PSB T55's Tweets Dead

[Tulsajj]

I have a Pioneer 1018 receiver powering a pair of PSB T55's when listening to music. Last night I believe I blew my tweeters in each T55. I was probably pushing receiver at least 80% so I'm not for sure if it was from clipping. I didn't realize that speakers were so vulnerable even under a little distortion. PSB is going to charge me $100 for a pair of tweeters shipped.

Would I be able to tell difference if I order tweeters from parts express or somewhere else for a little cheaper or should I go w/ OEM product?

 

[krzywica]

I have a Pioneer 1018 receiver powering a pair of PSB T55's when listening to music. Last night I believe I blew my tweeters in each T55. I was probably pushing receiver at least 80% so I'm not for sure if it was from clipping. I didn't realize that speakers were so vulnerable even under a little distortion. PSB is going to charge me $100 for a pair of tweeters shipped.

Would I be able to tell difference if I order tweeters from parts express or somewhere else for a little cheaper or should I go w/ OEM product?

Stick with OEM and buy a dedicated 2 channel amp Pioneer is known for overstating their rated power specs as most companies are. Or listen at lower spl levels. I know Seth has one for sale that would do nicely for $325 shipped you won't find a better deal.

Yamaha Amp

 

[j_garcia]

I have a Pioneer 1018 receiver powering a pair of PSB T55's when listening to music. Last night I believe I blew my tweeters in each T55. I was probably pushing receiver at least 80% so I'm not for sure if it was from clipping. I didn't realize that speakers were so vulnerable even under a little distortion. PSB is going to charge me $100 for a pair of tweeters shipped.

Would I be able to tell difference if I order tweeters from parts express or somewhere else for a little cheaper or should I go w/ OEM product?

Just because you didn't hear the distortion doesn't mean it wasn't occurring.

You can't just slap any old tweeter in there and expect it to work correctly in that design, so yes you will hear the difference and yes you should go with the OEM ones.

I've never been impressed with any of the 10xx receivers from them, or most of the Elites for that matter. Their stuff was great in the 70s, not so much now.

 

[Tulsajj]

So Seth's amp would be plenty? It looks a little older, you think this amp still has plenty of life in it? Also, I don't understand the imputs - How would I go from my receiver to the XLR imputs of this amp?

 

[krzywica]

So Seth's amp would be plenty? It looks a little older, you think this amp still has plenty of life in it?

I'm running an older amp than that and it works perfectly. AFAIK an amp isn't like a car engine that looses a few HP per year of its life. Whats good then is still good now, as long as its not damaged.

Also, I don't understand the imputs - How would I go from my receiver to the XLR imputs of this amp?

Like this.....

Or like this

Or you could also get 3.5MM to RCA.

These connect to your receivers pre-outs so you could route the audio signal through the wires I links to above while connecting your speaker cables to the amp.

 

[j_garcia]

Seth's amp would be plenty for nearly any speaker

 

[Tulsajj]

Ok, that seems simple enough. What kind of sucks is that now when I want to watch tv/ listen to music I just hit button on remote and everything comes on.. with this amp I would have to switch it on each time since I don't think I have a a/c plug on back of my receiver.

So for my 2 fronts I would remove the wires from the amp portion of receiver and just run the xlr connections from the preamp. And my center, surrounds will still work fine being ran in from the amp portion of the receiver?

 

[Seth=L]

I can see why the Pioneer would cause problems with those speakers. At very high output when the receiver is hitting it's operating ceiling it's clipping power nearly matches the RMS handling on the T55s, and PSB is even as specific to say 125 RMS less than 10% of the time. This means if you were clipping this would be the tipping point for the poor tweeters on those speakers. I've previously owned PSB speakers and I can say without a doubt in my mind, they require clean power to sound their best and to be kept safe from damage. I noted on more than one occasion when using the PSBs I had that combined with how hard they where to drive, and my desire for high output that a mere receiver wouldn't do, and I thought my tweeters were damaged because of the horrible sounds they made. I got a Carver AV-505 power amplifier and suddenly realized it wasn't the tweeters, it was the Onkyo TX-DS787 receiver I had been using to drive
them, which is slightly larger than your Pioneer VSX-1018. The AV-505 had a tremendous amount of headroom and an ability to drive virtually any speaker.

My PSBs were a bit of an odd case because they were a small floor speaker, but they were around 85dB 1w/1m and 4 ohms making them incredibly hard to drive to the levels I wanted (I was young and wanted it freaken loud). After getting the AV-505 I realized they could take just about anything the AV-505 had to offer as well, and those PSBs are some of the loudest small speakers I've ever heard, it has to be heard to believe. They were also some of the least delicate of speakers I've owned, but damn did they crank something fierce.

 

[Seth=L]

Seth's amp would be plenty for nearly any speaker

It's one of the largest examples of any amplifier I've owned, the triple darlington output stage is what sets it apart, giving the ability to drive any impedance necessary. I am particularly fond of the properly implemented 3 stage darlington circuit because it runs cool even when dishing out large quantities of power, and it never ever chokes. You just can't exhaust that thing.

 

[krzywica]

Ok, that seems simple enough. What kind of sucks is that now when I want to watch tv/ listen to music I just hit button on remote and everything comes on.. with this amp I would have to switch it on each time since I don't think I have a a/c plug on back of my receiver.

So for my 2 fronts I would remove the wires from the amp portion of receiver and just run the xlr connections from the preamp. And my center, surrounds will still work fine being ran in from the amp portion of the receiver?

You can use a triggered power strip for the auto on purpose. Works great for older amps that don't have built in 12v triggers.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000P1QJXQ

 

[Tulsajj]

Wow.. I didn't know that even existed.. so if I'm reading right.. I would plug my receiver into the "always on" and when I turn my receiver on it kicks on the other things I have plugged in??? If so that is awesome..

 

[krzywica]

Wow.. I didn't know that even existed.. so if I'm reading right.. I would plug my receiver into the "always on" and when I turn my receiver on it kicks on the other things I have plugged in??? If so that is awesome..

That is exactly correct. This is also useful if you wanted to incorporate a cooling fan, or special lighting into your H/T.

 

[j_garcia]

You also wouldn't be able to plug that amp into the socket on the back of a receiver anyway, since they don't have the capacity to handle something with that kind of draw.

 

[krzywica]

You also wouldn't be able to plug that amp into the socket on the back of a receiver anyway, since they don't have the capacity to handle something with that kind of draw.

Exactly....would be like trying to pull your sailboat with a Spree....

 

[Tulsajj]

Since I know my tweeters are damaged due to clipping from the receiver. Could my mid bass drivers be damaged as well or are they more resistant to damage from underpowering them?

 

[j_garcia]

Tweeters do tend to be more fragile with their smaller voice coils. Though none of them are technically "safe" when playing clipped signal, tweeters have smaller voice coils and are typically more susceptible to the heat generated by clipping.

 

[Seth=L]

The midbass drivers on those T55s have fairly robust voice coils, I would not think they would be damaged. If they aren't rubbing and play without any problems I'd say they're fine.

 

[Tulsajj]

Just because you didn't hear the distortion doesn't mean it wasn't occurring.

You can't just slap any old tweeter in there and expect it to work correctly in that design, so yes you will hear the difference and yes you should go with the OEM ones.

I took the tweeters out and took a look at them and I was discouraged. I figured for $40 each that they would be a pretty substantial piece of equipment but I couldn't really tell the difference from any other tweeter I have seen. I got my amp on the way, I guess I will throw down $100 and get these ordered.

 

[j_garcia]

The thing is, the crossover in your speaker is designed to work with those tweeters, so using a different one won't give you the right blend with the mids and the sound will be off. Yes, they probably cost more than a tweeter that is the same or possibly even better, but there's no guarantee a different tweeter will work well in your speakers which is why the original ones are the right choice in this case. It just sucks that they cost that much.

My tweeters are $24 each and are pretty hefty. The main thing is, I love how they sound.