You don’t want to overshoot your driveway, your calorie limit, or the winning note in a vocal audition.
In audio, overshoot happens when an amplifier or circuit responds too eagerly to a fast transient—going beyond the target voltage before settling back into place. It’s like hitting the brakes too late on a sharp curve: you were fast, yes, but not controlled. And just like in real life, overshooting in audio rarely ends well.
This ties closely to yesterday's subject, slew rate. A high slew rate gives you speed, but without proper control—especially in the feedback network—you can get overshoot. That results in a waveform that spikes above its intended value before ringing back down. On a scope, it’s easy to see. But in music, it’s something you feel: a sense of sharpness, exaggerated leading edges, or even a kind of unnatural splashiness in percussive elements.
The problem is especially noticeable in high-frequency content. Cymbals can sound spitty. Strings lose their body. The music has an edge—not in the artistic sense, but in a physically uncomfortable one. This is where the difference between precision and aggression matters. You want a system that’s fast, but not reckless.
In amplifier design, overshoot can be minimized through proper compensation, careful layout, and clean feedback design. But it’s not just about electronics. In tweeters—especially metal domes—mechanical overshoot can cause ringing. That’s why good crossover design is just as important as amplifier behavior when it comes to maintaining speed without splash.
Fast is good. Controlled is better. Overshoot is when speed becomes distortion—and in high-end audio, that’s always a miss.
0 comments