dave_Edwards

As you have probably heard, some people say that too little power can blow speakers. Well... How can I say this... BS!!!! Too little power will only cause the maximum output level to be low. Abuse and the defective 'wing nut' (an idiot) connected to the volume control blow speakers with low powered amplifiers. If driving a speaker with low power would cause them to fail, speakers would fail every time you lower the volume on the head unit. I will try to explain what happens when speakers are driven with clipped signals but remember... you get what you pay for. Note: This page deals mainly with speaker damage that involves thermal damage of the voice coil. Speakers can also be damaged mechanically by driving it beyond what the suspension can handle. Mechanical damage is generally caused by driving the speaker with too much power but it can also be done when a speaker is in a ported enclosure and is driven with frequencies below the port tuning frequency. Most of the damage I've seen has been thermal damage to the voice coil. When a woofer is driven with a high powered amplifier to high levels, there will be a significant amount of current flowing through the voice coil. Since the voice coil has resistance, there is a voltage drop across the speaker's voice coil (which the amplifier appreciates greatly . This means that there may be a great amount of power being dissipated (in the form of heat) in the voice coil. When a speaker is driven with lots of clean power, the cone moves a great deal (in proportion to the output voltage from the amplifier). For speakers with vented pole pieces (or other types of venting), this movement forces a lot of air to flow in the magnetic gap (area where the voice coil rides). When the woofer moves out of the basket, the chamber that's under the dust cap and around the voice coil expands (increases in volume) which pulls cool air into the magnetic gap. When the woofer moves the other direction, the chamber size is reduced and the hot air is forced out of the vent in the pole piece. This air flow cools the voice coil. If a relatively low powered amplifier is driven into clipping (to a full square wave for a lot of people), a relatively large portion of the time, the voltage delivered to the voice coil no longer resembles a sine wave as it would with an unclipped signal. While the amplifier's output is clipped, the voice coil is not being motivated to move as far as it should for the power that's being delivered to it and therefore is likely not being cooled sufficiently (since the speaker is driven by a linear motor, the voltage applied to the voice coil determines how far the voice coil moves from its point of rest). At points a, b, d, e, f and h the voltage is changing causing the voice coil to move in the gap and therefore pull in fresh cool air. At points c and g, the voice coil may still be moving a little due to momentum but may not be moving enough to cool properly. Remember that during the clipped portion of the waveform current is still flowing through the voice coil. Since the displacement of the voice coil (and therefore the airflow around the voice coil) is no longer proportional to the heat being generated, the voice coil can overheat. This excess heat may cause the voice coil former to be physically distorted and/or melt the insulation off of the voice coil wire and/or cause the adhesives to fail (especially if the speaker is rated to handle no more than the power that the amp can produce cleanly). If your speakers are rated (honestly) to handle the maximum 'clean' power that your amplifier can produce, slight clipping isn't generally a problem. Severe clipping is more likely to cause a problem. Severe Clipping (square wave): It always amazes me when I hear some idiot driving down the road and the audio is clearly distorted (is that possible . Many people drive their amplifiers into what could be called a square wave output . This means that the power is double but the cooling of the voice coil will not increase in proportion with the power increase (since the voice coil isn't moving as much as it needs to be for the given power dissipation). This will lead to the voice coil overheating. If we compared the output of a 100 watt amp (the one that's clipping) to a 200 watt amp, the 200 watt amplifier would be able to push the speaker as much as 40% farther than the 100 watt amp (depending on the frequency of the signal). This extra travel (in each direction from its point of rest) would result in added airflow around the voice coil. The RMS voltage of a pure sine wave is equal to the peak voltage multiplied by 0.707. The RMS voltage of a pure square wave it equal to the peak voltage. For 2 waveforms with equal amplitude the RMS voltage of the square wave is 1.414 times the voltage of the sine wave. If we use the example of the 100 watt amp which can produce a sine wave of 20 volts RMS, we can see that the output power at hard clipping is double the power it can produce cleanly. Clean Signal Calculations: P = E^2/R P = 20^2/4 (4 ohm speaker) P = 400/4 P = 100 watts RMS Square Wave Signal Calculations: P = E^2/R P = 28.28^2/4 (the RMS voltage is 1.414 times the RMS voltage of the sine wave) P = 800/4 P = 200 watts RMS Note: If your speakers are capable of handling significantly more than your amplifier can produce, driving them with a clipped signal will not likely hurt them. If the speakers can handle 3 or 4 times the power that your amplifier can produce, there's virtually no way to damage your speakers (no matter how clipped the signal is). If your speakers are rated for the same power handling as your amplifier is capable of producing cleanly, driving them with a clipped signal for extended periods of time may cause speaker damage and/or premature failure. If your speakers are rated for the same power handling as your amplifier is capable of producing cleanly, driving them with a square wave signal for extended periods of time will likely cause speaker damage.

Hello all, My name is Dave Edwards, I'm staioned in Grand Forks AFB, North Dakota, I WAS in the Air Force, I just finished a 5 year tour. I am so damn close to my BSEE degree I can smell it---4 years in work. I have been into car audio for about 12 years, I rebuilt my first amp when I was 13, now I build amps,subwoofers,crossovers, pretty much anything I need. I worked as a System Designer/Consultant for Ampmanaudio.com before it went under. I try to learn as much as I can on the subject and I hope to pass my knowledge onto you.

out of these 2---which do you like better?I will respond when i see someone elses opinion.

Stereo Interconnects (RCA's) RCA's were invented in 1972 by the famous audio engineer Richard Clark, as a stable replacement for previous connectors (hence RCA : an acronym for 'Richard Clark Audio', the company under which Richard Clark first released these connectors to the world). The point of the RCA interconnect was simple : to allow connections to be made simply and securely between amplifiers, CD players, tuners, speakers, power sockets, etc, without risk of electrical shorting or loose wires. RCA's quickly caught on, and are now the connector of choice for the pro audio industry, and hence the car audio industry as well. They are somewhat rarer in home audio circles, as home audio lovers are a backwards lot who still think that tube amps are 'cool' : you have to be skeptical of the intelligence of any such people, as this is somewhat like still thinking that codpieces are 'cool'. RCA's almost universally come in pairs, as in this configuration they can transmit an audio signal cleanly with little distortion. In a pair of RCA's, one plug carries the positive signal, the other, the negative signal, like so : RCA's originally were designed with solid end barrel tips, but many of the fancy manufacturers around these days leave small cuts in the barrel tips : this is due to the fact that they need to allow for thermal expansion (solid tip RCA's are prone to shattering due to expansion from heat cause by the large amounts of currents carried - its not unknown for a set of RCA's to carry over 100A!) The electrons in an RCA cable, like electrons in real life, exist in a state of chaos (known commonly as 'plasma') where they float around inside a material with no real outlet for their energy. In this state, they are known as 'AC' ('Anti-Controlled') power. The job of an RCA cable is convert these random AC electrons into a usable form of power known as 'DC' (or 'Definite-Control') power. The easiest way to enable the RCA's to make this conversion is to draw little arrows on the RCA's and arrange them so that they are connected with the arrows pointing the way you want the electrons to move. Electrons are like naughty teenagers : they have no real purpose in life, and are just looking for some stern direction. Placing arrows on your RCA cables allows these aimless wandering electrons to shift from the uncontrolled state known as AC, and become DC electrons, flowing evenly and steadily in the direction you've indicated. However, as you can probably imagine, this process is not 100% perfect due to the unruly nature of AC electrons. So if you put direction arrows on the cable, but do not take steps to replace the electrons which move, you end up with an RCA cable which has lost most of the electrons from one end : A cable set up like this is called an 'unbalanced interconnect'. Unbalanced cables are VERY bad, as the electrons left behind get anxious and oscillate randomly, causing background noise and hiss to creep into your audio signal. The solution to this problem is to place what is known as an 'RF'(Random Frequency) choke on the effected end of the cable : you may have seen one of these on aerial cables and the like already. The RF choke is normally a piece of plastic with a round iron core in two pieces that snaps around the cable at one end. The iron in the choke acts as an electron sink, sucking them from the surrounding air and forcing them into the cable to replace the ones that have moved on. By doing this, you fix the unbalanced nature of the cable, making them a 'balanced interconnect' When you're connecting RCA's to amplifiers, etc, you may have heard of 'line voltage'... What is this? Lets explain. Line Voltage, and Making The Most Of Your Cables The term 'line voltage' applies to the force with which the electrons hit the end tip of the RCA. Think about it like a car motor : the higher the line voltage of your RCA, the more power it can use to push the voice coil. High line voltage means stronger SPL, better SQ, and a nice warmth to the audio signal. Therefore, its in the best interests of your audio habit to maximize this line voltage. Electrons are often talked of as 'flowing' or as being a 'current'. This is because electrons are a type of nanoscopic liquid, and behaves like a thick liquid in most respects, being affected by most physical phenomena such as pressure, gravity, evaporation, etc. When an RCA is lying flat, the electrons in the cable just slosh around randomly, with no real forceful direction. An audio signal will still flow when they lie like this (due to the arrows on the cable giving them some direction of flow), but wont have a lot of pressure behind them, so the audio signal isnt very strong. A cable like this effectively have a line voltage of almost 0v. Therefore, to get a strong audio signal, we want to get the signal to flow strongly. The cheapest and easiest way to do this (short of using an 'ADC Device'(Assisted Definite Control Device, a kind of 'electron pump') is to make use of the natural force of gravity. By angling the RCA so that the RCA's can flow downward affected by gravity, we increase the pressure of the audio signal, and so increase the line voltage. The electrons all fall to one end of the cable, making a much more forceful sound quality present. There is a formula for working out the flow of electrons due to downwards gravity in a cable : you may even have heard of it. It is called "The General Theory of Relative Electron Flow In Gravity-Assisted Audio Cabling", or "Theory of Relativity" for short. The well known equation is : E=MC^2 ... where E = 'Electropressure' (a fancy name for Voltage), M = 'Momentum' (i.e the force imparted by gravity), C = 'Coulombs' (another fancy name, this time for Amperes... the Coulomb is named after Donald G. Coulomb, the inventor of electricity), and ^2 is the fancy math

So I was changing out a CD in my P9 on Saturday and the HU motor to open up the face does not open all the way up. It opened all the way open and spit out the CD today. I have taken it apart and hit it with compressed air and checked, Ramos and I did not see anything showing wear.....any ideas?

so he can be Jim's hero

Seeing as though most home audio drivers are meant for larger enclosured than most car audio drivers....there are a few other differances.... as for an EQ...no you don't need one...but a crossover is a must....another differance between active and passive is you have total control with an active system...unlike passives which are set by the manufactures

I am now the Virginia state champ in ModEx with scores of 85.5 and 83...average of 84.25 today.....World Finals here I come

gots me a week to get ready for state finals...then 2 weeks till world finals....the car is dialed in..now Mr. Buwalda gets to put the icing on the cake

this goes for the guys that do not know what I am getting.....I have picked up an amplifer sponsor.....looks like the Sundown's and the old school Phoenix Gold MS1000 are getting retired....any guesses.....I will say I don't think anyone here is running them....any guesses? I guess a nobody like me can get a sponsorship(haha)..

As it states on there web-site Research & Development 100% U.S.A Heatsink: Extrusion, CNC Machine work 100% U.S.A Blank P.C. Board 100% U.S.A P.C. Board: Assembly & Final Assembly 100% U.S.A Final Quality Control 100% U.S.A Packaging 100% U.S.A Parts U.S.A., Mexico, Europe, & Asia they clearly say some of the parts are not U.S but as for the rest of the amp, it is. I know of only one MAJOR issue and that is with the Steel series, that is a turn off thump. It is up between Tru and JL Audio for amplifers for the Camry next year.

BINGO....the Billet series have caught my eye

some specs..... - Extreme Broad range Class AB Amplifiers - Absolute 100% QC conducted on all Amplifiers - 100% USA Made is the byproduct of our QC in which no other company can claim - Pre-Amp bypass

solid state---class AB---handbuilt

yout stumped then....

the deal kinda came to me...it is a VERY VERY highline company...the guys that do know...DO NOT say anything!!!

nope---no Zapco,Audison,Helix,Brax,Genenis,McCintosh...if you guys would have gotten it I would have told you..I wouldn't lie I only tell the truth

hahaha....funny

That is incorrect. Teamssaudio consists of more then 3 people. who are the other people? never seen or heard of them. just looked at the team section on ssa, and it states "coming sooon" Team SSA (Dave,Ramos and I) made people at the shows recognize ssa as a true force to be reckoned with in sound quality. don't believe me, ask tom shaw(former world champ),randy eddy(won elite top 30, but lost to dave in meca) if they know who team ssa is and i guarantee you that dave,ramos and i will be mentioned and the list goes on of competitors that are impressed with our cars and sportsmanship. Dave,ramos and I will be at Meca World finals. Any of you guys from ssa or "team ssa" are welcome to come by and get a demo. Webster, that is awesome that you guys have done well in MECA SQ. The thing is that we had not heard one single person come to the website, shop, or Icon support page and say they saw the Icon at a MECA SQ show. And in reality, very few people have heard of Tom Shaw or Randy Eddy, even though they are very good at what they do and have accomplished a great deal. So when mentioned in small world of MECA SQ, yeah you guys are going to come up and people will know those guys, but in the big picture, it is quite the opposite. I know that you guys gave out a ton of stickers and brochures to people that came and heard the cars, and that is very cool. But the effects of that were not seen on our end. So the relative perspective has to be considered, especially when we are solely internet based and run. Next, there are other associations and competitions outside of MECA SQ. We had a number of people compete early on in the season(s), (a few blazers one of whom is still active today, Aerostar van who is also still active, 2 door Tahoe, and a few others in the area of Phoenix some doing car shows too, but most important and notable of all, is the other owner of SSA, Mark did a number of shows and competitions. Mark had to stop doing competitions because we could not afford the constant expense of them. People have no idea how many hours he and I put in every week, and still make $0 from our efforts. So once again, we are grateful for the exposure and time you guys put in, but we are such a small company and in no way can we keep up with larger more established companies when it comes to funding/sponsoring, and we went above what most companies do anyway, that is a cold hard fact. But I am done talking about this since the "team" was "disbanded" anyway. We have to focus our money and energy on things that will keep the line going and at some point put money in our pockets. End of story. Aaron, if my .02 is not wanted here feel free to delete or edit my post. While I cannot and will not speak of webster, ramos, or dave in any negative light; I can only speak highly of Mark. The shows I was able to attend mark was there. Pushing the hell out of SSA. Schmoozing everyone he could about how good SSA is, and YET never talking down to anyone about what equipment they used, or how they were set up. I understand the fanancial aspect of him no longer going to shows, but I will tell you, he put one hell of a face on SSA, and I know the next time I get a chance to build a system, (whenever that may be) I will not hesitate to go for SSA. J I do not have anything to add...at this time at least

all guesses are wrong so far.....Jim, I said I was a nobody(since someone here thinks I am)

good guess....but nope....think alittle higher line product

get an amp that "does it's power" at 4 ohms then

SVC 4 ohm or DVC 4 ohm?

Ill Bill(La Coka Nostra)---Pain Gang

so....who missed me???