Blown Speakers

[admin_exported]

Hi

My son has a Denon DM38DAB and Mission MX1 speakers, purchased new at Christmas and currently installed in his student flat. Following a party, running at near max volume for a few hours, the system is damaged. It produces a rattly and muffled sound.

I've phoned the retailer, and their initial reaction was that a loud student party does not constitiute normal domestic use, and so the damage is not covered by guarantee. They have however agreed to have a look at the system.

Before I take it in to them, I'd appreciate your views on whether runnig such a system at full volume constitutes abuse. The Denon's output is 30w per channel, the speakers each 100wRMS max.

Thanks

Pete

 

[chebby]

I'd appreciate your views on whether runnig such a system at full volume constitutes abuse.

Earlier you said it was running at near maximum for a few hours. That was definitely abuse.

And kudos to the brave little Denon system for withstanding it for hours. Many a system would have blown within minutes or even seconds.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks. I feared that was the case, although I find the issue of overloading systems confusing. I'm not sure yet if the damage is to speakers or Amp- will try a swap test at the weekend, but basically, 100w speakers should be able to handle 30 watts easily. A 30wpc amp should be able to produce its full 30wpc. The manual doesn't say it is rated for intermittent rather than continuous use. Can someone give me (or rather my son) some guidance on what proportion of rated power is appropriate for what period of time?

 

[Anonymous]

never tell them u had it up near full.......... i used a M37 with some 685s and stuffed a bass driver. the M37 was fine! B&W replaced both under warrenty as a 30 watt amp should not blown a 100W rated speaker under "normal" *cough usage.

My M37 consumed over 120 watts when i put a plug monitor on it playing at above average volumes!

 

[Anonymous]

|(

basically, 100w speakers should be able to handle 30 watts easily.

If the soud is clean, then yes. But at near full volume, the amp will be clipping and this will damage any speaker.

Try swapping out the speakers, its probably them that's blown. Then I would buy another pair (I can recommend the Tannoy Mercury VIs) and get your son to pay for them |(

 

[Sizzers]

never tell them u had it up near full.......... i used a M37 with some 685s and stuffed a bass driver. the M37 was fine! B&W replaced both under warrenty as a 30 watt amp should not blown a 100W rated speaker under "normal" *cough usage.

"Normal" *cough* being the operative word.

Amp should probably be fine, but the speakers won't be. To the OP - or rather his son - as soon as you get speaker distortion at volume is the time to back it off. I used to have the DM37 which was a cracking little unit (apart from the stupid volume increments) but a party animal it certainly ain't.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone. That's really helpful

 

[Anonymous]

It would be actually safer to run an amp with a equal or possibly greater power output than the speakers. Agree with the earlier post about the denon running out of steam and distorting. The whole amp/speaker power capability unfortunately is widely misunderstood.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, I managed to get down to see Luke today. The problem wasn't quite as bad as I was expecting from his description, a sort of irritating high pitched chatter at anything more than modest volumes. On both speakers the bi wirable terminals were well secured at the post where the wire was screwed in, but at the opposite end of the bridging strips all four thumbscrews were loose, leaving the strips and screws free to vibrate. Im not sure if the noise was coming from the vibrating strips or from their effect on the signal to the tweeters. Tightening them solved the problem. Additionally, the speakers were on a sturdy shelf that was however slightly cracked and warped at one end. Four blobs of blu tak under each speaker improved things even more.

I spent an hour listening. It really is a fantastic little system for a room in a student residence. Just tighten all eight speaker terminals after lending it to mates for a party

Pete

 

[gregvet]

Well that's a happy ending, the stereo lives to fight another day.