Noob Question here

[Bass_Pounder]

The other issue factor and fact is that more speakers are blown by being under powered than over.

Please ignor this, as it is absolutely FALSE


There are many threads made by Engineers and amp and speaker builders that debunk this myth.

 

[B-string]

Cab ratings are thermal limits at 1000Hz, not much cone movement at that frequency. We play bass with content under 100HZ (LOTS of cone movement), so the "power rating" is almost useless. Hook up an amp with "at least 100 more watts" than the cab just invites over-extending the speaker cones. Damaged cones, voice coils slamming into magnet structures, cones getting "hung" outside the motor structure.
The miss quote comes from a JBL white paper aimed at horn failures in PA cabs.

 

[JimmyM]

Only OVERpowering blows speakers, never underpowering. It would be akin to saying that if you put 32 ounces of Kool Aid in a 24 oz cup that it won't spill

 

[RickenBoogie]

+1 in debunking the underpowering myth. Every week or so, someone will chime in and repeat the same old nonsense that an "underpowered" amp will harm your speakers, and that clipping an amp is bad for spkrs, etc. Complete and total hogwash. Ignore that comment.

 

[Downunderwonder]

Not to be argumentative, but what amps are you using that 1 o'clock is "out of headroom"? Just to be clear, 1 o'clock is just past half volume. That HA3500 had plenty of headroom left, and so has every other amp I have ever played thru. I could have cranked it up more, but I didn't need anymore.

Most amps run out of headroom around 1 o'clock. This is where they will only play minimally louder by putting on more gain, but this is not what is meant by running out of headroom.

Headroom is your capacity to exceed your average loudness with a dynamic pluck, slap, slam, bash, whatever your style. If you use too much of the available gain being loud you cut into the headroom available to be extra loud.

 

[billfitzmaurice]

When you have a 250w cab and say a 180w head would you add that wattage or is 250w the max the cab can handle?

250w is the maximum the cab is rated to handle before the voice coil burns out. How much it can actually make use of before the driver reaches its mechanical limits is probably no more than half that.

+1 in debunking the underpowering myth. Every week or so, someone will chime in and repeat the same old nonsense that an "underpowered" amp will harm your speakers, and that clipping an amp is bad for spkrs, etc. Complete and total hogwash. Ignore that comment.

+100. Newbies should spend at least their first month here reading, asking and learning before offering engineering pronouncements not backed up by engineering fact.