Am I going to blow my speakers?

[Deeko]

So I just got some nice Infinity component speakers for my car. I took them to Circuit City to get them installed cuz well, I'm lazy. The guy went on for about 15 minutes about how I was going to blow them cuz I wasn't running them off an amp. My head unit puts out 27 watts RMS, the speakers are rated 2-90 RMS. In my opinion, 27 watts is not going to underpower them to the point of blowing them, no way. Granted I'm going to get an amp eventually anyway cuz its a waste to have such nice speakers without one, but right now, they'll be fine.

I agreed with him that it was bad and that I'd take the risk just to shut him up, but I just wanted to clear up that I'm not an idiot.

 

[MikeMike]

you should be fine

 

[PurdueRy]

Blowing them because of underpower???

 

[Doodoo]

Did you get the Kappas or Reference series? 27 watts is underpowering them a bit...but as long as you don't turn the music all the way up until they distort you should be fine.

And it is possible to damage speakers by underpowering them. Most people underpower their speakers and turn the volume all the way up...until they sound like crap.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: Doodoo
Did you get the Kappas or Reference series? 27 watts is underpowering them a bit...but as long as you don't turn the music all the way up until they distort you should be fine.

And it is possible to damage speakers by underpowering them. Most people underpower their speakers and turn the volume all the way up...until they sound like crap.

Ah, the amp clipping...I suppose I can see that

 

[Deeko]

Kappas. I was reaaally tempted to go Perfect, but I figured it was too much...

Yea, I hate distortion and wouldn't turn them up that much anyway.

 

[captains]

Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
you should be fine

 

[spidey07]

yes, you can very easily blow your speakers. If it sounds distorted/compressed then turn it down because you are damaging your speakers if it sounds like that.

-edit- also most people think distortion as sounding terrible bad, but clipping happens before it gets "really bad sounding"

You'll hear it when the music starts sounding less dynamic and snares don't have the snap they do at lower volumes.

 

[Deeko]

I prefer quality to volume, I never turn a speaker up to the point of audbily losing quality.

 

[Howard]

Don't turn up the volume too high and you'll be fine.

 

[AMCRambler]

Damaging speakers by underpowering them? never head that before. I figured they'd sound like crap, but you can't really damage them. Maybe if you turn them up all the way and the amp can't produce. I'm running Kappa perfect 5x8's off my Pioneer 50w x 4 deck and they sound alright. Higher volumes the quality craps out, but that's just the crappy pioneer amp. I'd get an amp for them, but with my sub and carputer sucking juice now, I hestitate to add another power hungry amp. Even with the yellow top in there. I've got head light dimming with everything I've got in there now. My next job is to upgrad the battery wiring. Stock wires are only like 8 or 10 gauge wire.

 

[davestar]

underpowering DOES NOT damage speakers. driving poorly designed amps beyong their linear capabilities does.

but this internet-propogated myth probably has too much momentum to stop...

 

[LeadMagnet]

Blowing your speakers - I don't care about your sex life.

 

[AMCRambler]

Originally posted by: LeadMagnet
Blowing your speakers - I don't care about your sex life.

Uh huh huh...uh huhuhuh...he said "blow"...huhhuh </Butthead>

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

Originally posted by: PurdueRy
Blowing them because of underpower???

You have a small amp... you drive it a little too hard... it starts clipping/distorting... *POOF* out comes the magic smoke. It's always better to have more power than the speaker is rated for. Speakers are rarely killed by overpowering them. A good amp could deliver several times the speakers rated input (Assuming cross-overs are correct) and the speaker will be just fine.

It's the distortion that kills speakers.

OP... you should be fine but you definitely need an amp to get your money's worth out of those speakers. The asshat at CC was trying to pressure an upsale on you. They are trained to tell you the sky is falling if you're not buying enough.