Is it possible to overpower a CAB?

[Electricblue]

Hey guys, just a random thought going through my mind.

I know you can overpower/blow a driver in its original box, but what about overpowering the actual box itself?

What I mean is, say if you had a cab that was rated 200w, put a 1000w really high excursion driver in it and maxed it out, could it rattle the cab to pieces?

Just curious

[allexcosta]

I've seen structurally damaged subs...

[billfitzmaurice]

It's possible for a poorly constructed cab to fall apart, yes.

[Hellbastard]

I'm probably wrong, but speaker enclosures don't have power rating. Is the speakers that do. But you could rattle a cab to death.

[will33]

I guess it's possible that a really high excursion woofer could actually rattle a really crappy cab apart at the seams but we'd be talking about a really good driver in a really badly constructed cab....extremes. Most often the really bad cab will just resonate horribly taking sound away from the really good woofer causing you to turn up more and thus blowing the really good woofer as a result of putting it in a really crappy cab.

[capnjim]

I don't know, but I would like to see it on Youtube.

[rpsands]

The biggest point of limitation of power for a cabinet is probably the port area and tuning freq.

Too small of a port area, and the cabinet will chuff when it gets too much power (technically it's the drivers doing that, but it's due to a characteristic of the cabinet).

[T-Bird]

Hi.

If You're talking about med to high quality cabs with the original drivers, then the answer is most probably no.

Originally Posted by Hellbastard

I'm probably wrong, but speaker enclosures don't have power rating. Is the speakers that do. But you could rattle a cab to death.

Actually any pressurized enclosure or a structure that's subjected to vibration does have a power/stress rating, but no-one I know publishes those figures.

Originally Posted by billfitzmaurice

It's possible for a poorly constructed cab to fall apart, yes.

IME it's likely for a poorly constructed cab to fall apart. Especially if "better" than original speakers are used.


Slightly OT, but anyone who have listened the same speakers (Hi-Fi mainly) in cabs constructed from different materials can tell how much the cab rigidity actually changes the sound.

Cardboard on one extreme and granite, soapstone or concrete on the other for example. The results with just a few (or just two far enough apart) materials are amazing. The same goes IME for bracing.

Regards
Sam

[robass]

Originally Posted by T-Bird

Cardboard on one extreme and granite, soapstone or concrete on the other for example.
Regards
Sam

even more slightly of topic -

whats the best metal for a cabinet for METAL?

[T-Bird]

Hi.

Originally Posted by robass

even more slightly of topic -

whats the best metal for a cabinet for METAL?

Any heavy metal will probably do, but a tungsten one would be nice .

Regards
Sam