Playing speakers too loud?

Question

Is it bad to play a tv's speakers too loud? I own the Insignia NS-LCD32, and I sometimes play music pretty loud. Will this cause damage too the speakers, or reduce sound quality over time. I've been thinking of upgrading my sound system in the future, but for now all I have are the TV's standard 14 watt speakers. Which, don't get me wrong sound pretty nice. But at what price. Thanks for any help!

Answer 1

This does not damage speakers. it damages your ear drum. it is called Noise induced hearing and vestibular problems

Answer 2

The bottom line is yes, this can damage the speakers, and the sound system as a whole.

All sound systems, including the one built into your TV, use amplifiers and speakers. The amplifiers power the speakers, and the speakers create the sound. When you turn up music on your TV, you are putting more and more power from the amplifier to the speakers. While your speakers do have a maximum amount of power they can safely handle, it is unlikely that the manufacturer would put an amplifier in the TV that could overpower them.

The danger instead lies in the limits of your amplifier. All Amplifiers have a limit to what they can do. The higher you put the volume, the harder your amp is working. Once you turn the volume up past the point where your amplifier can safely operate, the amplifier still attempts to go louder. At this point the amp sends “dirty power” or “faulted” or “clipped power.” This type of power has sudden spikes of wattage that can severely damage your speaker and/or your amplifier.

The best way to tell whether or not you are hurting your speakers is through a good listening test. If your music is not distorting at all, it is unlikely you are pushing your amp significantly past its limits if any. If you do hear some distortion, you are risking the integrity of your sound system. Just for reference, it is normally extremely low notes and extremely high notes that distort first.

Please keep in mind that even if you are not running your system past its limits, long term full capacity use can also be very tough on a system. Speakers do wear over time, and amps do run hot and burn out over time.

Finally please be careful of hearing loss, as noted by other members.

I hope this helps.

Answer 3

Any prolonged use of a speaker at high volume near the end of the amps ability , will create distortion and distortion kills speakers.

Note to that prolonged exposure to high volumes can damage your hearing as noted.