AUDIOPHILE SUNDAY TIP # 14: WHY CLIPPING CAN FRY SPEAKERS

Fiftyfifty

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Why Clipping Can Fry Your Speakers

There's a persistent myth in hi-fi: that too much amplifier power is what blows speakers. In reality, the opposite is far more dangerous. Underpowered amps driven into clipping are the real speaker killers. When an amplifier runs out of headroom, it can no longer deliver a clean sine wave. Instead, the peaks of the signal flatten into a square-like shape. This "clipped" signal contains a large amount of high-frequency energy - harmonics that weren't in the original music.

Tweeters are designed for delicate, low-energy high frequencies. When clipping occurs, they suddenly get blasted with a continuous stream of unnatural HF content. They can overheat, distort, or burn out altogether. A larger amplifier doesn’t mean more risk. It means more headroom: the ability to pass musical transients cleanly without distortion.

And don’t mistake volume knob position for power delivery. A system that sounds loud at 9 o'clock may simply have high gain. What matters is whether the amp can supply current and voltage cleanly during peaks without distorting.

See the video below for a demo:

Tip idea courtesy: @prem

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