Can THD hurt your speakers?

[baboon]

Can THD hurt your speakers? or is it just a sound quality measurement? Whats a good precentage? Thanks

[RuSsMaN]

No, it in and of itself does no harm.

The human ear cannot discern less the one half of a percent (.5).

[StopherJJ1980]

WEll, as I understand it, kinda. A little is inescapable but too much distortion will definitely do damage. It's kinda like eating dirt. There is dust and dirt and bug parts and dead skin everywhere around us it wont hurt you. It is in stuff you eat all the time but you dont even notice it. But you definitely shouldnt go out and eat a bunch of it, same with distortion.

You cant escape a certain amount of THD and any reasonable AVR or amp should be such that you dont even notice it. Providing you dont play youre music too loud with poor quality or not enough power (which increases distortion) you should be fine. anything under .5% is fine.

[RuSsMaN]

Do you even know what harmonic distortion is? Is has nothing to do with hiss, hum, static, or an amp clipping - not sure which you are eluding to - but induced harmonics do not, and cannot cause damage, in and of themselves.

Replace your "(which increases distortion)" statement with "(which increases the likelihood of your amp clipping)", and you've got a valid statement. Not on topic granted, but a good piece of advice nontheless.

Dirt and bug parts? Where the F do you guys come up with this crap?

[heiney9]

No it can't hurt your speakers. Other types of distortion are what do the damage. THD is explained in the following excerpt. It always, for lack of a better term, tags along with the audio signal. No mention of dirt :D

Total Harmonic Distortion. A measure of the distortion content of a signal as represented by equivalent harmonics of that signal and specified as a percentage of the signal amplitude. While the equivalent harmonics represented do not actually exist in the signal, their summation would reproduce the distortion component of the signal. Further, filter separation of the signal into its fundamental and harmonic frequencies yields the harmonics for identification and measurement comparison with the fundamental.

Total Harmonic Distortion. For a signal, the ratio of the sum of the powers of all harmonic frequencies above the fundamental frequency to the power of the fundamental frequency.

Total Harmonic Distortion. the ratio of the fundamental frequency to it's harmonic.

Abbreviation for total harmonic distortion.

Total harmonic distortion. A measurement of the total of all the harmonics introduced by nonlinear (uneven levels of) distortion in a device. This measurement is indicated as a percentage of the strength of the fundamental (lowest level).

Total harmonic distortion. An audio measurement specification used to determine the accuracy with which a device can reproduce an input signal at its output. THD describes the cumulative level of the harmonic overtones that the device being tested adds to an input sine wave. THD+n is a specification that includes both harmonic distortion of the sine wave and nonharmonic noise.

total harmonic distortion

An abbreviation for Total Harmonic Distortion.

Total Harmonic Distortion - The ratio of the total rms signal due to harmonic distor-tion to the overall rms signal, in dB or percent.

Total Harmonic Distortion. A component specification which describes its ability to accurately reproduce a signal. Although lower numbers are considered to be better, the human ear typically cannot detect THD ratings below 2% or 3%.3

– ‘Total Harmonic Distortion’ Audio signals suffer some distortion as they pass through electronic circuits. The amount of distortion can be measured expressed as a percentage. Power levels should always be referenced to a specific distortion figure. The lower the figure the better. Look for something like "50W RMS at 0.1% distortion".

Abbreviation for total harmonic distortion. (See Distortion.)

Total harmonic distortion which is a measure of the sum of all the harmonics produced by an active component due to its nonlinearity expressed as a percentage of the fundamental signal.

Doctor of Theology **doesn't pertain to audio :D

Total Harmonic Distortion

The percentage of an audio output signal that consists of spurious harmonic, or multiples of the fundamental frequencies. These harmonics are introduced by a power amplifier or other components through which the signal passes; lower figures are better.

H9

[baboon]

i just want to thank yall for the time and the helpful information. :)

[*Seby*-Polk-]

Great info about Total Harmony Distortion ... thanks (i really need it !!! ) :)