2. amps-preamps
  3. 166878-11588

What does clipping sound like?

I have been wondering if the break up distortion I hear with my 60 watt tube amps is because I have insufficient power for my 91db 6 ohm minimal speakers. I do question if that rating of my speakers is correct.
When the music swells, I get break up sound. It is not on low notes or high volume. I do wonder how my speakers would perform with a lot more power. I have always thought that any speaker likes more power.
mglik
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,164 posts
 
When the music swells, I get break up sound. It is not on low notes or high volume.
Could you explain this in more detail? So there's no distortion at high volumes or bass notes?
Post removed 
mglik OP
914 posts
 
I have Tetra 606s. For a long time I pushed them with a 300B SET at 8 watts. Clearly, they wanted more power. Seems like I am pretty confirmed that the scratchy breaking up I hear on swells is clipping.
jaytor's avatar
jaytor
773 posts
 
If you are hearing distortion when the "music swells" and you are not playing at high volume, it could be that you are over-driving some other part of your audio chain. For example, if you have a DAC with a high maximum output level that is feeding a preamp that has a low maximum input signal, this could cause the distortion you are getting. 

Also, if you are doing any kind of equalization such as boosting bass or treble, or room correction, this may be causing clipping of the DAC or preamp (depending on where it is done). 
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
Clipping happens only at max output. So if it is not high volume then it is not clipping. If it happens when the music swells, that is a high amplitude signal in the source regardless of the amount of amplification. So this could be as simple as a dirty stylus and mistracking. Or overloading an input somewhere. Could be a lot of things. Without knowing more, pure guesswork.
More to discover