Can you blow the speakers?

[johnnyshinta]

I apparently had my media volume all the way up and when I clicked a trailer for Cyberpunk it was super loud. Is there any chance something like this could damage/blow the speakers?

 

[Mooncatt]

I've yet to hear of a phone blowing its own speaker unless modified some way. Manufacturers do a good job setting the audio to not over drive or distort the speaker. If you do hear distortion, then you do need to turn it down (this goes for any sound system).

 

[johnnyshinta]

Good deal. I'm running Q... So hope that's not something they bugged lol

 

[Rukbat]

I've yet to hear of a phone blowing its own speaker unless modified some way.

I'm hard of hearing, so my ringtone is just an old mechanical telephone ringer sound, amplified enough that it's totally distorted. (I've posted it here for people at various times.) On my Note, on my Pixel 2, and on various other phones, it doesn't bother the speakers (it bothers the people near me when I get a call.) You'd probably need more drive than the amplifier on the motherboard is capable of before you'd blow the speakers. (I've even turned my speaker volume (in the system settings) up all the way. Still nothing but LOUD and distorted.)

 

[Mooncatt]

I'm hard of hearing, so my ringtone is just an old mechanical telephone ringer sound, amplified enough that it's totally distorted. (I've posted it here for people at various times.) On my Note, on my Pixel 2, and on various other phones, it doesn't bother the speakers (it bothers the people near me when I get a call.) You'd probably need more drive than the amplifier on the motherboard is capable of before you'd blow the speakers. (I've even turned my speaker volume (in the system settings) up all the way. Still nothing but LOUD and distorted.)

I should clarify now that you bring this up. If your ringtone is digitally amplified so that the signal itself is compressed/distorted, that's not a big deal. It's pushing the amp so hard that the signal to the speaker itself is clipped that's a problem, but phones seem to protect well against that.

 

[Golfdriver97]

I'd almost want to say that it's possible. Just as anything is possible. However, it is also highly unlikely that it would happen, though.

 

[Rukbat]

If your ringtone is digitally amplified so that the signal itself is compressed/distorted, that's not a big deal. It's pushing the amp so hard that the signal to the speaker itself is clipped that's a problem, but phones seem to protect well against that.

If the ringtone is so high in amplitude that the clipping occurs in the amplifier, the speakers are seeing the same thing. And speakers don't "clip" signals - they get louder and louder until the coil melts, the cone tears or the supports tear. But most phones will clip well below the danger point to the speaker. (I did it digitally, to make sure that the "apparent loudness" of the sound went up, but letting the phone's audio amplifier do the clipping [I did that - same original ringtone - with Audacity] produces about the same effect. But the phone's audio amplifier doesn't have the power to clip as hard.)

 

[Mooncatt]

I didn't say that the speakers themselves clipped, only the signal to them as a result of the amp clipping. Digitally clipping the audio via a sound editor basically turns it into something similar to a square wave, which speakers can play fine. Even if you are somehow making that translate to a clipped amplifier signal (which I wasn't finding any references saying it's possible), that would be a very extreme case not applicable to most users.

 

[Rukbat]

The output on a scope, if I drive the output in Ringtone Maker high enough to clip the same amount as the amplifier in the phone does when fed pure unclipped audio, is identical. (I can overlay the 2 signals on a dual-trace scope and, if I'm careful about positioning them, it looks like one signal.

Granted, feeding the speakers a 100% duty cycle square wave at maximum volume may damage them - but all you're going to hear is a single, badly distorted, tone, not a real thing like a phone ringtone, that's spiky and has lower level spots..

 

[Morty2264]

I've had my volume turned up all the way on my Pixel 2 during loud songs/videos and all seemed to be fine. I wouldn't worry too much about that. Enjoy your new phone!