Clipped waves

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Antler
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2005/11/05 08:17:41 (permalink)

Clipped waves

I know that clipped recordings are bad for speakers, but I don't really know why. If I had a clipped wave, would it still be bad if I were to slightly decrease the wave amplitude? Or would I have to find a way to make the flatlined peak 'wavey' again?
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    dcastle
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    RE: Clipped waves 2005/11/05 08:25:20 (permalink)
    I know that clipped recordings are bad for speakers, but I don't really know why.

    In a layman's nut shell, it's because the sharp corners at the edges of the clip have some really loud high-frequency content --- much, much more than probably anything else in your music --- so your tweeters are happily playing along and then WHAM! This can easily blow out a tweeter. This depends on the amount of clipping and how often. A huge clip might be enough to damage a tweeter all by itself. But more likely, playing all night with a moderately clipping sound will overheat a tweeter and cause it to fail.

    Lowering the volume helps, cutting the extreme high frequency helps, good speakers with thermal overload protection helps, but the best solution is watch your gain structure and don't allow anything to clip.

    Regards,
    Daivd

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    gdugan
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    RE: Clipped waves 2005/11/05 11:42:28 (permalink)
    ORIGINAL: dcastle

    I know that clipped recordings are bad for speakers, but I don't really know why.

    In a layman's nut shell, it's because the sharp corners at the edges of the clip have some really loud high-frequency content --- much, much more than probably anything else in your music --- so your tweeters are happily playing along and then WHAM! This can easily blow out a tweeter. This depends on the amount of clipping and how often. A huge clip might be enough to damage a tweeter all by itself. But more likely, playing all night with a moderately clipping sound will overheat a tweeter and cause it to fail.

    Lowering the volume helps, cutting the extreme high frequency helps, good speakers with thermal overload protection helps, but the best solution is watch your gain structure and don't allow anything to clip.

    Regards,
    Daivd


    Yeah David, but you're forgetting that those ultrasonic frequencies that are generated with the clipping are felt by the listener and contribute to the listening experience. That's why I always recommend capturing clipped audio at 24 bit 96KHz.



    (Obviously I'm joking here, folks. David is right.)

    -Gary

    My Soundclick Page
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