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'square-wave proof' speakers?
#35652 03/02/04 05:54 PM
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Hi folks,

Are there any speaker technologies that don't get damaged by loud square waves?

Re: 'square-wave proof' speakers?
#35653 03/02/04 06:08 PM
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Strange taste in music?

And my fiancee complains when I turn up Anti-Flag!

Bren R.

Re: 'square-wave proof' speakers?
#35654 03/02/04 06:12 PM
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Are you talking about clipping?

Re: 'square-wave proof' speakers?
#35655 03/02/04 06:15 PM
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Do you mean true square waves, in which the speaker driver must try to instantaneously move from max positive excursion to max negative excursion, or semi-rounded square waves, in which the attack is not so harsh?

Re: 'square-wave proof' speakers?
#35656 03/02/04 06:50 PM
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Bren, hah

Basically extreme clipping, yes-- by your description, PM, it sounds like loud square waves would fry every speaker known to man?

Re: 'square-wave proof' speakers?
#35657 03/02/04 10:17 PM
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Mike, it isn't entirely clear to me from what angle you're appoaching this. Although I rather like Bren's suggestion, I suppose that you're really thinking about clipping. A square wave of the same amplitude as a sine wave at the same frequency requires the square root of 2(i.e. 1.414)times as much voltage, and since power is proportional to the square of the voltage(i.e. P=V(squared)/R), this amounts to twice the power going into the speaker voice coil on a fully-clipped or square wave signal. Since the voice coil has to absorb twice the power, but it doesn't move any farther on the clipped or square wave to help it in cooling, it can overheat and fail if it can't dissipate the exta power over the time period involved. So, I suppose that answer is that no speaker is "square-wave proof", but the greater its power handling capacity, the greater its ability to play square waves at high level or to handle clipping without permanent damage.

Last edited by JohnK; 03/02/04 10:40 PM.

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Enjoy the music, not the equipment.


Re: 'square-wave proof' speakers?
#35658 03/02/04 11:08 PM
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John, that was very helpful. I had been of the thought that square waves damaged drivers through sort of 'jerking' them back-and-forth instead of a more normal sine-wave curve-- to hear it's a power / heat issue makes everything clear.

Thanks folks!

Re: 'square-wave proof' speakers?
#35659 03/03/04 12:50 AM
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The power/heat issue and 'jerking' back-and-forth are closely linked.

At either flat end of a square wave, the driver is not moving yet a lot of power is flowing through the voice coil. The back-and-forth motion of a voice coil is what cools it, so the only chance the voice coil has to cool while reproducing a square wave is while it's in transit between the two extremes.

Since more time is spent "excurded" (the horizontal parts of the wave) than in transit (the vertical parts of the wave), this leads to rapid head buildup.

Re: 'square-wave proof' speakers?
#35660 03/03/04 02:15 AM
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i believe these subs are designed to handle square waves http://www.globalsupersale.com/inc/pdetail?v=1&pid=3123

Re: 'square-wave proof' speakers?
#35661 03/03/04 03:34 AM
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Obviously that's the case, Ron, but now even the sine waves will come out square.


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