The mapping between audio gear and the power grid is pretty close. AC power and audio waveforms are basically the same thing. If you connect a speaker directly to normal mains power, it will operate briefly before burning out. You'll get a very loud 60 or 50 hz test signal depending on where you plug it in. There are some drivers large enough that they can withstand this power level indefinitely. The car audio market has some pretty crazy designs.

There are pro audio amplifiers that are capable of producing >120v RMS at their output terminals. I would be much more interested in seeing a youtuber purchase one of these and attempt to run a bunch of household appliances using it. Blowing up random shit with ridiculous amounts of power got pretty old for me as a form of entertainment.

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pmg an hour ago | parent | next [-]

> There are some drivers large enough that they can withstand this power level indefinitely.

I'm pretty sure the 34" speakers he shows off at around 12:45 could do that. Some napkin maths says he could plug these directly into a electric dryer circuit and emit about 135db(!) at 50hz.

	▲	jcims an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I hope he does some of that kind of shenanigans before launching the voice coil through the wall.
	▲	lenerdenator 12 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		> electric dryer circuit I have to take umbrage with this. Metal band Manowar clearly specified blowing one's speakers with rock and roll, not a electric dryer circuit.

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MisterTea 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> There are some drivers large enough that they can withstand this power level indefinitely. The car audio market has some pretty crazy designs.

I wonder how true the claims really are. Rod E. of sound-au.com even questions the claims. I see some cheap "1500" watt RMS 8 ohm speakers for like 150 bucks, might be a good test, plug it into the wall through a variac and turn up the power to the full 1500W and see how long it lasts. I am too lazy to look right now but I am sure someone has tried this and put up a video.

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bob1029 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Here is an example of what I am referring to:

https://emaudio.com/product/12-custom-hand-built-subwoofer-8...

These competition grade units would probably trip your breaker before they burn up.

	▲	MisterTea 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Indeed. Those dual 1 or 2 ohm coils, even in series, would pull 30 and 60 amps respectively at 120 VAC. You could feed it from a two pole 60 or 125 amp breaker though at 1 ohm it would pull 14400 W and likely not last very long. I still would still like to see how long a so called 8 ohm 1500W speaker will survive on 100-120 VAC mains.

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aaronax 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> can withstand this power level indefinitely

What power level? 120V on a 15A breaker?

I = V/R and a typical speaker is 8 ohms which does happen to result in 15A at 120V. Interesting.

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etcetcetcetceta 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

true, I was speccing a bom for a huge output SET amp, slowly buying bits and pieces during lockdown, then I did a bit of wiring on my house and got a minor shock from the mains, threw out everything realising that such a mistake during the amp build would result in a major headache and lifelong trauma for my wife.

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MisterTea 3 hours ago | parent [-]

That is an absurd amount of power. Even this guy thinks it's crazy and dangerous:

https://sound-au.com/project117.htm "One flash and you're ash !" 260 VOLT DC POWER RAILS!

All you really need is 100 W for a good home HiFi. I have a set of the shorter Magnepan (forget the model) with a decent 100W Sony amp and at mid volume is too loud to comfortably listen to yet sounds very crisp and clear with a sealed 12 inch sub driven by a 150 W amp.

	▲	bob1029 an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I totally forgot about that website. I built this amplifier many years ago: https://sound-au.com/project3a.htm It had so much capacitance on the DC bus that you could it unpowered for a solid minute with actual program material.
	▲	etcetcetcetceta an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I was looking at 100wpc (single ended), not much output but the plate is around 1000v iirc, hundreds of mA, continuous draw from the power supply could run into hundreds of watts. Easily enough to switch me off permanently if the screwdriver slips.