What is Distortion and why is it BAD for you?

Go ahead. Crank up that volume until your ears bleed…Until every cop knows you. Just make sure you do it properly- AND- have the proper equipment to provide “staying power”. (Some of you can relate to this and some of you might not)

Sure, car audio gear can get plenty loud- and given the fact that much of today’s music is either saturated or compressed to death- it makes avoiding the dreaded “D” and “C” words. I’m talking about distortion and clipping- and they usually signal the death of speakers and electronics, whether by user error (misuse) or inadequate equipment. (Did She say that to one of you?)

Before I start pointing fingers, lets’ review exactly what Distortion and Clipping actually are.

Amplitude distortion is distortion occurring in a system, subsystem, or device when the output amplitude is not a linear function of the input amplitude under specified conditions.

Translated, this simply means that once you ask a device (in this case, an amplifier) to produce beyond its capabilities, the result is distortion, which can be called a “dirty output signal”.

Clipping occurs When an amplifier is pushed to create a signal with more power than its power supply can produce, it will amplify the signal only up to its maximum capacity, at which point the signal can be amplified no further. As the signal simply "cuts" or "clips" at the maximum capacity of the amplifier, the signal is said to be "clipping". The extra signal which is beyond the capability of the amplifier is simply cut off, resulting in a sine wave becoming a distorted square-wave-type waveform.

clipped audio sine wave | Serious Autosport

Examples of a normal and clipped audio sine wave. (Clipping is in RED)

At the end of the day, Clipping and Distortion are technically the same- and so is the result of what they can do to a car audio system that is underpowered or mis-matched.

When selecting your components for a car audio system, always take into consideration what you’ll be playing on it and what volume level goals you have. Many consumers simply purchase what they believe to be the right choice- either due to a friend’s recommendation, forum fodder or haphazard selection. EVERY car radio, speaker and amplifier comes with SPECS- the actual data which tells you what the product’s capabilities are. It’s here where you pay the most attention when selecting system components- NOT what color the illumination is, if there’s a big spider on the casing or if the basket and magnet assembly are the size of a jet engine.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the wattage game- and more than half of the products you’ll run into provide specs that are total crap. Manufacturers inflate specs and even measure them incorrectly to achieve the numbers they know are appealing from a marketing standpoint to the consumer. (Here we go again with the Coors Light analogy!) Manufacturers including JL Audio (www.jlaudio.com), Brax (www.braxhifi.com), Rockford Fosgate (www.fosgate.com) and Morel (www.morelhifi.com) all state accurate “real world” specs that you can rely upon. The bottom line is- You always get what you pay for. Pay a little extra and you’ll enjoy what you expected. Here’s an example.

With most good quality products, you generally will pay about a dollar per watt. Given that equation, you can clearly see that you are simply not getting the quality- not to mention the only true way this product would be able to put out a true SIX-THOUSAND WATTS was if it were hit by lightning.

Brand “X” 6000 WATTS Two- Channel High Power MOSFET Amplifier

Suggested List Price: $415.99
Your Price: $160.94
You Save: $255.05 (61%)

Really? ONLY $160 for this much power? I’ll take three! (Yeah right!)

Whether you are running speakers off deck power or an outboard amplifier, the most common source of clipping is under-powering. Take your car radio, for example. Turn it up to a comfortable volume and it sounds fine, right? Now continue to turn up that volume until you notice that the speakers are beginning to crack up and sound terrible. It’s actually not the fault of the speakers here- but the radio amp’s inability to provide clean power at the volume you’ve reached. Whenever this happens, the amplifier in the radio continues to provide output, but distorted output- and given the fact that speakers are, in fact, stupid- they’ll try to play anything until they simply stop playing altogether. (This is one reason we have crossovers!)

blown speaker and voice coil | Serious Autosport

Ooops. Here’s an example of a blown speaker and burnt voice coil.

When selecting car audio system components, make sure the wattage output is within range of the wattage capacities. Matched with a good system installation and proper tuning, you’ll get the best sound for your dollar.

If you have any questions, feel free to give me a call or send me a message by filling out the form located at the top-right of this page!