High levels dangerous to receiver/speakers?

[1313stang]

Yesterday I bought a Polk s35 center, to replace older entry level Polk. I have polks all around accept the sub which is jbl. Biggest issue is too warm/muddy dialogue specifically from the center. hard to hear especially with heavy dialogue movies like doubt. Or Netflixs counterpart. Wasn’t impressed with 260$ speaker. Did have yamaha receiver, did calibration. Then pushed up all the levels up and it’s much better. But am I hurting anything? Crossover is at 80. I don’t hear any strain/distortion but can I be hurting anything by having it cranked up? I’ve read polls need a lil more juice to sound good.? I really wanted to like this speaker as I don’t have the funds to replace all 3 at once. So keeping w polk will allow me to slowly introduce newer speakers without any jarring um, unevenness?. ..am I expecting too much for this price Point? I don’t expect to win any thx awards but I shouldn’t have to pause a show constantly and say “what’d he say?”

 

[TLS Guy]

Yesterday I bought a Polk s35 center, to replace older entry level Polk. I have polks all around accept the sub which is jbl. Biggest issue is too warm/muddy dialogue specifically from the center. hard to hear especially with heavy dialogue movies like doubt. Or Netflixs counterpart. Wasn’t impressed with 260$ speaker. Did have yamaha receiver, did calibration. Then pushed up all the levels up and it’s much better. But am I hurting anything? Crossover is at 80. I don’t hear any strain/distortion but can I be hurting anything by having it cranked up? I’ve read polls need a lil more juice to sound good.? I really wanted to like this speaker as I don’t have the funds to replace all 3 at once. So keeping w polk will allow me to slowly introduce newer speakers without any jarring um, unevenness?. ..am I expecting too much for this price Point? I don’t expect to win any thx awards but I shouldn’t have to pause a show constantly and say “what’d he say?”

I doubt you will damage the receiver, but the speaker you might.

I really think some research before purchase is required. That s35 looks absolutely awful and I would expect it to have poorer speech clarity then a half century old portable or table radio. The thing has 3" drivers for Heaven's sake. We are awash in this sort of product as the high heeled interior designers have the whip hand and not the engineers.

 

[yepimonfire]

Where is the center located? I'm willing to bet hard to understand dialog may have something to do with that.

Sent from my LM-X210(G) using Tapatalk

 

[1313stang]

Slightly below Ear level 10’ away

 

[MrBoat]

We are awash in this sort of product as the high heeled interior designers have the whip hand and not the engineers.

 

[KenM10759]

Return that Polk S35 and hit Accessories4Less.com for a better center speaker. I bet you could find a reasonable Canton or Yamaha for the same money that would kick it's butt.

 

[yepimonfire]

Slightly below Ear level 10’ away

How much so? More than 3-4 inches can easily make a difference in the response, especially with direct radiating dome tweeters.

Sent from my LM-X210(G) using Tapatalk

 

[KEW]

... the high heeled interior designers have the whip hand...

WTF! Get out of my head!

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Yesterday I bought a Polk s35 center, to replace older entry level Polk. I have polks all around accept the sub which is jbl. Biggest issue is too warm/muddy dialogue specifically from the center. hard to hear especially with heavy dialogue movies like doubt. Or Netflixs counterpart. Wasn’t impressed with 260$ speaker. Did have yamaha receiver, did calibration. Then pushed up all the levels up and it’s much better. But am I hurting anything? Crossover is at 80. I don’t hear any strain/distortion but can I be hurting anything by having it cranked up? I’ve read polls need a lil more juice to sound good.? I really wanted to like this speaker as I don’t have the funds to replace all 3 at once. So keeping w polk will allow me to slowly introduce newer speakers without any jarring um, unevenness?. ..am I expecting too much for this price Point? I don’t expect to win any thx awards but I shouldn’t have to pause a show constantly and say “what’d he say?”

Could just be the contents. I've seen many contents that are poorly done.

I would also increase the Center Channel Speaker Level (digital trim level) in your receiver as needed.

Most likely, you are not hurting your speakers or receiver.

Also turn on the subtitles because a lot of people love to mumble and cannot articulate to save their lives.

 

[1313stang]

lol yea wife watches alot of British shows & figuring out what their saying is horrible..bluray is better than tv but still not good. yea trim levels are all the way up. center level much higher than others. treble all the way up, & 80% crossover. I just think their entry level warm speakers & there's not a lot I can do about it. system can get uncomfortably loud if i want, but no clarity. I'll probably audition the klipsch 250c next.

 

[yepimonfire]

lol yea wife watches alot of British shows & figuring out what their saying is horrible..bluray is better than tv but still not good. yea trim levels are all the way up. center level much higher than others. treble all the way up, & 80% crossover. I just think their entry level warm speakers & there's not a lot I can do about it. system can get uncomfortably loud if i want, but no clarity. I'll probably audition the klipsch 250c next.

The 250c is a great speaker, but wouldn't mate well with the polks. If you went that route, you'd need to also replace the l/r speakers with the same klipsch line.

I still believe the intelligibility problem is due to placement issues, despite the use of small drivers, the Polk center actually got pretty good reviews.

The combined surface area of the 6 drivers is 42.5" Sq, whereas a dual 5.25" configuration would equate to 43.3" Sq. Theoretically, it should perform just fine.

Judging by the response graph, there is no reason for dialogue to be unintelligible. It's likely your placement vertically off axis is the problem. The klipsch would do better off axis, since it is a constant directivity design, but IMO, there's no point replacing all your front speakers just to compensate for improper placement.

Polks are definitely not what I'd call "warm" sounding, quite the opposite in fact most of their speakers actually have a slightly forward midrange.

Sent from my LM-X210(G) using Tapatalk

 

[1313stang]

hmm what' the chances of something being wrong with the avr? I can sit directly in front of the speaker & it' still muddy & thick sounding. the tweeters in the towers are brighter though. mabey something has been wrong w the center this whole time & I didn't realize it. it was the 1st upgraded speaker bought coming from a htib deal, so at the time I thought it was awsome....well anyway I bought a klipsch 450 yesterday. I'll try that out & if im happy w that ill start building from there

 

[1313stang]

So got the 450 today. So far I think it’s a noticeable bump in clarity at low volumes. But I have a question, I did the yapo? Calibration, and of course it had to lower the level of the center considerably to blend with the towers. But it had set all 3 to large. With a 110 crossover. I thought no matter what size most speakers should be set at small. Does the crossover sound about right? I can’t complain about the sound, I may take the crossover down to 100 tho.

 

[lovinthehd]

So got the 450 today. So far I think it’s a noticeable bump in clarity at low volumes. But I have a question, I did the yapo? Calibration, and of course it had to lower the level of the center considerably to blend with the towers. But it had set all 3 to large. With a 110 crossover. I thought no matter what size most speakers should be set at small. Does the crossover sound about right? I can’t complain about the sound, I may take the crossover down to 100 tho.

Common for an avr to set speakers to "large" (or not using bass management) if the measurement mic reports an in-room f3 (the -3dB point on the lower response) of 40hz or lower. The avr marketing team doesn't want to tell you your stuff is "small" (or use bass management), even if you told the avr you want to use your sub. Wish they wouldn't do that but they do. I say change the speakers to small and use the crossover you want (but can't comment as not sure what all your speakers are, but 80 is a good starting point and if the sub can handle a higher crossover and you're not getting sub localization, then go for it).

 

[1313stang]

Ok thanks

 

[yepimonfire]

So got the 450 today. So far I think it’s a noticeable bump in clarity at low volumes. But I have a question, I did the yapo? Calibration, and of course it had to lower the level of the center considerably to blend with the towers. But it had set all 3 to large. With a 110 crossover. I thought no matter what size most speakers should be set at small. Does the crossover sound about right? I can’t complain about the sound, I may take the crossover down to 100 tho.

That's way too high. Try 60hz-80hz.

Sent from my LM-X210(G) using Tapatalk

 

[lovinthehd]

That's way too high. Try 60hz-80hz.

Sent from my LM-X210(G) using Tapatalk

Why?

 

[Leemix]

At higher crossover it is possible to locate where the sound comes from which will most likly not be where the other speakers try and place it. Depends on crossover frequency, sub placement, number of subs etc how much it affects.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[yepimonfire]

Why?

For one, it isn't necessary, if I can get reference level output in a 2000 cu ft room with a 50hz xover using the smaller 250c, the larger one will certainly be just fine.

Second, it's too easy to localize subs past 80hz, and actually, I was having some issues with being able to localize my sub at 80hz until I added a second one on the opposite wall.

Third, above 60hz, unless the sub is placed along the front wall with the LCR, the path length differences at 80hz can be large enough to cause uneven responses around the room at the xover point. An 80hz wavelength is 14' long, above 1/4 wavelength, or worse even, 1/2 wavelength difference, there will be areas of cancelation.

Using multiple subs can largely solve this problem, but AFAIK, op doesn't have multiples.

Personally, I am if the opinion one should use the lowest xover permitted by room acoustics and speakers possible. This is coming from experience.

Sent from my LM-X210(G) using Tapatalk

 

[everettT]

For one, it isn't necessary, if I can get reference level output in a 2000 cu ft room with a 50hz xover using the smaller 250c, the larger one will certainly be just fine.

Second, it's too easy to localize subs past 80hz, and actually, I was having some issues with being able to localize my sub at 80hz until I added a second one on the opposite wall.

Third, above 60hz, unless the sub is placed along the front wall with the LCR, the path length differences at 80hz can be large enough to cause uneven responses around the room at the xover point. An 80hz wavelength is 14' long, above 1/4 wavelength, or worse even, 1/2 wavelength difference, there will be areas of cancelation.

Using multiple subs can largely solve this problem, but AFAIK, op doesn't have multiples.

Personally, I am if the opinion one should use the lowest xover permitted by room acoustics and speakers possible. This is coming from experience.

Sent from my LM-X210(G) using Tapatalk

Your statement is just plain off. Each setup and room is different. I have my subs crossed high, and it’s the best operation for my room. Why is everything “reference level” with every post?