Did I kill my ampli or my loudspeakers?

[admin_exported]

Hi all,

I am French, I live in Spain and I am totally new to this website. I am coming to you directly with a hot topic and I hope someone can help me.

Roughly 2 years ago, I bought a hi-fi set comprised of:

- Exposure 3010S2

- Monito Audio GS60

I am using it mostly with my CD (Exposure 2010S2) to listen to Classical Music and also a little bit of Rock/Pop. I listen to the music at average power level around 10 to 20% of the ampli. Sometime, just on one piece I climb to 30-40% but not for very long because this would raise problem with my neighbours.

This weekend I had friends at home and the diner turned to a party. We used a Computer with a NAC converter to listen to a play-list and to danse.

The sound was set pretty high: 40-50% of the power of the ampli (which was really strong for my living room of 60 squqre meters). After +/- 3 hours the ampli just stopped all at once. It was extreemly hot and I thought that some security system had propably cut the power. We let the ampli cool down and restarted it. It was OK. But without realizing it, the sound progressively got lower in quality and strength. I did not realize it immediately since I was in the garden. But when I came back, the sound was sort of muffled and despite the ampli was at 75%, the sound was not really strong.

I thought it was maybe because the ampli had warmed up again. But the next morning, with a cold ampli, the situation was the same: poor quality / muffled sound with lack of power (what ever the source: CD, Computer + Converter, etc.)

Since the two GS60 produce the same sound, I tend to believe the problem is more related to the ampli (It would be strange to have the two loudspeakers damaged in a totally symatrical way). Also, GS60 are give for up to 200W. the 3010S2 only produces 110W and was never at 100%. How could it have damaged the loudspeakers?

So my questions:

- would you agree with my diagnosis that this is more an ampli-related issue?

- is it really normal that my material cannot run at 50% of its max power for several hours in a row?

- do you think this can be covered by the guaranty (3 years on Exposure)?

Thank you very much for your help and advice

Cédric

 

[kevinJ]

If you have an extra pair of (old) speakers, you can test the amp.

But, if you are running the 110w amp with the volume dial at 75%, it's possible that it was already distorting.
There are a lot of amps out there that deliver their max power with the volume dial at 50%, and it also depends on how loud the source was set. A pc can output a higher level than a cd player, and that would cause the amp to deliver its max power even sooner.

And distortion kills speakers, no matter what power rating they have.