At the last DIY speaker event we listened to a wide assortment of fine DIY speakers rated between 5w
and 200w or higher. Were we using a 500w amp no we were only using a 3w tube amp and we never heard
clipping distorted sound because we didn't overdrive the amp.
and 200w or higher. Were we using a 500w amp no we were only using a 3w tube amp and we never heard
clipping distorted sound because we didn't overdrive the amp.
The danger of clipping is that a clipped wave generates high frequencies that will go to your tweeter, which has a limited power ability, a fraction of the woofer power ability. But clipping at a bass frequency does not generate a lot of power at tweeter frequencies. If you drove your amp into a total square wave at a frequency just below the cross-over, ok that would be hard on your tweeter, but that would be way past a reasonable amount of distortion. I should mention that the power ability of your tweeter is multiplied by the attenuation of that tweeter because tweeters are always more efficient than woofers.