tweeters blowing (could use some power advice)

[jlr8h8]

Im kind of new to this and some expert advice would be awesome. I own a pair of klipsch F-30 that I keep in my fraternity house. I have a lot of problems with people cranking the volume on my pioneer vsx-820 reciever. This makes the tweeter blow (i guess because of clipping). What can I get as far as amps and/or receivers go to give my speakers enough juice that they wont clip without worrying about them being overworked?

 

[Rickster71]

Those are very efficient speakers, with sensitivity of 97.5dB @ 2.83V / 1m and don't need much power to play loud.
Sounds like the real problem is the A-Hole that cranks the volume.
Check your owners manual for a 'Max Volume' setting that will limit it to a level of your choice, regardless of how much the knob is turned.

 

[milford3]

Your pioneer vsx-820 reciever is underpowered for the speakers you have.
You need to buy a better receiver that matches the power specs of the speakers. Underpowering a speaker does more damage than overpowering a speaker. Hence the damaged twitters.
For now keep the keg in a different room away from the receivers volume knob. Or post a guard!

 

[Rickster71]

Any speaker system can be damaged by a drunk turning the volume up to it's max.
Your speakers have a very high sensitivity of 97.5dB @ 2.83V / 1m......meaning, your Pioneer can play them beyond the point of eardrum damage, past the half volume point on the knob. Unless you're playing this in the college gymnasium and not a dorm room.
How big is the space you're trying to fill? How long is the wire run & what wire size? Are you only driving those two F-30s?

 

[M Code]

Keep the loudness off & bass & treble down as these controls generate alot of distortion and can/will destroy a tweeter...
Especially if the amplifier is overdriven..

Just my $0.02...

 

[markw]

Your post makes it sound as if this has happened several times.

Arseholes with alcohol and no respect for anothers property can blow speakers, perhaps amps as well, quite easily if they try hard enough no matter what you do. It doesn't take any brains to max out a amp but it does take a little to know when to turn it down. Odds are they sound like shiite for some time before they finally shuck off their mortal coil* so it's not like there is no warning. They just choose to ignore the danger signs.

You might want to reconsider the wisdom having your equipment open for all to use without you around.

* pun intended

 

[mtrycrafts]

Im kind of new to this and some expert advice would be awesome. I own a pair of klipsch F-30 that I keep in my fraternity house. I have a lot of problems with people cranking the volume on my pioneer vsx-820 reciever. This makes the tweeter blow (i guess because of clipping). What can I get as far as amps and/or receivers go to give my speakers enough juice that they wont clip without worrying about them being overworked?

As Rickster has indicated and more.
Your receiver is not under powered and is not clipping but over powering the tweeters is what is blowing the tweeters by too much volume=power . Remember, tweeters cannot take much power unlike the larger speaker scan.
So, don't allow anyone to operate your gear unless they buy it up front.

 

[milford3]

A great article about amplifier and speaker requirements can be found at Axiom.com. Go to the website and click on ARTICLES. Scroll down to "The Tech Talk " and select secrets of amplifier and speaker requirements. It's written by Alan Lofft of Axiom. As I had said earlier, your receiver is under powered for high listening levels. '

 

[its phillip]

As I had said earlier, your receiver is under powered for high listening levels. '

Why do you say that?

Sure, the receiver is very entry level...but the F-30s are 97.5dB @ 2.83V / 1m. He doesn't need that much power for them to get very loud.

In another thread of yours you are happy with 6 watts from a tube amp with speakers that are less efficient.

 

[milford3]

A quote from Alan Lofft. It's a great article.

The lesson in all this is that you can never have too much power, and that big amplifiers rarely damage speakers. Little amplifiers driven into clipping burn out speakers. In the scheme of high fidelity, that last barrier to realism is having enough power and being able to approximate real-life loudness levels.

As far as the tube goes it works fine with my M22's. Clipping and distortion in receivers is much different than in tube amps.

Plus I don't have beer in hand drunks turning up my volume control. I don't even let my dog in my entertainment room. Keeking the volume down (which I concur with) will keep drivers from going to audio heaven. The point here is if you have enough power in the amplifier (solid state) clipping and distortion become less of an issue at higher volumes. If you increase the volume with low power amplifiers clipping and distortion becomes THE issue.

 

[PENG]

A quote from Alan Lofft. It's a great article.

The lesson in all this is that you can never have too much power, and that big amplifiers rarely damage speakers. Little amplifiers driven into clipping burn out speakers. In the scheme of high fidelity, that last barrier to realism is having enough power and being able to approximate real-life loudness levels.

As far as the tube goes it works fine with my M22's. Clipping and distortion in receivers is much different than in tube amps.

Plus I don't have beer in hand drunks turning up my volume control. I don't even let my dog in my entertainment room. Keeking the volume down (which I concur with) will keep drivers from going to audio heaven. The point here is if you have enough power in the amplifier (solid state) clipping and distortion become less of an issue at higher volumes. If you increase the volume with low power amplifiers clipping and distortion becomes THE issue.

Last time I checked, Axiom does not seem to have problem recommending driving their speakers with receivers. Of course it is better to have more power than you need. As I said before, this hold true for money as well, but power you do not use does nothing for sound quality.

You keep talking about turning volume up with low power amp being a problem but that does no mean much because you are talking in relative terms. Clipping due to lack of power damage tweeters, but more power than the tweeter is rated for is damaging too. If I turn the volume of my power amp up high enough I will blow my tweeters for sure. I hope the OP won't get confused by all these kind of unqualified statements.

 

[mtrycrafts]

A quote from Alan Lofft. It's a great article.

The lesson in all this is that you can never have too much power, and that big amplifiers rarely damage speakers. Little amplifiers driven into clipping burn out speakers. In the scheme of high fidelity, that last barrier to realism is having enough power and being able to approximate real-life loudness levels.

As far as the tube goes it works fine with my M22's. Clipping and distortion in receivers is much different than in tube amps.

Plus I don't have beer in hand drunks turning up my volume control. I don't even let my dog in my entertainment room. Keeking the volume down (which I concur with) will keep drivers from going to audio heaven. The point here is if you have enough power in the amplifier (solid state) clipping and distortion become less of an issue at higher volumes. If you increase the volume with low power amplifiers clipping and distortion becomes THE issue.

If a tweeter is rated for 10 watts or less in many cases, it doesn't matter how you exceed that power, clean power or clipped, it will fry it, period, end of story.
When speakers are as sensitive as the on mentioned, it would be insane levels with a few watts, undistorted and tweeters are not far from blowing with help from drunk or uncaring friends who want to listen to those speakers from down the hall.

 

[M Code]

If a tweeter is rated for 10 watts or less in many cases, it doesn't matter how you exceed that power, clean power or clipped, it will fry it, period, end of story.
When speakers are as sensitive as the on mentioned, it would be insane levels with a few watts, undistorted and tweeters are not far from blowing with help from drunk or uncaring friends who want to listen to those speakers from down the hall.

You are correct tweeters cannot handle significant power, however in a full-range system such as the F30 there is a passive X-over which provides some protection for the tweeter. The F30 is rated @ 97.5dB sensitivity and uses a compression driver, so not alot of power is required for significant SPL output..
But that power de to it needs to be relatively kleen without distortion, also if a source such as an iPod or MP3 player is used, its bitstream output can have alot distortion especially if encoded @ a low bit rate...

Just my $0.02...

 

[TLS Guy]

Speakers are blown by too much power period. With modern ferro fluid speakers, damage is usually caused by overpowering alone not harmonics alone.

 

[mtrycrafts]

You are correct tweeters cannot handle significant power, however in a full-range system such as the F30 there is a passive X-over which provides some protection for the tweeter. The F30 is rated @ 97.5dB sensitivity and uses a compression driver, so not alot of power is required for significant SPL output..
But that power de to it needs to be relatively kleen without distortion, also if a source such as an iPod or MP3 player is used, its bitstream output can have alot distortion especially if encoded @ a low bit rate...

Just my $0.02...

I seriously doubt and perhaps TLs can comment on this, but 100%, ok, 90% distortion at 1 watt will not blow that tweeter. As he said, it is the amount of power.
ps. I hope that passive crossover doesn't take away 50% of the power from the tweeter.