HELP - How Hard is to Blow a Bass Driver

Hey Barry;

I would like to offer another way to really--aw shucks I really want to use the F*-word--up your speakers, and that is with one of those 'test CDs' that push the speakers to the limit. I blew out my cute little horns sitting on top of my very expensive speakers when I used one of these CDs and paid no attention to the small print warnings about turning down the volumn when running this so-called "test".

Bummer.

Dr balance,

The fact that you heard distortion with deep bass only is what
you would expect if the amps were driven into clipping.

It takes a lot of power to do the deep bass notes - so they
are the most taxing for the amplifiers.

The distortion - which is often described as a "cracking"
sound is what you expect to hear from an amp that is clipping.

If that's what you heard - then the tweeters could have
been under some stress - but if they are still working -
then you probably corrected the problem in time.

The problem is basically too much power and hence energy
going to the tweeter which heats them up. The coils can
get so hot that they melt - and that ruins the tweeter.

However, if you correct the situation quickly, which is
what sounds like you did - then the coils just got hot
but didn't melt. So they'll be fine.

If they are damaged - you'll know it - the tweeters won't
work.

But if you don't notice a problem - then your speakers are
OK - and I wouldn't worry that there's some "hidden" damage.

Go back to enjoying your stereo system.

Dr. Gregory Greenman
Physicist

Dr. Greenman, thank you so much for your post. You made me feel tons better. That is what exactly i am going to do "go back and enjoy the music" thank you for your post.

-Dave

I had my monitors clip when I used one section of a bi-wired speaker cable (I left the other pair speaker wire on the floor with the leads up in the air) and turned the volume up fairly high.

My amp was a 180 watt at 8 ohms. My monitors were 4 ohms.

Can someone please explain to me how this could happen is my amp is POWERFUL enough to handle such loads from my monitor?........