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RE: Frampton on MMG's

Posted by BigguyinATL (M) on February 20, 2015 at 11:13:04

In Reply to: RE: Frampton on MMG's posted by A.Wayne on February 20, 2015 at 09:38:09:

You are confusing clipping and limiting.

Loudness and clipping (especially the momentary clipping we find in audio reproduction) are unrelated.

Loudness is a complicated function of Average level and frequency content and signal dynamics. If you have a limiter on the signal you are effecting the dynamics - without clipping. The Power Guard circuit of my McIntosh power amplifier is an example. It completely eliminates the possibility of the amplifier clipping by limiting (compressing) the input voltage before clipping occurs (it does this in a very smart way - My NAD's "Soft Clipping" function does the same thing in a somewhat less "smart" way.

In either case as I raise the input level of the signal upward into the limiting region the signal does seen to get obviously louder. Similar to the recording producer compressing the signal as it was recorded.

Compression increases loudness, Clipping does far more unpredictable things. When the Amplifier is allowed to Clip (the signal voltage saturates one or more of the voltage "rail" capability, or the limits of the components used the drivers or output devices, all kinds of behaviors my manifest - depending on the design of the amplifier. With a high quality "well behaved" Amplifier The momentary clipping might "Blur or shift the image" - a snare drum moves from right center to left center for instance between two or more hits. Another possibility of clipping is that your amplifier can send out a DC component to your loudspeakers. A high frequency content short impulse Clip can cause your woofers to move forward or back in their gaps causing an increase in distortion in the part of the signal they are trying to process. (Another good reason to have active crossover loudspeakers. )

Did you know that sometimes clipping can seem to make some amplifiers sound "better" SET amplifiers are a classical example of this - the distortion components of the Amplifier/loudspeaker can make the signal sound fuller - and since an SET tube amplifier behaves a little like a compressor / limiter (to a point) the louder sections of the program material get even louder and the listener/reviewer comments, "This amplifier seems to enhance the dynamics of the program material!"

A poorly designed amplifier, when clipping, can shut off completely, though only for an almost imperceptible moment with an overdrive condition. Note this clipping behavior also can occur in input or driver stages - not just the output device stages.

So while on the surface we think of clipping as a limiter and making the signal loud, most the time clipping is far worse than limiting/compressing the signal prior to the onset of clipping.

Or just by a more powerful amplifier, :)





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