Hi guys!
Great discussion, djk and Richard!
> A 30WPC channel amp won't damage a Tempest at all,
> regardless of clipping.
I dont think a 30WPC amp could damage a Tempest - its not great, but its OK. And the cones or voice coils arn't going to melt or anything if driven into clipping occasionally, especially with Tempest, it will probably just snicker at the prospect.
My view has always been that the clipped part of the waveform is DC. I've read some things on weather its true, or not true, but thats my opinion anyway. I dont think theres a 1-2Hz component in a clipped waveform, as clipping is essentially harmonics, and most of this is midband, and in multi-way systems the midrange and tweeters are gonna die on hard clipping. I've just not heard of it before, so I cant say for sure, but thats how I see it though.
Say an amp generates full power of 100Wrms at 3/4 power on the volume control, twist it to full power, will the amp be able to hit 200 watts for brief periods? The answer is, it probably wont. And it is likely to clip, which means it probably cant output much more than 100Wrms no matter how you mix the frequency ranges, it will just clip in the form of square waves, and these will be of higher order harmonics with most clipped energry distributed midband. But whatever the cause, either by preamp or the main amp, current gain suddenly goes from maximum gain provided by the amplifier - probably something like a million - to zero. There is no more gain. It doesn't really go to "zero" in that the amplifier is still providing more output current than input current. But it can go no higher, and the delta is then zero.
But thats still not necessarily good news for the woofer though. I think that a bit larger amplifiers driven into hard clipping for extended periods could destroy the woofer. Or perhaps smaller amplifiers capable of deliver high peak voltages, and then clipping those. In any case, the 30WPC amp is likely not to do any damage to Tempest.
That brings me to the second point, clipping is nasty. Just dont do it. Turn the volume knob down, or buy stuff that handles more power all the way around - speakers, amplifier, everything. Clipping introduces lots of higher order distortion, and that means it sounds crap, and I can tell you clipping is not something you want to be listening too. Buying a larger amp will mean the speakers wont clip anymore, and thats a good thing, but then of course, you can damage the speakers from too much power that they can safely tolerate, unless your fingers wont ever be tempted to nudge that volume control any further.
To conclude, a 30WPC should be no problem with tempest, and it will just laugh at the site of clipping - the driver is capable of handling whatever this amp decides to do. Clipping is still bad though, and introduces lots of harmonic distortion, so it sounds real crap. But in terms of actual damage to the driver - theres none.
Adrian
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