Oh for the love of God...

Please explain how underpowering speakers can blow them..pretty please! I want to hear what insane theory you could have to support that statement

And as for the capacitor thing, slow the power draw? Is it like a traffic lady to electrons?

 

i have an 03 coupe and my rears are 6x9

 

Well I dont really want to type out the whole theory and even if I did it wouldnt be as detailed as the quote from another forum. It does a decent job of explaining the difference between overpowering and underpowering. I perhaps used the wrong term when I said it will blow the speaker. To me it just incorporates all the things that can damage a speaker. I never claimed to be an expert I am just going off things I have experienced while working as an installer.

Damaging Woofers:
When a woofer is driven with a high powered amplifier to high levels, there will be a significant amount of current flowing through the voice coil. Since the voice coil has resistance, there is a voltage drop across the speaker's voice coil (which the amplifier appreciates greatly :-). This means that there may be a great amount of power being dissipated (in the form of heat) in the voice coil. When a speaker is driven with lots of clean power, the cone moves a great deal (in proportion to the output voltage from the amplifier). For speakers with vented pole pieces (or other types of venting), this movement forces a lot of air to flow in the magnetic gap (area where the voice coil rides). When the woofer moves out of the basket, the chamber that's under the dust cap and around the voice coil expands (increases in volume) which pulls cool air into the magnetic gap. When the woofer moves the other direction, the chamber size is reduced and the hot air is forced out of the vent in the pole piece. This air flow cools the voice coil. If a relatively low powered amplifier is driven into clipping (to a full square wave for a lot of people), a relatively large portion of the time, the voltage delivered to the voice coil no longer resembles a sine wave as it would with an unclipped signal. While the amplifier's output is clipped, the voice coil is not being motivated to move as far as it should for the power that's being delivered to it and therefore is likely not being cooled sufficiently (since the speaker is driven by a linear motor, the voltage applied to the voice coil determines how far the voice coil moves from its point of rest). At points a, b, d, e, f and h the voltage is changing causing the voice coil to move in the gap and therefore pull in fresh cool air. At points c and g, the voice coil may still be moving a little due to momentum but may not be moving enough to cool properly. Remember that during the clipped portion of the waveform current is still flowing through the voice coil. Since the displacement of the voice coil (and therefore the airflow around the voice coil) is no longer proportional to the heat being generated, the voice coil can overheat. This excess heat may cause the voice coil former to be physically distorted and/or melt the insulation off of the voice coil wire and/or cause the adhesives to fail (especially if the speaker is rated to handle no more than the power that the amp can produce cleanly). If your speakers are rated (honestly) to handle the maximum 'clean' power that your amplifier can produce, slight clipping isn't generally a problem. Severe clipping is more likely to cause a problem.

As far as the capacitor is concerned it kinda acts like an additional battery where the alternator and car battery charge the capacitor and then the amp pulls power from it. the capacitor stores electrons for when they are needed most. On heavy bass notes is when the capacitor works best.

 

under powering speakers will not blow them. Ultimatly it will damage them. Distortion is a big enemy factor with under powered speakers.

 

Like I said I used the term blow loosely. If the speaker doesnt work anymore I consider it blown. Whether its a mechanical failure or what not. Its easier to say your speaker is blown as to say your speaker has mechanical damage and doesnt work anymore