"11-30-14: Bob_reynolds
ZD,
In the real world, you're far more likely to get a speaker to distort by under powering it.
You may be confusing the fact that you are more likely to damage a speaker by driving it with an under powered amp since you can drive the amp into clipping more easily. I assure you the driver will distort less at 65dB versus 80dB."
I'm not confusing either. That's why I put this in my last post.
"(Unless, of course, you're foolish enough to push the system so hard, it starts to break up. After reading the OP's comments, I really don't think that will be a factor here.)"
I think its a given that if you turn your system up really loud, it will probably distort at some point. Also, you are doing some guessing.
"Unfortunately, they don't quote an SPL level and distance, but it's likely 85 dB at 1 meter. This tells me that, as is typically the case, too much of the budget went into the cabinet and not the drivers to meet the price point. The distortion could double by 150 Hz and double again by 75 Hz and again by 30 Hz. You will be better off taking the bass load off of these speakers."
That, and the 2 other references are general and not about the OP's equipment. And that's really where your argument fails. Look at this, as well.
"Distortion created by a driver increases with level; just consider the heat. This is common sense, it certainly isn't silly and I'm not guessing. Distortion also increases as frequency decreases. Again, I'm not guessing; it's a fact.
In fact, you're much more likely to have a distortion problem with the sub, as opposed to the main speakers.
Now, that's just silly. You can't seriously believe that a 6.5" driver is going to distort less than a 12" driver when asked to reproduce a 40 Hz signal at 85dB.
That's exactly the problem with driving the majority of speakers full range (they are not designed for it). Speakers using crossovers use high pass filters on their tweeters and on their mid range drivers (if it's a 3-way design). It only makes sense to high pass the woofer when adding a subwoofer (effectively creating a 4-way design)."
In all this, you're missing the most important issues. Quality of the components going into the speakers, the design of the speakers, and the build quality and power rating of the amp. So going back to your example of using a 6.5" driver for a sub over a 12" driver as being silly, may not be the case. If you take a high quality 6.5" driver and put it into a well designed enclosure and power it with a very powerful, high quality amp, there's no reason why it can't outperform a lesser 12" driver with a low quality, low power amp. Not too many people use 6.5" drivers in subs, but there are many examples of 8" designs on the market that easily outperform 12" and 15" subs.
