How to know if you're clipping

How can you be certain that a particular amplifier/speaker combination won't clip? Paul shares with us how that's figured out.
Have you gotten your copy of the Audiophile's Guide to setup? Make magic with your system using this guide and CD.

[grodernoo]

Thank you very much Paul, for all those brilliant videos, I’ve learned A LOT watching your channel.

It’s obviously a precious and wide knowledge you’re sharing here with us !

Kind regards from Versailles, France.
Edern.

[gyrgrls]

I can always tell when my neighbor is clipping. There is yard debris all over the lawn and street.

[jeremyhughes]

You can hear clipping if you know what to listen for. Wrong about sensitivity. Speaker impedance varies with frequency - some speakers are much harder than others to drive even with the same overall sensitivity. A more powerful amp will protect speakers - especially tweeters which can burn up quickly if clipping lasts more than a few seconds. Sadly a 30 watt amp can blow a tweeter more easily than a 200 watt amp.

[jdrissel]

The best way is to use an oscilloscope. There is a USB device that can do this called a Espotek Labrador that cost about $30. Clipping is easy to spot visually, just look for flat tops and bottoms on the waveform. You can run most (probably all) modern amps without a load (speaker) and safely run them up to clipping to see what it looks like. On your budget you should be able to at least do this if you are interested. The device can do a lot more and if you are the audio geek that I suspect, you will get your money's worth.

[laurentzduba]

If Clapton's Martin acoustic guitar starts to sound like his Gibson Explorer and Marshall full stack played in anger - its safe to say that you've just reached clipping. 😆

[yppat]

I have a question if I may. My powered speaker (Groove Factory ABS 1002/A 10" 150W) has 2 inputs which have their own volume/gain knob and a volume knob for the master output of the speaker. The volume/gain knob for each input just has a min at 7 o'clock and max at 5 o'clock with graduated markings. There is no marking for 0db or unity. My question is where is 0db or unity on this graduated scale.

[adamk]

What about if it’s 4 ohm with the sensitivity you mention (87, 88, 90)?

[vincecaruso]

All my mp3 say "clipping" when I set them to 95.6 (using MP3gain normalization), however, I never hear any issues at full volume using a 180 watt car stereo with 10 (including subwoofer) speakers with 85.6 db sensitivity... Is it still happening and I just don't hear it? Or is MP3gain giving me a false "clipping" designation?

[poserwannabe]

Short answer, you'll hear it.
🙉

[chrismacdonald]

I knew I was clipping When I destroyed the tweeter!

[photorolensoman]

I have issues with clipping but I am not shore if the issue is with the amp or the speakers. I use 6db bass boost and when I turn the amp louder I get some sharp clicking noise. How to tell apart speaker distortion from amplifier distortion?

[jerryandlisa]

I have a Yamaha as1200 with Wilson audio watt puppy 3/2 will it power the speakers correctly or do you recommend an amp?

[Hare_deLune]

I've heard clipping before.
If you hear it, you'll know something's wrong.

[Horichdaslicht]

It is refreshing to hear a voice of commonsense in these days of obsession with amplifier power. I have B&W 804d3's powered by Cyrus Mono x 200' s. Just before watching this I listened to a recent recording of Shostakovich's 8th symphony with it's hushed pianissimos and shattering, percussive climaxes. The system as usual, sailed effortlessly through it all and although I could not measure it, I am sure the speakers were never anywhere near drawing the 150/8, 240/4 of the amplifiers, which have a peak burst rating of 1500w.

[snakeobias]

I'm still not clear at what rate and how wattage is delivered into the speakers. Paul always mentions that amplifiers are not like "hoses" where increasing the volume will increase the wattage. So, how does a 50-60 watt amp ONLY input 1 watt into the speakers at its base function, and how much wattage is increased with each dial of the volume knob?

[gino]

Great tutorials as always From the questions i get the feeling that many people lack the basics I mean they dont mention the distance of listening the required undistorted SPL the freq range they look for For instance to get a quite full range mini speakers will be out of the game They have no real bass below 100Hz usually
There are so many variables that to answer to a vague question is an almost impossible to try

[mowglilp]

I smoked my Emit-R tweeter on my Infinity Reference 60s using a Harman Kardon HK680 (85w in 8ohms, speakers are 6 ohm with tweeters at 3.2 I think). People on a thread with a similar issue suggested a more powerful amp because the smoking is caused by clipping. After turning down the volume immediately, the tweeter came back to life, but I'm still not sure if my amp is not powerful enough, or if I pushed the volume too high? I believe my speakers have 90db sensitivity.

[ManuLeisure]

Do we need to consider watt rentings of speaker?

[MK-rnhm]

Clipping sounds harsh. No need for any oscilloscope. You can tell when the amp begins to clip. It will also get pretty warm to the touch.

[leekumiega]

Get an amp with a little more power than you need as less powerful amps are more apt to destroy your speakers due to clipping than a little excess power would. Or get a USB oscilloscope for around $65 which is all you need to see clipping.