3
POWER HANDLING LIMITATIONS
The power handling capability of any woofer
is related to both its ability to dissipate heat
and the maximum excursion limits of its cone.
Once the voice coil moves completely outside
the magnetic gap, power can no longer be
converted into motion and all the amplifier’s
power is converted into heat in the voice coil.
Voice coil heating is the largest detriment to
speaker longevity, so overexcursion should be
avoided. Since cone excursion is different for
each type of enclosure, power handling is
different for each enclosure.
Sealed enclosures exert the most control over
the motion of a subwoofer, because the air
inside the box acts like a spring against the
motion of the woofer cone. Larger boxes
allow for more excursion, thus providing
more low-frequency output for the amount
of power used. When placed in a sealed box
larger than the Vas of the subwoofer, it will
perform as if it were in an infinite-baffle
installation.
• Voice coil overheating and burning due to
over excursion are often caused by
overdriving an amplifier into "clipping".
A severely clipped signal, or square wave,
contains nearly twice the power of a clean
sine wave at the same level. Bass that
sounds broken up and distorted at higher
volumes is usually indicative of an amplifier
that is clipping and being asked to deliver
power beyond its rated power.
• Infinite-baffle or "free-air" mounting
applications allow for greater cone
excursion than subwoofers mounted in an
enclosure. In order to compensate,
recognise that the power rating value of
the subwoofer will likely be half its rated
power in this application. Therefore we do
not recommend these applications.
• As long as recommended parameters are
used, the subwoofer will perform properly
in its enclosed environment. However, any
design deviation may result in less than
optimum performance, and may also
subject the subwoofer to over-excursion
(i.e., the voice coil leaves the gap) that can
damage the speaker. For additional advice,
please contact your authorised VDO Dayton
dealer.
VDO Dayton accepts no liability for damage
to the product due to deviation from the
recommended box designs.
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