Nick: You can't expect a relatively low efficiency speaker using two small drivers to do low bass and play loudly and do it cleanly. As such, you have to accept that there will be trade-offs with such a design and either limit the volume and / or the amount of low frequency information that you are going to send to the speaker. As such, the suggestion from Foreverhifi to run the speaker on the "small" setting may help, but i don't know if it will get you all the way there.
By the way, what are you "blowing up" on this speaker ? Are you killing the tweeter, one or both of the mid-woofers, part of the crossover network, etc ??? If you are taking out specific parts, such as the tweeter, ask Piega to change the slope and hinge frequency of the crossover to something a little more conservative. If it is the mid-woofers, tell them that you want a custom model with four mid-woofers rather than just two. They can series-parallel the drivers. While this will will raise the impedance, it also increase power handling / maximum SPL capacity. You've obviously got plenty of power since you are smoking the speaker, so the change to a higher impedance probably wouldn't hurt you any.
If you want to avoid all of this, switch over to running another P10 for your center channel. That is, if it is possible. I agree with Sugar that running identical or a near identical center speaker to what you are running for the mains seems to work best. Piega may cut you a deal on a single P10 since you've already had problems and it may be cheaper for them to help you out than to have to repair the speaker under warranty. That is, if they are covering the repairs under warranty. Sean
>
PS.. Forever: You might be surprised how well my low efficiency, low impedance "audiophile type" center channel speaker does in terms of bass extension and high spl's while retaining good clarity. Then again, with 800 watts driving two 8's, a dome mid and dome tweeter in a 4+ cu ft cabinet, it's not exactly "under-powered" or "little" : )
By the way, what are you "blowing up" on this speaker ? Are you killing the tweeter, one or both of the mid-woofers, part of the crossover network, etc ??? If you are taking out specific parts, such as the tweeter, ask Piega to change the slope and hinge frequency of the crossover to something a little more conservative. If it is the mid-woofers, tell them that you want a custom model with four mid-woofers rather than just two. They can series-parallel the drivers. While this will will raise the impedance, it also increase power handling / maximum SPL capacity. You've obviously got plenty of power since you are smoking the speaker, so the change to a higher impedance probably wouldn't hurt you any.
If you want to avoid all of this, switch over to running another P10 for your center channel. That is, if it is possible. I agree with Sugar that running identical or a near identical center speaker to what you are running for the mains seems to work best. Piega may cut you a deal on a single P10 since you've already had problems and it may be cheaper for them to help you out than to have to repair the speaker under warranty. That is, if they are covering the repairs under warranty. Sean
>
PS.. Forever: You might be surprised how well my low efficiency, low impedance "audiophile type" center channel speaker does in terms of bass extension and high spl's while retaining good clarity. Then again, with 800 watts driving two 8's, a dome mid and dome tweeter in a 4+ cu ft cabinet, it's not exactly "under-powered" or "little" : )