diff --git a/spa/plugins/alsa/alsa-pcm.c b/spa/plugins/alsa/alsa-pcm.c
index 36834eaed..f8db5eb0d 100644
--- a/spa/plugins/alsa/alsa-pcm.c
+++ b/spa/plugins/alsa/alsa-pcm.c
@@ -162,6 +162,11 @@ static int alsa_set_param(struct state *state, const char *k, const char *s)
 	int fmt_change = 0;
 	if (spa_streq(k, SPA_KEY_AUDIO_CHANNELS)) {
 		state->default_channels = atoi(s);
+		if (state->default_channels > SPA_AUDIO_MAX_CHANNELS) {
+			spa_log_warn(state->log, "%p: %s: %s > %d, clamping",
+					state, k, s, SPA_AUDIO_MAX_CHANNELS);
+			state->default_channels = SPA_AUDIO_MAX_CHANNELS;
+		}
 		fmt_change++;
 	} else if (spa_streq(k, SPA_KEY_AUDIO_RATE)) {
 		state->default_rate = atoi(s);