How loud can speakers go before I start to damage them? Logitech X-540

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › How loud can speakers go before I start to damage them? Logitech X-540

RealityClash

192 posts

Master Geek

#81498 13-Apr-2011 20:29

Hey all,

I bought a set of Logitech X-540's a while ago and I'm just wondering if theres any way I can tell how loud I can crank them before I start damaging them. Ive heard that once you start hearing crackling or distortion, you've turned them up too high but my main concern is with the sub.

I often use them to play a lot of music with heavy bass (dubstep, drum n' bass etc) which I always play with the highest bass level on the wired remote.
As its a lot harder to hear distortion coming from the sub, is there any other ways of telling when its just too loud for the speakers/ sub? i.e can I tell from looking at the vibration of the sub?

Thanks

B1GGLZ

1961 posts

Uber Geek

#458449 13-Apr-2011 21:33

Well according to the specs the front and back speakers are rated 7.4w. The centre is 15.4w and the sub is 25w. thats a total around 70w which is the nominal power rating of the amp. Max power rating (Peak) for amp is 140w so you're unlikely to be doing any damage unles you connect the speakers to a more powerful amp.
Bear in mind that in order to perceive a doubling of sound you need to increase the power by a factor of 10 you need some really powerful amps to get real loud. An increase in power from nominal 70w to max 140w results in a barely perceptible increase in sound. To perceive a doubling in sound from 70w requires increase to 700w.
Also be kind to your neighbours. If your speakers can be heard out in the street (or inside your neighbour's house) then they are too loud. Beware the noise police.

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richms

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#458450 13-Apr-2011 21:34

Not really, you also have to worry about the heat in the voicecoil, and the amp overheating too, which will not cause distortion.

Hard distortion will happen if the driver bottoms out or if the amp clips, but normal operation can allow the coil to overheat without any of that happening. Usually when the amp is overpowered for the drivers, but what I have seen of bottom tier stuff, that's unlikly.

Richard rich.ms

cgrew

860 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#458592 14-Apr-2011 10:21

Just a quick question (sorry for the hijack), does anyone know of or have a setup similar to mine:

Denon AVR 2310 & Wharfedale Diamond 9's (5.1 surround sound)

Just wanting to know if my amp out does my speakers in terms of power or vice versa? (i.e speakers out do the amp)

I've cranked it right up and it sounds really good but I am curious to know if anyone has had overheating problems with this particular AV receiver or anything like that?

Cheers
Conor

richms

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#458769 14-Apr-2011 15:22

Amps will never outdo speakers for power, as it is the user that sets it when operating it.

A speaker given too much power will typically bottom out and make clicking or snapping noises with the bass, a tweeter thats overdriven will sound like crap. Its when you push distorted signals into a speaker that bad stuff happens, as there are huge powerful harmonics present in a clipped signal. BTW, you can just as easily kill things if someone creates an audio file with excessive high frequancy stuff in it, so dont think you are safe because you are not clipping.

Richard rich.ms

cgrew

860 posts

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#458783 14-Apr-2011 15:47

richms: Its when you push distorted signals into a speaker that bad stuff happens, as there are huge powerful harmonics present in a clipped signal. BTW, you can just as easily kill things if someone creates an audio file with excessive high frequancy stuff in it.

So could bad quality youtube videos cause this? Because I mainly use my setup for watching movies/PS3/blu-rays etc but my flatmates do like to stream videos off youtube and I have heard faint distorted noises and I guess there were some sound clippings too?

Cheers richms

richms

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#458801 14-Apr-2011 16:16

Yes, if you clip the wave by doing a junk job mastering it, and then play it thru a system that is not normally stressed, you can nuke your tweeters. Thats why they make mpeg decoders etc mute on invalid data normally, as the loug chirping and sqeeking noises can easily hit close to 0dB with only high frequancy stuff. Record that to a CD, play it at moderate to loud levels and say buhbye tweeters, as they are not made to handle 100s of watts of high frequency content.

Same with bad recordings with mic banging around, massive transients that are not present in properly mastered stuff. Play it loud at your own risk. PA type gear have protection against it, home gear doesnt because it will typically screw up the response.

Richard rich.ms

cgrew

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#458817 14-Apr-2011 16:37

Crikey, I may have to advise the flatties to not play crappy youtube videos again or if they do, just at minimal volume levels. I spent way too much on my home theatre (had to ;P) to warrant my speakers getting destroyed..

Thanks again mate

richms

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#458827 14-Apr-2011 16:49

cgrew: Crikey, I may have to advise the flatties to not play crappy youtube videos again or if they do, just at minimal volume levels. I spent way too much on my home theatre (had to ;P) to warrant my speakers getting destroyed..

Thanks again mate

Its something that IMO someone should make an enhancement for windows audio to protect against. Shouldnt be too hard to do an octave by octave power limitation to stop you trying to playback 200 watts of 12kHz screeches and feedback noises.

Richard rich.ms

cgrew

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#458841 14-Apr-2011 17:03

richms:
cgrew: Crikey, I may have to advise the flatties to not play crappy youtube videos again or if they do, just at minimal volume levels. I spent way too much on my home theatre (had to ;P) to warrant my speakers getting destroyed..

Thanks again mate

Its something that IMO someone should make an enhancement for windows audio to protect against. Shouldnt be too hard to do an octave by octave power limitation to stop you trying to playback 200 watts of 12kHz screeches and feedback noises.

That would be a good idea for windows - We just watch youtube videos at home on the PS3 so I'm not sure if Sony will embed something like that in to the PS3 firmware anytime soon?