How to Avoid Speaker Blow Outs

Most of us have heard about the dreaded "Blown Speaker" where the music is played to loud and damages the speaker so that in only plays distorted sounds or goes completely dead. But did you know that there are other ways to blow a speaker beyond just playing music too loud? In fact there are at least four other ways to "blow" your speakers.

First, a few thoughts on overpowering your speakers by playing things too loudly. It is best to have an amplifier that is closely matched to your speakers rated power. Having an amplifier that is more powerful than your speaker's rating is okay as long as it is not excessive. Speakers can usually handle a bit more power than their listed rating.

Another very common way to blow speakers is counter intuitive - under powering. Under powering occurs when you match an amplifier with a speaker that is power rated much higher than than what the amplifier is able to output. For instance, you might have 300 watt speakers matched with a 40 watt amplifier. This is not a good setup as the signal from the amp to the speaker will end up "clipped". Basically, what happens is the amp ends up being pushed to the maximum and working at the high end of its capabilities. As a result it is not able to amplify the signal completely and the signal has flat spots leading to distortion. These flat spots are the "clips". This leads to excessive heating.

When a speaker is functioning properly the components are moving back and forth to vibrate the air. However, some of the energy is wasted and converted to heat. When a speaker is receiving clipped signals from the amp, much more of the energy is converted to heat and the speaker is not able to cool down. This results in a burnt coil and a possible fire. Of course, the physics are much more complicated than what I just described but that is the basic idea. Don't match a low power amp to high power speakers.

Another cause of speaker blow outs are transients. These are simply "pops" or quick percussive noises. Examples include the click when a cable is plugged or unplugged from a turned-on amplifier or the noise created when a microphone is forcibly smacked against a hard surface. These noises can the cause the speaker cone to rip or damage the magnet assembly and should be avoided.

Finally, the most mundane way to blow a speaker is simply dropping it. The force of landing can jar components out of position and cause failure either right away or over time as the misaligned parts wear against each other.

Hopefully, these quick insights can help you understand how speakers are damaged and how to avoid blow outs.

To learn more about speaker repair visit Midwest Speaker Repair of Roseville, MN. Article independently authored by Eric Parish. The content herein may or may not reflect the views and opinions of Midwest Speaker Repair. Click for search engine optimization and search engine marketing or visit WebDrafter.com's Blog.