Probably not when you have proper system set up.
If he has proper:
- Freedback supression
- Peak limiter
- RMS limiter
- High pass filter
Buy an amp with more power than needed will be just waste of money
Sorry but the waveform does not describe a clipping power amp.Perhaps this will help. Take "time" out of the analysis for a moment.
Here's a 2kHz sine wave shown unclipped and clipped 6dB (pushed 6dB past clipping).
You show an unclipped sinewave which has a certain peak level , in your image 7 divisions, and then you clip the *drive* signal by 6dB so output flat top peak is way lower than before, some 4.5 divisions.
That´s not the way a power amp clips!!!!!!
And certainly not
but 6dB below power amp clipping level.
The real mechanism is that power amp clips because speaker out signal hits power rails and can´t go beyond them.
So the real clipped waveform will *at least* have same peak level as the unclipped one (7 divisions) or a little more.
And harmonic content sent to tweeter through the crossover will be much higher than you calculated.
In fact you were very optimistic by assuming "just" 6dB overdrive, it may be way higher.
If not continuous, because 10dB or more all the time is unbearable, at least when microphone feeds back , falls on the floor with a thud, somebody steps on cable and breaks connector or shielding, etc.
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You misunderstand what the images shows. It's a comparison between an amp clipping when pushed beyond it's clip point by 6dB (the blue trace), and a higher power amp with the same gain but sufficient output to produce the same wave, but unclipped (the green trace). It's shown to compare the difference between a lower power clipped amp and a higher power unclipped amp.
It shows that correctly, as the image was made by clipping an "amp".
The harmonic content is an exact analysis of the clipped wave.
My analysis included clipping up to 10dB past threshold. If you listen to audio clipped that way you'll understand why I stopped there. Carrying the analysis past clip + 10dB will only further limit the total output power, and not increase the spectral distribution. I can do it if you like.
Correct. I show the spectral analysis of actual music, which is not continuously clipped. The analysis was done with the original music peaking at maximum output without clipping, then pushed past that point in successive +2dB steps. Spectral distribution was done by considering the total sample of music. This would be fairly realistic. Again, pushing past the clip +10dB point doesn't change much except to further illustrate that total RMS power eventually flat lines and won't go any farther. Also, pushing 10dB past clipping would be unrealistic from the standpoint of any sane use of a sound system intended for linear and intelligible coverage for an audience. Also, as the analysis was based on the presumption that higher power amps don't damage speakers as much as lower power amps driven to clipping, the 10dB power difference was chosen to represent the absurd. If someone manages to clip a 500W amp 10dB and blows a driver, it's important to know that presenting that same signal unclipped would require a 5000W amp, and would most assuredly burn the driver out far more quickly.
It's important to note that all the above spectra and wave forms were made by actually clipping a real audio, sine wave or music. These were not "calculated" or "predicted", they were actual measurements. The "device" being clipped was not a physical amplifier, it was done by clipping inside a DAW, but the difference would be that amps don't always clip as hard as this, which would result in slightly less HF content. I already noted that fact. Also noted, some amps may not remain stable when clipped. No point in simulating that, though.
If you have a different idea of how this works, please post your actual measurements.
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Agreed. However, there's no mention of any of those things, only mention of upgrading to higher power.
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