to the way you do, albeit with much more knowledge. But oddly enough, he sides with me at the end of the discussion. I guess he just got tired of my BS and decided to agree with me only to appease me, huh? :rolleyes:

You want an idiotic statement? Heres one: "I don't like the mackie philosophy, they are pretty much a company which uses an 'elite' sounding name in order to attract customers." Hey, does that statement sound familiar???



Clipping is almost always noticeable. I'm not going to argue this because it's subjective and idiotic. But...
You've got to be kidding me. If an amplifier was driven one decibel into clipping with music, you'd hear that, huh? Or even 5 decibels? Gee, I dont know what to say, other than you have better hearing than anyone in the world.

And it isnt subjective when you can't pass a blind test between the two and even determine which file is clipped and which isnt. This is no different than you claiming 13khz+ with music is mandatory.



Pay attention to the message. I just stated that clipping at merely the peaks of the music won't create enough heat to damage drivers or amplifiers. Constant clipping will. You still run the risk of causing physical damage though.
Would it have been so hard to say that originally? The above statement is completely different than your original: "The problem with this is, if you have an under rated low watt amp you will most likely be driving it into clipping. Most amps below the insanely expensive line will clip and not protect themselves or your speakers. Not everyone knows what this clipping sounds like and they end up burning out their amps / speakers."
Lets see, first you say that most amps that arent expensive dont have clipping protection. They will burn out their speakers if clipping occurs.

Now you say that constant clipping will kill your speakers - which could very well be true in many cases, but only if it exceeds the drivers thermal or mechanical limitations. Your first statement in this thread about clipping says people who dont know what clipping sounds like, end up burning out their speakers. But now you say only extended clipping blows up speakers. Which is interesting because you say that you can hear any and all clipping.


Yes but people don't know this, so they take 100 watt speakers plug them into a 100 watt amp, figure they're safe... Then they crank it up figuring that the amp can go to 100 watts and the speakers can handle that. They drive it into heavy clipping and the tweeters blow up. I've seen it before and I'll see it again. I'm not talking about people who know what they're doing.
Then why do you dumb down your statements to the point that they are fundamentally wrong? Last time I checked, overclockers was a technical forum.



You need to begin to recognize these statements so that I don't have to write a novel every time I post here explaining every tiny statement in minute detail.

I recognize your statement. What do you want me to say? Well, he means well, so even though he's wrong I should just ignore him?



And finally... This is the kind of statement that made me not want to respond.
Why, because I know that clipping in moderation wont kill your speakers or amplifier? Can you be any more vague? Do you think I am lying? If you do, PM SpaceRangerJoe or RangerJoe on ocforums, both of them were there.

At any rate, this entire post was nothing but defense of semantics. I wont respond to any further comments unless they have an actual bearing on clipping. THere is no point in arguing this otherwise.

[Aphex_Tom_9]

500 watts. klipsch promedia 5.1 :D

[stratcatprowlin]

Why is it recomended to provide a 3:1 voltage overlap between the output device and the amplifier?
If possible could you explain this to me in layman's terms? Do I really need to know the answer? because I have no clue what it means!
I guess basically what I want to know is,does this come into play as I turn up or turn down the volume on my amp?

[Azzkiller]

Why is it recomended to provide a 3:1 voltage overlap between the output device and the amplifier?
If possible could you explain this to me in layman's terms? Do I really need to know the answer? because I have no clue what it means!
I guess basically what I want to know is,does this come into play as I turn up or turn down the volume on my amp?

Sorry I missed your question earlier.

3:1 voltage overlap is when you have 10 decibels higher output voltage on your preamp than would cause your amplifier to be driven into clipping.

For example, lets say an amp has a maximum input voltage of 1 volts. That means with a 1 volt input, it will play full output, right before clipping. But, since some music is recorded below the maximum limits of the cd, your maximum amplifier headroom is wasted. Lets say a song is encoded to play up to -3dB below reference (reference is the maximum loudness you can have on audio cd and has a value of 0dBfs). That means with a 1volt output on your preamp, if your amp is rated at 100 watts, the most amount of power output you can have is 50 watts. If you increase the maximum preamp voltage to 3 volts, you'll be able to play the amplifier to its full limits, and the signal will even clip. Since we cannot detect small amounts of amplifier clipping when we listen, the amplifier will be able to use its full power, and even get even louder to our ears. The 3:1 voltage ratio is just a suggestion though. Depending on the type of music you listen to (if its really compressed and encoded all the way up to 0dbfs significantly) you may be able to hear the distortion caused by clipping. If so, then a lower ratio, such as 2:1 would probably be better. At any rate, as you decrease the amount of overdrive in decibels, the harder it is to hear the distortion. It will depend on the music, equipment, and person listening to determine how much clipping is audible with music. :)

[stratcatprowlin]

Ahh ok I got it,TX for clearing that up.
I guess a similar scenario would be Turning up the gain on an electric guitar untill the preamp goes into overdrive.Or lowering the gain untill I can have the amplifier maxed out and barely get a decent volume and the signal to noise ratio is terrible.
Right?

[Azzkiller]

Ahh ok I got it,TX for clearing that up.
I guess a similar scenario would be Turning up the gain on an electric guitar untill the preamp goes into overdrive.
Yeah kinda. The purpose of the electric guitar is overdriving it so much that you can actually hear the distortion quite clearly though. That's going to be a lot more than 10 decibels. The whole point of the 3:1 voltage overlap is to get it as loud as possible without detecting any distortion :D


Or lowering the gain untill I can have the amplifier maxed out and barely get a decent volume and the signal to noise ratio is terrible.
Right?
I'm not sure what you are saying here? Could you clarify? thx

[stratcatprowlin]

I mean it would be like a cd player that has a volume control.You can lower the signal to -30db and you could turn up the amplifier all the way and not have much loudness.
Sorry for the not so technical terms.

[Azzkiller]

I mean it would be like a cd player that has a volume control.You can lower the signal to -30db and you could turn up the amplifier all the way and not have much loudness.
Sorry for the not so technical terms.

Perhaps. You do loose signal to noise ratio though by doing this, like you said, but that shouldnt usually be a problem.

If you were to have that cd player's volume control at -3dB, and the amplifier volume set so that it would clip when the cd player's volume is at 0dB, that would be like having a .707:1 voltage ratio


P.S. Check your PM's :)

[Cyrix_2k]

My new HD-280s are rated at .5w, those 555's must really suck :D
My neighbors headphones are rated at 4w... We removed the old drivers, cut 2 holes in the back of the 'phones and glued in two HP Drivers...

[eduncan911]

I love quality. And I do research every few years for the best of the best of sound quality. Yamahas and Creative Labs high end systems always lack the mid-range. While Bose seems to be lacking on the kick (I love to shake the pictures off the wall as well). My home system could use an upgrade as it isn't as nice as my computer (why my computer has a better system, I have no idea).

Was using Altec Lansing's ACS48 (yes, those RARE ones). I'm telling you, those are by far the best sounding, and best cranking I've ever heard. It's only 40x2 for the sats, and 80x1 to the 5.25" (maybe it's 6.5") sub. BUt have you ever seen thos sub box? It's 14x13x9"! I think it uses the Bose Waveform technology.


What am I using now? ;)

Altec Lansing special OEM by Dell 5.1 system. It's the only system I've found that beats out my previous Altec Lansing set.

40x5 to front, rear, and center.
80x2 to subwoofer box. Two 8" power drivers with 80w each. :D
The sub box on it's side is almost as tall as my full tower case!!!

I'm one to say it's not the size of the wattage that matters, it's the quality! I can take pics if you guys want. I have never seen these speakers for sale on Dell's website. Got them OEM, since Dell has a home here in Nashville (don't ask me how I got them :D ).

And yes, I have shook pictures off of the wall. The one that scared me was when I got a grenade from behind in Tribes 2.o.

[galois427]

Receiver is pioneer vsx-1014tx which pumps out about 100wpc w/all channels driven. All speakers are from JBL. front: 2x125w n26, center: 125w n-center, surround and rear: 4x100w n24, sub: 250w pb12. so 1025w total output.

[Xtreme Barton]

car audio .. 2000watts rms @ 1ohm orginal orion concept (cheater amp). with two 1000watt rms kicker 18's in a custom slot ported box !!


yes it will make you cry :D

[stratcatprowlin]

car audio .. 2000watts rms @ 1ohm orginal orion concept (cheater amp). with two 1000watt rms kicker 18's in a custom slot ported box !!


yes it will make you cry :D

Can you actually sit in the car when you have it on? haha! Be careful with your ears,you only have two.

[Xtreme Barton]

man i really dont turn it up all the way ..maybe sometimes for a short second ... you know in the summer crusin around :cool: ..

bass all the way turned down and gain plus volume on just 1 its still has a nice little thump to it .. kinda funny ..

i had a 63 oldsmobile super 88 with 6 twelves in the trunk .. but thosee were no where near as loud as these 18's ..

[Xtreme Barton]

i had a 63 oldsmobile super 88 with 6 twelves in the trunk .. but thosee were no where near as loud as these 18's ..

can you believe i can get 18's for less than 200 a piece !! great price for 1000 rms subs !! especially made by kicker (not saying there the best but they are good)

[breez]

My new HD-280s are rated at .5w, those 555's must really suck :D

Heh, I think these had a half watt max rating too, but I sure as hell don't listen that loud :D