Need Help "Distortion"

[brian123 x]

What are the symptoms that I need to look for to see if they are distorting?

[hdorre]

Just use an oscilloscope for headunit preouts, amps, line drivers, etc

[dwz]

you can usually hear the notes sound worse in quality.. like slapping, bass isn't as smooth, and more importantly it kinda *scratches* at your ears to where it hurts, and that hurt is not from loudness it's probably from distortion.

if you hear a song on low volume and it sounds good and smooth and clean, and you turn it up to a certain volume and it starts not sounding as clean, then it's probably distorting. i have a buddy that thinks his system is louder than mine because his (and my) ears hurt when he plays it loud... i could hear my eardrum being damaged lol. yet my system is WAYY louder to the ear and WAYY smoother, yet it doesn't give me any discomfort despite it being louder. pre-fab boxes, gains being improperly tuned, having bass boost or any EQ settings on the head unit messed with (including that *loudness* setting), clipped songs, shitty RCA's, shitty power wires, shitty headunit, alternator or engine noise, poor voltage, cheap amps, and having a bad ground can all contribute to distortion among other things. the funny thing is, a lot of the time your sound won't be distortion, it could quite simply be resonance from the sheet metal in your car.

it's a little harder to tell the difference if you haven't heard a system with good speakers, good amps, a proper install, and sound deadening. because distortion sounds a lot like physical rattles, a lot of the times it's both unless you have sound deadening in the most important spots.

i went absolutely nuts when i first installed my system, thinking my equipment was messed up and all this... turns out all that MOST of that was fixed with dynamat, better rca's, a custom box, and a solid bolted-down ground connection.

either way distortion is incredibly common in almost all car audio systems out there, and if you develop an ear for it you'll do you, your ears, your friends, musical appreciation, and your car a big service. that and you won't damage equipment. i'd say anyone without a 4-channel amp, good speakers, a custom box, and proper tuning will experience distortion constantly.

the most common misconception about car audio is that the louder it is the more it hurts. not the case. it's just because most people are exposed to sub-par installs and equipment. truly loud, clean music will only "hurt" your ears from shear pressure in the air (in terms of bass, for mid-highs they can hurt from the frequencies), and even then your eardrums won't hurt in the same way as distortion. in fact it's quite addictive and an AWESOME feeling when you hear how the music was supposed to sound in the first place.

[brian123 x]

you can usually hear the notes sound worse in quality.. like slapping, bass isn't as smooth, and more importantly it kinda *scratches* at your ears to where it hurts, and that hurt is not from loudness it's probably from distortion.

if you hear a song on low volume and it sounds good and smooth and clean, and you turn it up to a certain volume and it starts not sounding as clean, then it's probably distorting. i have a buddy that thinks his system is louder than mine because his (and my) ears hurt when he plays it loud... i could hear my eardrum being damaged lol. yet my system is WAYY louder to the ear and WAYY smoother, yet it doesn't give me any discomfort despite it being louder. pre-fab boxes, gains being improperly tuned, having bass boost or any EQ settings on the head unit messed with (including that *loudness* setting), clipped songs, shitty RCA's, shitty power wires, shitty headunit, alternator or engine noise, poor voltage, cheap amps, and having a bad ground can all contribute to distortion among other things. the funny thing is, a lot of the time your sound won't be distortion, it could quite simply be resonance from the sheet metal in your car.

it's a little harder to tell the difference if you haven't heard a system with good speakers, good amps, a proper install, and sound deadening. because distortion sounds a lot like physical rattles, a lot of the times it's both unless you have sound deadening in the most important spots.

How much distortion and how long can ruin a sub?

i went absolutely nuts when i first installed my system, thinking my equipment was messed up and all this... turns out all that MOST of that was fixed with dynamat, better rca's, and a solid bolted-down ground connection.

either way distortion is incredibly common in almost all car audio systems out there, and if you develop an ear for it you'll do you, your ears, your friends, musical appreciation, and your car a big service. that and you won't damage equipment. i'd say anyone without a 4-channel amp, good speakers, a custom box, and proper tuning will experience distortion constantly.

[brian123 x]

how much distortion and how long can ruin a sub?

[dwz]

how much distortion and how long can ruin a sub?

it really depends on how bad the amp is clipping.. first thing you wanna do is make sure your ground is properly secured (BOLT IT, full surface area) to a good part of the chassis (seatbelts bolts don't count). make sure to sand the paint on the chassis if it's there.

headunits clip too ya know! which sends a clipped signal to the amp and voila. i had an overheating headunit in the past.

pretty much if it doesn't sound "right", and you know it's not rattles, it can fail whenever 1) the cone or spider rips or 2) the voice coil starts to melt and you get a ton of magic smoke.

if you have a custom box, the voice coil usually melts before the cone or spider rip, cause there's proper air pressure for that sub

if you have a prefab, you could experience a little of both.. hell i did. i've blown 3 subs, 2 from voice coil 1 from the cone ripping off the spider. usually that's if your airspace dimensions aren't correct, the suspension of the sub is affected (also affecting the sound). having incorrect air space (especially port) also changes the tuning of the subs, makin them perform at a different frequency than optimal. and if you're playin your sub a lot and it's outside of optimal tuning, sound quality WILL be affected and it can cause the sub to move oddly and get damaged easier.

voice coils will heat up ALWAYS from distortion, poor cooling, or playin it from hours at a time.

overheating amps from a bad ground, or clipping in the song or headunit, can send a clipped signal to the subs, putting the sub @ risk for damage. the more issues that compound, the higher the risk (almost exponentially). i know i might sound like a broken record or something, but for clarification - clipping causes the voice coil/s to heat up higher than it/they should be and that's usually how a sub is blown.

you can always tell when the sub is messed up, cause the damage is already done and things sound much shittier.