Do low bitrate MP3's hurt speakers?

[Jivatmanx]

I've heard this said, a couple times, that low kb mp3s or other formats played through higher quality speakers are bad for them. I've even seen this on the orb audio website.

Now, I try to have all my files in .flac or .ape or some other lossless formats. but lets face it, this is'nt always possible. There's some great music that I get for free on artist websites, like house music by dj sick puppy, and tommy pi. These artists usually offer them in mp3. Is playing these files really going to be bad for my speakers? it seems hard to believe, because if it were true, then would'nt playing certain genres be bad too?

[MDS]

Can you give us a link to the article that makes such a claim?

More power than the speaker can handle or a highly distorted and/or clipped signal can damage a speaker, but that has nothing to do with the bitrate or format of the originating signal. A WAV file has a bitrate of 1,411 kbps and if it is poor and clipped it could damage a speaker just as easily as a 40 kbps mp3.

[Jivatmanx]

http://www.orbaudio.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=1 under the "How many watts are they?" section

[MDS]

They explain what can damage speakers and only casually make the connection with low bit rate mp3. They assume that 128 kbps mp3 contain distortion and it is the distortion that could damage the speakers.

[mtrycrafts]

http://www.orbaudio.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=1 under the "How many watts are they?" section

I just love this too:
Speakers are passive, except for subwoofers which have their own built in amplifier.

They are confusing issues. All speakers are passive and need an amp whether the amp is in the speaker box, or remote some other place.

Distortion is just as bad if not worse.

Really? How would that speaker know if the signal is faithful to the original or not??? I bet perhaps they mean clipping? Two different issues.

This means you can use the Orbs with receivers or amplifiers rated at more than 110 watts, so long as you are careful and avoid playing them to the point of distortion.

HUH??? Do they mean that I could use a 500 watt amp and run it at 300watt RMS, not distorting or clipping and their speakers will take it??? Not unless the speakers are rated to 300 watts, or more.

We also recommend being very careful with MP3 files, as they can contain distortion (especially at 128k bit rates).

They are full of bs, and voodoo, period
I bet they are confusing the low bit rates, less fidelity with distortion??? BS.
I would look at other makers who know a bit more. :D

[patnshan]

I agree that their statement is a wide generalization. There are many 128 MP3's that sound just fine.

If you hear distortion, turn it down. That's it, it's that simple.

Pat

[jcPanny]

Whether you start with highly compress MP3, lossless FLAC file, or Dolby digital soundtrack, it is the job of the A/D converter to change the 1's and 0's to an analog waveform. The output filter on a properly designed A/D should filter any high frequencies that could damage the speakers. Even if the digital input is a square wave, the output should be rolled off and look more like a sine wave.

[3db]

I've heard this said, a couple times, that low kb mp3s or other formats played through higher quality speakers are bad for them. I've even seen this on the orb audio website.

Now, I try to have all my files in .flac or .ape or some other lossless formats. but lets face it, this is'nt always possible. There's some great music that I get for free on artist websites, like house music by dj sick puppy, and tommy pi. These artists usually offer them in mp3. Is playing these files really going to be bad for my speakers? it seems hard to believe, because if it were true, then would'nt playing certain genres be bad too?

What low bit rate MP3 give you or should I say not give you is the complete music. Thats it thats all. It doesn't introduce distortion. It simply omits some of the music information so for ex, t the sound of a violin resembles a vilolin instead of sounding like a violin. If the recording had distortion (Electric guitar is nothing but distortion) , it will be there in low or high bit rate MP3s, probably less in low bit rate MP3 because of the sampling rate not catching enough information. What's ultimately hard on the speaker is a clipped wave form coming from the receiver's output.

[Maximo]

That is really funny. 128kb mp3 files don't sound as good as lossless files, but disstortion bad enough to damage a speaker. Those are ridiculous claims.

[mustang_steve]

More bollocks.

Problem with high wattage is over-driving the speakers. It's a mechanical thing...the driver can only safely move so much, and when more power than it's rated for is applied, it leaves those safe boundaries...so either mechanical damage occurs (crakced voic coil former from botoming out, ripping the spider, tearing the surounds, come damage, etc), or the coil burns out.

MP3 can only damage a speaker if you were to take a CD full of them, place them onto a dremel sanding drum spindle, spin it up to 40,000RPM, and launch the CD at it. Of cours I think anyhting that the CD is flying at would get damaged, including pets...and you yourself if the wife spots you doing this, so please don't tun your dremel tool into a weapon of mass disruption.

[JoeE SP9]

I've heard this said, a couple times, that low kb mp3s or other formats played through higher quality speakers are bad for them. I've even seen this on the orb audio website.

Now, I try to have all my files in .flac or .ape or some other lossless formats. but lets face it, this is'nt always possible. There's some great music that I get for free on artist websites, like house music by dj sick puppy, and tommy pi. These artists usually offer them in mp3. Is playing these files really going to be bad for my speakers? it seems hard to believe, because if it were true, then would'nt playing certain genres be bad too?

The only thing they can hurt is your ears. Low bit-rate MP-3's sound truly awful. They sound so bad they make me want to cut my ears off and run away.:cool:

[Stone__Man]

I think this is/was a VERY good question by the OP ;) As a great many of us have mp3 files , even a great many of them too lol. better safe than sorry , how bad would it suck to spend big bucks on new speakers to have them ruined by low qual mp3s? yikes! many will benefit from this posting. :D