Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Tim McCulloch" data-source="post: 82086" data-attributes="member: 67">Re: JBL SRX / QSC PL236 underpowered?I wish JBL would take that paper down from the website.&nbsp; We wind up debating it about once a year...&nbsp; but that paper has probably sold more, bigger amps than any other document.Here&#039;s the real deal:&nbsp; if you use amps that marginally reach the maximum continuous rating of your speakers, you need to be comfortable watching clip lights flash often and stay on for more than brief peaks.&nbsp; Remember that clipping, in and of itself, does not damage speakers (or the electric guitar wouldn&#039;t exist).&nbsp; The trade off is that amps pushed that hard tend to run hotter than necessary, and heat leads to premature failures.Buying 3dB of headroom is expensive (double the watts) but purchases peace of mind for those with allergic reactions to flashing red LEDs and can increase the service life of the amplifiers by not running them so hard.With internally powered speakers, the manufacturers have mostly chosen to replace clip lights with &quot;peak&quot; or &quot;limit&quot; lights.&nbsp; Sometimes you see the light long after you&#039;ve begun to hear the limiting... DB Technologies DVX DM15 comes to mind; you&#039;ll hear it run out of gas (or the limiters engaging) before the light comes on...&nbsp; But my guess is the amps in most of JBLs powered speakers are clipping when you hit rated power and we don&#039;t hear it.That all said, I&#039;ve been one to use bigger amps and enjoy the thermal headroom, as our summer work can involve ambient temps of over 104°F.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Tim McCulloch, post: 82086, member: 67"] Re: JBL SRX / QSC PL236 underpowered? I wish JBL would take that paper down from the website. We wind up debating it about once a year... but that paper has probably sold more, bigger amps than any other document. Here's the real deal: if you use amps that marginally reach the maximum continuous rating of your speakers, you need to be comfortable watching clip lights flash often and stay on for more than brief peaks. Remember that clipping, in and of itself, does not damage speakers (or the electric guitar wouldn't exist). The trade off is that amps pushed that hard tend to run hotter than necessary, and heat leads to premature failures. Buying 3dB of headroom is expensive (double the watts) but purchases peace of mind for those with allergic reactions to flashing red LEDs and can increase the service life of the amplifiers by not running them so hard. With internally powered speakers, the manufacturers have mostly chosen to replace clip lights with "peak" or "limit" lights. Sometimes you see the light long after you've begun to hear the limiting... DB Technologies DVX DM15 comes to mind; you'll hear it run out of gas (or the limiters engaging) before the light comes on... But my guess is the amps in most of JBLs powered speakers are clipping when you hit rated power [B]and we don't hear it[/B]. That all said, I've been one to use bigger amps and enjoy the thermal headroom, as our summer work can involve ambient temps of over 104°F. [/QUOTE]

Verification