Too much / too little power "over-drive" speaker?


I know that clipping can occur with too little power, but outside of experimentation, what are the guidelines for having too much power? My system is BW N804's, Classe CA 300 amp, and Classe cp50 pre-amp. Before that I had a smaller amp, and noticed clipping started at higher levels, hence I got the new amp. No Problems at all, very nice clean power, but I'm just worried about getting too much volume, so far I have heard no distortion at relatively high volume, but I haven't pushed it fearing it could blow a speaker. Also, if a speaker does "clip" once or twice, can it sustain permanent damage or does it require sustained clipping? my musical taste is mostly jazz/light rock.
thanks,joe
joeb

Showing 1 response by perfectimage

Amps control the speaker movement in and out. When an amp clips its because it throws the driver out and doesnt have the power to pull it back in so it looses control of the driver.

The ca 300 is an excellent amp and I would be catious of selling it and getting two ca 150's. In my opinion I beleive quality is the more important then power and the ca 300 has much better parts then the ca 150. I considered 2 ca 200's but ended up with a ca 400 which sounded much better. There is always the option of adding another ca 300 and biamping but if you like the sound and the speakers arent clipping I would think that you would be fine.

You can have too much power but only if you put a huge amp on a cheap speaker. A lot of power could cause excessive travel for the driver and if it had paper cones or cheaper foam it could tear. You have excellent speakers so that is not a concearn.