Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions B&K Receiver for M80's

The further pushed into clipping the higher the Watts Root Mean Squared output of an amplifier. Because RMS measures power over time, a sine wave which just kisses the peak will spend less time at full power than a DC signal which is held there.

This hard clipping, when the amp has no more to give, doesn't get any louder because DC holds the cone still. The harsh change in movement into and out of the clip is what causes the audible harmonic distortion.

At the very first signs of clipping, the 0.016% point in this example, there's still some additional amplitude to be had (especially with non-test tones) because of the way the capacitors and transform can handle instantaneous demands vs. continual.