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"Soft Clipping" - Enable or Disable?

DACslut

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My SMSL AO200 amp has this feature and it was disabled by default from the factory. I enabled the setting as a precautionary measure. I know it's basic purpose is to protect your speakers. However, if I don't blast my music extremely loud do I need it enabled? Also wondering if enabling will adversely affect the amps dynamics or potentially create some other unwanted sonic anomalies? I think the DA-9 also has the same option? Thanks guys.
 
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I'd leave it off unless you "plan on" clipping. I don't know anything about it, but it would have to kick-in and start reducing the volume before you hit the clipping point. With digital limiting (or if there is otherwise a delay) it's possible to "look ahead" so it doesn't have to kick-in at all if you're not clipping.
 
My SMSL AO200 amp has this feature and it was disabled by default from the factory. I enabled the setting as a precautionary measure. I know it's basic purpose is to protect your speakers. However, if I don't blast my music extremely loud do I need it enabled? Also wondering if enabling will adversely affect the amps dynamics or potentially create some other unwanted sonic anomalies? I think the DA-9 also has the same option? Thanks guys.
The NAD "soft clipping" circuit that I've seen in use with sine waves rounded off the tops of the sine waves. If you are not running the amp hard and clipping then I would turn it off.
 
If I remember correctly McIntosh have the same thing and its always on (correct me if I'm wrong) they call it power guard again if I remember correctly.
 
My SMSL AO200 amp has this feature and it was disabled by default from the factory. I enabled the setting as a precautionary measure. I know it's basic purpose is to protect your speakers. However, if I don't blast my music extremely loud do I need it enabled? Also wondering if enabling will adversely affect the amps dynamics or potentially create some other unwanted sonic anomalies? I think the DA-9 also has the same option? Thanks guys.

As for sonic anomalies, why don't you test it out yourself? If there is no audible difference with the option on, then it makes no difference.
 
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My SMSL AO200 amp has this feature and it was disabled by default from the factory. I enabled the setting as a precautionary measure. I know it's basic purpose is to protect your speakers. However, if I don't blast my music extremely loud do I need it enabled? Also wondering if enabling will adversely affect the amps dynamics or potentially create some other unwanted sonic anomalies? I think the DA-9 also has the same option? Thanks guys.

I've never understood what "soft clipping" is supposed to mean. Is it like a "gentle thermonuclear explosion"?
 
I've never understood what "soft clipping" is supposed to mean. Is it like a "gentle thermonuclear explosion"?
In a amplifier there are two voltage rails. One rail is a positive voltage and the other is a negative voltage. The positive voltage causes the speaker to move out and the negative voltage causes the speaker to move in. At zero volts the speaker is in the position where it is neither in nor out. The amplifier uses these voltages to supply voltage and current to the speaker driver. When the amplifier is forced by the operator to exceed the positive and negative voltage rails clipping occurs. The sine wave is chopped off at the top and appears to be flat when viewed on a oscilloscope. The chopped off tops of the sine wave are DC voltage and current. The speakers cannot handle the long time duration of the DC voltage and current and it causes the voice coils to get hot, maybe red hot or hotter and then they melt.
400px-Clipping_1KHz_10V_DIV_clip_A_5ohms-1-.jpg
 
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I've never understood what "soft clipping" is supposed to mean.
1628654159189.png

Clipping is a form of distortion that limits a signal once it exceeds a threshold. ... Hard clipping results in many high-frequency harmonics; soft clipping results in fewer higher-order harmonics and intermodulation distortion components.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipping_(signal_processing)

This is pretty much what causes the sound some like from a valve or tube amp also.
Is it like a "gentle thermonuclear explosion"?
Yes, very much so. :D

1628654423015.png




JSmith
 
...and more>
... When the clipping occurs the sine wave is chopped at the top and bottom of the sine wave. When soft clipping occurs there is electronic circuitry that causes the clipping to be less severe and that means the flatness of the chopped off sine waves is rounded to reduce the DC voltage potential that melts voice coils. As you can see in the diagrams and picture the soft clipping causes a more rounded flat chopped of section of the sine wave.
 
Not sure if this is a relevant question but here it goes. I plan on paralleling my four 6 ohm Sony SS-CS5's and stacking them into an MTM type of configuration. The amp is rated down to 2 ohms and the Sony's in parallel should present a nominal 3 ohm load, right? My reason for doing this is because I want to maximize the output power of the amp. It's rated at up to 150 wpc into a 2 ohm load. Would soft clipping enabled make more sense when doing this since the amp is driving a more difficult load? No, I didn't light one up before asking this question but I probably should have.
 
I would not parallel them even with a amp that gives a 2 Ohm rating. You will be running the amp at the edge of it's limits all the time. You will have a breakdown in the amp somewhere. What amp is it?
 
I would not parallel them even with a amp that gives a 2 Ohm rating. You will be running the amp at the edge of it's limits all the time. You will have a breakdown in the amp somewhere. What amp is it?

The SMSL AO200 as stated in my original post.
 
Ouch. Definite don't do it. I've repaired a lot of amps where peeps run 2 Ohms and they fry the power supply or the output amp or both. It makes a real mess of the unit. If you want to run 4 speakers in this situation run them in series.
 
Ouch. Definite don't do it. I've repaired a lot of amps where peeps run 2 Ohms and they fry the power supply or the output amp or both. It makes a real mess of the unit. If you want to run 4 speakers in this situation run them in series.

Okay, I have something to sleep on. Even if it damaged the amp, it's under warranty. They do rate it down to 2 ohms so I'm just assuming it's designed to handle it. Maybe I'll wait for my Sabaj A20a to come in and try it with that.
 
The 2 Ohm rating is for when the speakers dip down to a very low impedance as they are operating. Not for a nominal rating.
 
In a amplifier there are two voltage rails. One rail is a positive voltage and the other is a negative voltage. The positive voltage causes the speaker to move out and the negative voltage causes the speaker to move in. At zero volts the speaker is in the position where it is neither in nor out. The amplifier uses these voltages to supply voltage and current to the speaker driver. When the amplifier is forced by the operator to exceed the positive and negative voltage rails clipping occurs. The sine wave is chopped off at the top and appears to be flat when viewed on a oscilloscope. The chopped off tops of the sine wave are DC voltage and current. The speakers cannot handle the long time duration of the DC voltage and current and it causes the voice coils to get hot, maybe red hot or hotter and then they melt.
400px-Clipping_1KHz_10V_DIV_clip_A_5ohms-1-.jpg

Yes, I understand that much. But it doesn't answer my question,
 
The 2 Ohm rating is for when the speakers dip down to a very low impedance as they are operating. Not for a nominal rating.

Thanks for the cautionary warnings, but I'm gonna give it a go anyway sometime this afternoon.

1628701690905.png
 
Watts ar cheap these days - just get a 'bigger' amp if yours clips

BTW, I'd put the yellow soft clip curver down below the hard clip line in that diagram
 
The 2 Ohm rating is for when the speakers dip down to a very low impedance as they are operating. Not for a nominal rating.

I put it through it's paces yesterday at a small outdoor family gathering and it passed the test with flying colors. Frequently had the volume in the upper 50's hooked up to two sets of Sony SS-CS5's connected in parallel. The unit didn't break a sweat, stayed cool as cucumber and I know it could've taken more. I didn't want to risk having the police show up so I didn't max things out.

Now it's time to put my recently acquired A20a through a similar test. I'll have to use the basement for a listening environment since my 90yr old Mom, although deaf as a doorknob, wouldn't appreciate my experiment very much.
 
Yeah, an old thread I know. But IR to soft clipping I saw this video which explains it nice and simple with an oscilloscope.

--->
 
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