The more you pay, the more you pay

alwaysbeblue1

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Why is it that when you pay high end prices, you need to be more careful with what you bought.

Watches - don't do this dont do that or it will break.

Loudspeakers - don't go too loud or they will break.

Now I know common sense should be used, but are loudspeakers meant to be able to go loud without breaking ?

For a start, when you have a decent set up, you can have a conversation across the room even when the music is fairly loud because there is less distortion, yet when you want to crank it up a bit, you could break your 2.5k loudspeakers.

You don't get a pair of high end shoes and get told not to wear them too long or stamp to hard or they might fall apart.. no they do a better job.... so why not loudspeakers
 

alwaysbeblue1

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lindsayt said:
Which £2.5k speakers are you talking about? If your speakers can't play loud enough for you: change them.

The speakers are spendor a6r and sound great. I play reasonably loud but scared of playing too loud because of all the scare stories
 

alwaysbeblue1

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lindsayt said:
Which £2.5k speakers are you talking about? If your speakers can't play loud enough for you: change them.
[/quote

Spendor a6r
They sound great, just scared to play them loud because of the scare stories
 

MajorFubar

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I think he's just being general, that by the time you spend x amount on speakers they should by and large be made to be immune from abuse. I don't think that's realistically possible without some kind of limiting device which restricts the SPL. Some actives do have this, but clearly it would be difficult to implement in a regular passive speaker; they're dictated to by the whims of the amplifier, which in turn is dictated to by the moron who cranks it too loud.
 

insider9

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I understand your concern but it really comes down to your amp. With 100W of unclipped signal your speakers will go to 108db at 1 meter that's much too loud for most people.

Not only that but usually way too much for most amps. The damage to speakers would likely be caused by an inadequate amplification.
 
alwaysbeblue1 said:
Why is it that when you pay high end prices, you need to be more careful with what you bought.

Watches - don't do this dont do that or it will break.

Loudspeakers - don't go too loud or they will break.

Now I know common sense should be used, but are loudspeakers meant to be able to go loud without breaking ?

For a start, when you have a decent set up, you can have a conversation across the room even when the music is fairly loud because there is less distortion, yet when you want to crank it up a bit, you could break your 2.5k loudspeakers.

You don't get a pair of high end shoes and get told not to wear them too long or stamp to hard or they might fall apart.. no they do a better job.... so why not loudspeakers
What are these scare stories? Can you show us some? (at least three). The only scare stories I've heard or read are numpties who use an amp which isn't up to the job of powering a certain speaker.

All hi-fi components are only designed work within reasonable sonic parameters. So for instance, if you have a entry-level (45 watt) Marantz amp driving a pair of 2k 84db 4ohm speakers, the amp will clip easily and, if played too loud, will damage the drivers etc etc etc....

Other than outright stupidity (and spammers) there shouldn't be any scare stories.
 

Gazzip

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You just need to understand the specs of your equipment to enjoy it to the maximum of its potential.

Your high end shoe example is a great apology for this concept. If you went hill walking in a pair of Jimmy Choo you would soon discover their limitations because they are not designed for that purpose. The thing is that you wouldn't head for the hills in a pair of stilettos because you understand their specification.

As others have advised you need an amp that is up to the task and some perspective on what is a safe/comfortable listening level.
 

NSA_watch_my_toilet

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I'm not sharing really totally the point of view of the opener.

Generally, if you are not an idiot, you pay for something in return. Sound quality, or volume gigantism.

A system that can go very loud, is called, a PA system, it's made for public venues and sounds great at 1'000 watts and more.

A hifi system is, normally, by design, not suited for 120dB volumes. But even so, you have hifi speakers designed for high volume. B&W 802 D2 or ATC SCM300 are two that I know, but they are more.
 

stereoman

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False assumption. The more you pay you get more robust LSs in general. With more handling power and better components. You do not need to be careful in terms of sound in more advanced , expensive LSs - on the contrary, you need to be more careful with lower quality ones.
 

davedotco

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alwaysbeblue1 said:
Using Spendor a6r They sound amazing but scared to let them go because of the scare stories
You do not say what amplifier you are using, so it is difficult to see whether you are right to be concerned or not. As has already been pointed out, most speakers are damaged by overdriven amplifiers rather than simply too much power.

The A6r are medium efficiency with decent power handling, but like all speakers, they require rather more power than you expect if you wish to play them even quite loud. In this case I would suggest around 200-250 watts per channel for the amplifier so that you can turn it up with no realistic chance of clipping.

Think of it like this, playing wide dynamic range classical material on such an amp, results in the amplifier 'peaking' at 300 watts whilst producing a 'continuous' output of barely a handful of watts. Some wide range pop type material will require rather more continuous power output, perhaps around 30 watts, whilst heavily compressed tracks may require even more continuous power, though by this stage you will be playing very loud indeed.

Since the ear perceives loudness in terms of average or continuous power, the more dynamic range the program material has, the bigger that amplifier power needs to be to play at the same perceived level.
 

NSA_watch_my_toilet

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Not really. It's not a factor of the price only, it's a factor of caring. The B&W 804D3 is, for example, more expensive that some more capable speakers in the 5k range. The same goes for other products. Sometimes, you pay image and fame with your product.
 

lindsayt

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davedotco said:
alwaysbeblue1 said:
Using Spendor a6r They sound amazing but scared to let them go because of the scare stories
You do not say what amplifier you are using, so it is difficult to see whether you are right to be concerned or not. As has already been pointed out, most speakers are damaged by overdriven amplifiers rather than simply too much power.

The A6r are medium efficiency with decent power handling, but like all speakers, they require rather more power than you expect if you wish to play them even quite loud. In this case I would suggest around 200-250 watts per channel for the amplifier so that you can turn it up with no realistic chance of clipping.

Think of it like this, playing wide dynamic range classical material on such an amp, results in the amplifier 'peaking' at 300 watts whilst producing a 'continuous' output of barely a handful of watts. Some wide range pop type material will require rather more continuous power output, perhaps around 30 watts, whilst heavily compressed tracks may require even more continuous power, though by this stage you will be playing very loud indeed.

Since the ear perceives loudness in terms of average or continuous power, the more dynamic range the program material has, the bigger that amplifier power needs to be to play at the same perceived level.

davedotco is probably way out in his power estimations.

Get a calibrated sound meter and measure the peak volume levels that you're listening at.

There's an extremely high chance no one reading this is getting near the 300 watt - 112 dbs at 1 metre - peak levels that davedotco says you're getting with classical. You'd have the neighbours complaining in a minute and your ears would be ringing after you turned the music off.

You might get 111 db peaks at a classical concert with a full orchestra, if you were sitting close enough to get your head whacked by a trombonist. Sit in the middle of the hall and the peaks would be much quieter than that.
 

alwaysbeblue1

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I could not see that I was making a comment so kept trying.

My amp is a Cyrus 70w channel.

Surly you only know when you have pushed speakers/amp too hard when it is too late ?
 

muljao

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alwaysbeblue1 said:
I could not see that I was making a comment so kept trying.

My amp is a Cyrus 70w channel.

Surly you only know when you have pushed speakers/amp too hard when it is too late ?
You have a good amp and good speakers. It is likely you will never have an issue unless you push these to unlistenable levels. Enjoy your hifi/music
 

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