I know this might be a bit of a daft question but how do you actually know if your amp is clipping? I seem to remember reading that Antony Michaelson of Musical Fidelity said that most low powered amps will be almost always clipping. If this is true then without any kind of visible display how are we supposed to know?
Daft question?
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I've only ever heard clipping in bellow seperates kit. You can hear it. It sounds like distortion. Similar to overdrive/heavy metal crunching on a guitar amp except those amps do it on purpose. If the sound starts to distort dial the volume right back and play your music a good few notches bellow that point.
idc
Well-known member
it will depend on the music being played as to how noticeable it is, i would've thought. compressed pop or rock should be the most noticeable, the lack of dynamic range should mean more of it is clipped. music with large dynamics, like classical, should be less noticeable because most the music will be at a low level with only large peaks getting clipped. of course, if you're listening to the quiet bits of classical at a higher volume, the peaks might damage your speakers. i think it's very noticeable when an amp doesn't have sufficient headroom.
Thanks for the replies guys. I'm quite suprised that manufacturers don't put an LED in all amps to let you know when it is clipping. As said by Craig when I listen to classical music I do tend to have it pretty loud so I can hear the quiet passages easily but then before you know it the music has peaked and I find myself scrambling for the remote to turn it down!
I seem to remember my NAD 3020A from years back had a row of LED's and it was bad news if the last one kept lighting up.
At the volumes I'm able to play at that's not an issue, but a very good point and would be an excellent feature to have on any amp. Can't see it would cost much to implement either.
At the volumes I'm able to play at that's not an issue, but a very good point and would be an excellent feature to have on any amp. Can't see it would cost much to implement either.
james_LR90 said:
it would be a useful feature, if only for peace of mind. maybe, though, they don't put them on as the constant flashing from under powered amps would start to get distracting.
this link gives you an idea of the power needed to allow for uncompressed peaks, it's mainly aimed at pa kit but also covers home stereo. it would seem that just about anyone who likes to turn it up a bit, is listening to a clipping amp!
Craig M. said:james_LR90 said:
it would be a useful feature, if only for peace of mind. maybe, though, they don't put them on as the constant flashing from under powered amps would start to get distracting.
this link gives you an idea of the power needed to allow for uncompressed peaks, it's mainly aimed at pa kit but also covers home stereo. it would seem that just about anyone who likes to turn it up a bit, is listening to a clipping amp!
That made for some quite worrying reading to be honest. I dread to think how underpowered my amp is and how often it must be clipping without me knowing it. Think I will be a bit more restrained with the volume from now on before I do my speakers some serious damage!!! I think all amp manufacturers should include an LED to warn of clipping. I would hate to think i've spent alot of money on speakers only to be doing serious damage to them every time I get giddy with the volume...
As i've said in one of your other threads James, i'm running 360 watts per channel. For anyone worrying about clipping buy a pro amp,lots of headroom! I've always thought speakers sound better with tons of watts, and pro gear makes lots of watts afordable to all without loss in quality.
chunky70 said:As i've said in one of your other threads James, i'm running 360 watts per channel. For anyone worrying about clipping buy a pro amp,lots of headroom! I've always thought speakers sound better with tons of watts, and pro gear makes lots of watts afordable to all without loss in quality.
Hi chunky70. I think I will seriously consider a pro amp now that I realise how much power I should really be giving my speakers. Don't know how I'm going to audition one tho...
Auditioning pro gear isn't easy unless you can take all your stuff into the local disco shop! I guess you would just have to bite the bullet and buy an amp online making sure the company had a decent returns policy. I bought my gear blind only going by the online reviews and got lucky in that i was very pleased with the sound. I woudn't recommend doing this with most hi-fi,but with pro gear there really isn't an option.
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