I think my amp is clippling.

[Roughers]

My amp is a pioneer VSX-s300 and I'm using it to power 2 JBL studio 130 bookshelf speakers and a studio 120 centre speaker. The amp is rated at 100W per channel and the speakers all have a power handling of 60W so i wouldn't have thought it would clip but it sounds strange at high volume. When I turn it up to about -3dB (-65dB to 15dB) with +6dB on the bass some distortion happens. On heavy bass and drum beats start to sound like there popping and as far as i can tell this sound only seems to come from the bookshelf speakers. Could this be the amp doesn't have enough power and its starting to clip or maybe the speakers are clipping and they've reached there Xmax(not 100% sure what speaker excursion is)? Not really sure what's going on and would appreciate some help.

 

[markw]

Perhaps you're expecting a bit too much from a couple of 4" speakers, particularly since you say you're boosting the bass to begin with.

But, since that 6 db bass boost quadruples the power demand on bass notes, anything is possible, but I'd be looking at the speakers as your main culprit first.

 

[fuzz092888]

+1 ditto, I've been able to crank my Marantz SR5006 to very uncomfortable volumes so my guess would be speakers as the culprit.

After a quick look at the speakers in question, and since you didn't mention a subwoofer the speakers are definitely your issue. Those drum beats and heavy bass are going to destroy your speakers, they need to be crossed over they're just not meant to handle full range and especially at those levels.

 

[cpp]

speaker shopping is recommended

 

[TLS Guy]

My amp is a pioneer VSX-s300 and I'm using it to power 2 JBL studio 130 bookshelf speakers and a studio 120 centre speaker. The amp is rated at 100W per channel and the speakers all have a power handling of 60W so i wouldn't have thought it would clip but it sounds strange at high volume. When I turn it up to about -3dB (-65dB to 15dB) with +6dB on the bass some distortion happens. On heavy bass and drum beats start to sound like there popping and as far as i can tell this sound only seems to come from the bookshelf speakers. Could this be the amp doesn't have enough power and its starting to clip or maybe the speakers are clipping and they've reached there Xmax(not 100% sure what speaker excursion is)? Not really sure what's going on and would appreciate some help.

You are bottoming the drivers, and you will ruin them if you keep it up.

 

[Roughers]

Thanks for the quick response guys. If i was a get a sub, take off the 6dB bass and set the crossover would these speakers be able to handle mid and high frequencies better? and would i be able to turn up the volume by 6dB or more?

 

[agarwalro]

If you set the crossover high (120Hz or more) it will help tremendously.

If you can play louder depends on how loud are you already playing those speakers and how much louder you want them to play. Being tiny as they are, you can't expect them to play too loud.

 

[TLS Guy]

Thanks for the quick response guys. If i was a get a sub, take off the 6dB bass and set the crossover would these speakers be able to handle mid and high frequencies better? and would i be able to turn up the volume by 6dB or more?

The answer to your first question is yes.

The answer to the second question is uncertain.

The speakers have a power handling of 60 watts continuous with a low sensitivity of 85 db 2.83 volts 1 meter.

The specs as usual with speakers are minimal. Total max spl is not stated.

The speakers are cheap however, so one has to assume the motor system is not that robust.

So if you use a sub, you may not mechanically destroy the speakers, but burn out the voice coils instead.

Once you remove the bass area that causes cone excursion, then you are taking away a significant part of the gap cooling. So the voice coil will tend to actually get hotter for the same power when fed more power above 80 or 100 Hz.

Making a small driver that will handle a lot of power is a significant engineering challenge. The number around is small and they don't come cheap.

 

[Roughers]

thanks for all the help, much appreciated.

 

[agarwalro]

If the 4" driver is bottoming out, it will create the unmistakable plopping and crackling that brought you to the forum. Thermal compression is much more subtle distortion. If you feel the sound is not as open and the music feels stuffy, it's time to turn it down.

Thankfully, the symptom of all signal distortion combined is very easy to discern, listening fatigue. If you start feeling like turning the volume down, the combined audible distortions are giving you listening fatigue.