Lately I've been throwing some little upgrades at my Pro-Ject Debut Carbon EVO. The original wall-wart has been replaced with an Ifi power supply and last week I replaced the Ortofon 2M Red stylus with a Blue one. Obviously it isn't night and day, there are some noticeable differences. Mostly in what you don't hear. The low hum and hiss from just having the phono input selected is gone due to the power supply and the 2M Blue stylus seems a bit better a picking up lower volumes. They are more clear now and slightly less noisy.
So, yesterday I was playing Hans Zimmer's Interstellar soundtrack on vinyl. Side B track 3, 'Mountains' has a deep low rumble which was produced by a large church organ. Right from the start of the track you see the drivers moving (alot!) without hearing the produce an audible bass. It's well below what my speakers are designed to produce. This track just begs for some more volume and the dial of my Cambridge 851W went to -30 dB. It's been at that volume more often, so no issues there. I thought...
About halfway into the track one of my speakers suddenly sounded distorted. Oops. It appears the mid-bass driver on one of my Focal Chora 816 is now damaged. Nothing visible, but there is now some audible distortion on all volumes, and a slight scraping mechanical noise at a bit louder volumes.
Amp recommendation on the Chora 816 is 40-200 Watt. The Cambridge 851W is specced at max. 200W at 8 Ohm. I (wrongly) believed that I was safe cranking up the volume, but apparently that's not how it works. Low frequencies combined with higher volumes can make the impedance dip lower. So at 4 Ohm the Cambridge delivers 350W, which is a lot more than the Chora 816's can handle. Again, oops.
So I've now mailed Focal support, hoping it's possible to get (buy) a replacement driver so I can service the speaker myself. Fingers crossed.
So, yesterday I was playing Hans Zimmer's Interstellar soundtrack on vinyl. Side B track 3, 'Mountains' has a deep low rumble which was produced by a large church organ. Right from the start of the track you see the drivers moving (alot!) without hearing the produce an audible bass. It's well below what my speakers are designed to produce. This track just begs for some more volume and the dial of my Cambridge 851W went to -30 dB. It's been at that volume more often, so no issues there. I thought...
About halfway into the track one of my speakers suddenly sounded distorted. Oops. It appears the mid-bass driver on one of my Focal Chora 816 is now damaged. Nothing visible, but there is now some audible distortion on all volumes, and a slight scraping mechanical noise at a bit louder volumes.
Amp recommendation on the Chora 816 is 40-200 Watt. The Cambridge 851W is specced at max. 200W at 8 Ohm. I (wrongly) believed that I was safe cranking up the volume, but apparently that's not how it works. Low frequencies combined with higher volumes can make the impedance dip lower. So at 4 Ohm the Cambridge delivers 350W, which is a lot more than the Chora 816's can handle. Again, oops.
So I've now mailed Focal support, hoping it's possible to get (buy) a replacement driver so I can service the speaker myself. Fingers crossed.