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What are some of the symptoms of overpowering speakers?
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Author:  forper [ 07 May 2019, 08:59 ]
Post subject:  What are some of the symptoms of overpowering speakers?

I did a dumb thing. I went and paired this amp:

http://www.thevintageknob.org/sony-TA-F808ES.html
(2 channel amp, 200W/channel into 4 ohm)

With my pride and joy speaker set:

https://servicemanuals.us/sony/audio/ss-al5mk2.html

4 ohm speakers. The maximum input power is given as 120W.

In the 8 months since I've had the amp it's been giving me all kinds of trouble and it's been in for repairs twice. Some issues have been fixed, however trouble persists. Certainly some of the problems may be due to my stupid speaker pairing (I actually never checked the max input power on my speakers until now).

My speakers are now disconnected but I have no others to test the amp with.

Any experts, what are the possible audible symptoms of doing something dumb like this? I want to know if mine match or if my issues are only with the amp itself? Thank you very much if you can help.

Author:  rein-o [ 07 May 2019, 13:10 ]
Post subject:  Re: What are some of the symptoms of overpowering speakers?

I used to have some 80 watt speakers to a 100 watt amp and it was fine but some films would clip.
Your speaker will die before the amp.
That being said as long as you don't run or push them at high volumes for long periods of time both amp and speakers should be fine.

This is max wattage, so if you are playing at full volume you are SOL but everything should be fine.
You can always repair the speakers if needed as they sell kits, I've done refoaming very easy but never cone or spider replacement.

Author:  je280 [ 07 May 2019, 21:28 ]
Post subject:  Re: What are some of the symptoms of overpowering speakers?

First things first - I am no expert!!

Pretty sure that unless you have had them cranked-up high for a bit it should be fine for the speakers, though again no expert here.

Hope all is okay & you sort out the issues.

Cheers

Author:  forper [ 07 May 2019, 22:09 ]
Post subject:  Re: What are some of the symptoms of overpowering speakers?

Thanks for your posts.

The latest issue was major popping on one speaker between CDs, ie when there was no source and the amp was idle. 10:30 on the volume dial.

Could this be a symptom of a mismatched system or am I looking at leaking caps in the amp or something like that?

Author:  xtempo [ 07 May 2019, 23:01 ]
Post subject:  Re: What are some of the symptoms of overpowering speakers?

can you get some cheap speakers and see if that has the same problems?

Author:  forper [ 08 May 2019, 21:24 ]
Post subject:  Re: What are some of the symptoms of overpowering speakers?

xtempo wrote:
can you get some cheap speakers and see if that has the same problems?


the op shops around me literally have nothing suitable (ie high watt rating)

Author:  forper [ 12 May 2019, 00:47 ]
Post subject:  Re: What are some of the symptoms of overpowering speakers?

Okay I got advice on AVS Forums and apparantly you can't overpower decent speakers (even ones with lower power ratings) unless you crank the volume to max.

I think I already had known this and then forgot. Happens to me more and more, unknown knowns..

Anyway it's probably a bad cap or a grounding problem so it's back in the shop. Wait and see. Meanwhile I've replaced it with a reasonably priced TA-F3000ES which was the original amp these speakers were paired with. Sounds very good but not as much depth and power as when my 808ES is with them. I can't risk the 808s faults damaging my speakers tho, I love my speakers more than any people in my life.

Author:  invenio [ 25 May 2019, 19:19 ]
Post subject:  Re: What are some of the symptoms of overpowering speakers?

A little late to the party,... but as an audiophile I figure I would chime in. As others mentioned, nothing really bad happens with using higher power amps with speakers rated at lower max watt ratings. You can blow a speaker (any speaker) with enough power. However, this would only happen if you were playing beyond the maximum volume. So unless you are absolutely blasting the speaker at crazy high volume (at which you would get massive distortion anyway), you can use any power amp with any "power rated" speaker.

Author:  audioboyz1973 [ 26 May 2019, 08:53 ]
Post subject:  Re: What are some of the symptoms of overpowering speakers?

forper wrote:
What are some of the symptoms of overpowering speakers?

Smoke.

Author:  forper [ 27 May 2019, 06:06 ]
Post subject:  Re: What are some of the symptoms of overpowering speakers?

invenio wrote:
A little late to the party,... but as an audiophile I figure I would chime in. As others mentioned, nothing really bad happens with using higher power amps with speakers rated at lower max watt ratings. You can blow a speaker (any speaker) with enough power. However, this would only happen if you were playing beyond the maximum volume. So unless you are absolutely blasting the speaker at crazy high volume (at which you would get massive distortion anyway), you can use any power amp with any "power rated" speaker.


Thanks man, yeah it's in the shop again and they're hopefully searching for bad caps now. I hate this f***ing amp..

Author:  robc [ 13 Jul 2022, 18:48 ]
Post subject:  Re: What are some of the symptoms of overpowering speakers?

I'm not an electronics tech, but I do sometimes repair audio equipment for cheap thrills (and the babes, lots and lots of babes!)

Issue 1, speaker compatibility:
The wattage rating on a speaker is essentially how much heat the speaker can handle (or dissipate) before blowing something up - typically this means melting the varnish on the wires in the voice coil, thus shorting the coil, dropping the impedance, spiking heat and 2 seconds later, letting out the magic smoke.

A massive 700 watt amplifier played at modest volume levels is only putting out a watt, maybe two, to the speakers, so you could run a cheap little 20 watt bookshelf speaker and be fine.

You only run into trouble when you send more wattage to the speakers than they can dissipate. For 120w speakers, that's quite a lot.

Issue 2: speakers damaging amplifiers:
The only time I've seen a speaker f up an amp is when the speaker's impedance is too low for the amp. 4 ohms is a heavy lift for most amps - even those that are rated for it, and some speakers that are *rated* at 4 ohms may impede only 1 ohm or less at certain frequencies. I once built a huge speaker with double 12" woofers, 4 ohm dome mids and ribbon tweeters, and the crossover setup that gave the best sound also gave about .5 ohms from 1Khz to about 2.5Khz. The sound was beautiful, creamy, balanced, crisp, clean... and it would shut down the amp - any amp - after two or three minutes at volume. The low impedance was just too much and the protection circuit kicked in, shut down the amp till it cooled off again.

So assuming your amp has a protection circuit - and I'm sure it does - you are not hurting the amp with reasonable use.

Issue 3: intermittent pop
I've seen this before 3 or 4x and it comes from a bad connection. Now, that could be a bad connection in a cable, or it could be a cold solder joint on a circuit board. But something in the signal path is losing and regaining connection. Try wiggling or twisting your RCA cables and connectors. If you can induce a pop, then you found your bad problem. Replace the cable and live happily ever after. If you can't recreate the pop, you may need to look deeper. Finding bad (especially intermittent) connections on the boards is a big job for mere mortals and may be best left to a pro.

Hope this helps, but please remember, I'm just a hobbyist and my advice is worth exactly what you paid for it :shock: !!!

Please let us know how you solve the issues :!:

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