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Please! Need a final answer.

R

Rymsk19

Jan 26, 2011
38
0
#1
I have went through a few reps at Musiciansfriend about this issue now I am turning to you guys. I have a Trace Elliot Commando 12, I am replacing the speaker and one of the reps suggested a 300 watt celestion raw frame speaker, I ordered it, now another reap is telling me it wont function right because of the underpowering. My amp is 100 watts rms and 200 watts peak. Can anyone please let me know if this speaker will be fine. Thanks so much in advance guys! :help::help::help::help::help:
 
#3
Search for 'underpowering' there's lots of mis/information on the subject. Long story short, you can't underpower a speaker but you can accidentally throw some huge transients at it when you dime your amp to get it loud.

As far as the speaker working or not, that's more an issue of whether its design will mesh with the size/porting of the cab it's going into. If the sensitivity of the speaker is fairly high and the Thiele-Small parameters are correct for the box you should have no problems.

There are a few speaker gurus here that can probably chime in and say things better than I can but that's the gist of it.
 
#4
Rymsk19 said:
I have went through a few reps at Musiciansfriend about this issue now I am turning to you guys. I have a Trace Elliot Commando 12, I am replacing the speaker and one of the reps suggested a 300 watt celestion raw frame speaker, I ordered it, now another reap is telling me it wont function right because of the underpowering. My amp is 100 watts rms and 200 watts peak. Can anyone please let me know if this speaker will be fine. Thanks so much in advance guys! :help::help::help::help::help:
Click to expand...

The final answer: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS UNDERPOWERING.

There may be many reasons why the Celestion could be inappropriate, but this will not be one of them.

Edit: wow, lots of simultaneous typing going on.
 
#8
Why not rebuild the one you have for less cash from a reputable speaker repair facility like JAMAC SPEAKERS in Portland.
They quoted me $80 -100 to rebuild the stock 15" Celestion in one of my 1518T cabs.
I'm not sure what the difference is between a standard 12" Celestion and the "Specially Designed for Trace Elliot" 12" Celestion speaker is but, the replacement speaker may not sound the same... just sayin...
 
#9
Rymsk19 said:
I have went through a few reps at Musiciansfriend about this issue now I am turning to you guys. I have a Trace Elliot Commando 12, I am replacing the speaker and one of the reps suggested a 300 watt celestion raw frame speaker, I ordered it, now another reap is telling me it wont function right because of the underpowering. My amp is 100 watts rms and 200 watts peak. Can anyone please let me know if this speaker will be fine. Thanks so much in advance guys! :help::help::help::help::help:
Click to expand...
1. There is no such thing as underpowering.
2. Choosing a replacement driver based only on watts and inches is not how it's done. This is:
Understanding Loudspeaker Data | Eminence Speaker
3. Sales reps are not engineers.
4. The time to get expert opinions is before you buy something, not after.
 
#10
Underpowering; Some loudspeakers have a lower sensitivity than others and, depending on the cabinet it's placed in, may not respond well with a lower powered amp. So the term, "underpowering", could be used in this context, but not in relationship to being damaged by low power.
 
#11
Why does Eminence say this?
"POWER HANDLING
This specification is very important to transducer selection. Obviously, you need to choose a loudspeaker that is capable of handling the input power you are going to provide. By the same token, you can destroy a loudspeaker by using too little power"
 
#12
fleabee said:
Why does Eminence say this?
"POWER HANDLING
This specification is very important to transducer selection. Obviously, you need to choose a loudspeaker that is capable of handling the input power you are going to provide. By the same token, you can destroy a loudspeaker by using too little power"
Click to expand...

Because even corporations can be misinformed.
 
#13
fleabee said:
Why does Eminence say this?
"POWER HANDLING
This specification is very important to transducer selection. Obviously, you need to choose a loudspeaker that is capable of handling the input power you are going to provide. By the same token, you can destroy a loudspeaker by using too little power"
Click to expand...
It's not the lack of power that can do damage, it's the lack of judgement by some users who will drive their amp into clipping, which can produce high powered spikes that can damage a driver, usually tweeters.
 
#14
fleabee said:
Why does Eminence say this?
"POWER HANDLING
This specification is very important to transducer selection. Obviously, you need to choose a loudspeaker that is capable of handling the input power you are going to provide. By the same token, you can destroy a loudspeaker by using too little power"
Click to expand...

So does that mean I have to run my amp wide open, if I turn the volume down my speaker will blow??????? LOL
 
#16
fleabee said:
Why does Eminence say this?
"POWER HANDLING
This specification is very important to transducer selection. Obviously, you need to choose a loudspeaker that is capable of handling the input power you are going to provide. By the same token, you can destroy a loudspeaker by using too little power"
Click to expand...
Good question, you should ask them. If correctly phrased they would say "you can destroy a high frequency driver by using too little power", ie., tweeters. Woofers? No.
 
#18
selftitled907 said:
I love how all this stuff instead of being cut and dry....has to be all backwards and confusing....to little power to the speaker can cause an output spike and so on....sucks it has to be so confusing and nothing is cut and dry.
Click to expand...
The physics is not confusing and is totally cut and dry. What is confused and not cut and dry is the knowledge of the physics, even by some sources that should know better, but for whatever reason don't. And no, too little power to the speaker does not cause an output spike.
 
#19
christw said:
That's the curiously disregarded bit by this myth-how 100 watts of clipping amp will supposedly do damage where 500 watts of properly functioning amp won't. :rollno:
Click to expand...

Put an amp with a high THD on an oscilloscope. You'll see the "rolling hills" sine wave flatten out top and bottom. Someone with more knowledge can explain why that can damage a speaker. I had an Acoustic 220 back in the 80's that had a 10% THD. One of my band mates ran an amplifier repair shop and we put it on the scope. I would start to distort after 5 on the volume dial which equaled bass farts. Most amps today are much lower THD then back then.
 
#20
butchblack said:
Put an amp with a high THD on an oscilloscope. You'll see the "rolling hills" sine wave flatten out top and bottom. Someone with more knowledge can explain why that can damage a speaker.
Click to expand...
It can damage a tweeter, and sometimes a midrange driver, because that 'flattening' is actually greatly increased high frequency harmonic content, which can damage high frequency drivers because that content overpowers them. It has zero effect on woofers, other than to sound really sweet when it's a 50 watt Plexi or Vox AC30 cranked to the max.
 

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