Speaker Question

[BadExample]

Al, I'll certainly yield to whatever Andy says, but I think mechanical damage to mids and tweeters is very uncommon because they just don't move very far. I wouldn't expect the tweeter or mid to care if the crossover is before the amp or after, but biamping certainly opens up the possibility to apply a lot more power than the MF/HF is meant to receive, especially if both amps are the same size and high powered. It doesn't take much power for a halfway decent tweeter to make a lot of racket. I like to say, treble is cheap. I happen to have a pair of titanium horns rated at 350 WRMS, but I doubt they have ever seen 50 Watts.

 

[Al Kraft]

Al, I'll certainly yield to whatever Andy says, but I think mechanical damage to mids and tweeters is very uncommon because they just don't move very far. I wouldn't expect the tweeter or mid to care if the crossover is before the amp or after, but biamping certainly opens up the possibility to apply a lot more power than the MF/HF is meant to receive, especially if both amps are the same size and high powered. It doesn't take much power for a halfway decent tweeter to make a lot of racket. I like to say, treble is cheap. I happen to have a pair of titanium horns rated at 350 WRMS, but I doubt they have ever seen 50 Watts.

Thanks for that perspective on the question. It makes sense to me and I would guess you'd likely run into thermal failures in those elements far more often than over-excursion. I find that when I start to pull the string on these things I thought I understood, my head fills with more questions than I have the background or experience to answer!

 

[beans-on-toast]

Can speaker quality degrade over time? I'm under the assumption that they either work properly or are unusable if obviously damaged due to voice coil or cone damage, but my understanding may be based on older technology speakers. Any insight would be appreciated!

Newer technology tends to be way better. But there are a lot of what is called soft parts in a speaker, the mechanical bits, that can wear out with time. Speakers can last a very long time if they are not abused.

The cones on older speaker from the 50's have a way of disentigrating. But what can you expect after so many years? The paper can turn to dust. The cone materials these days, even on reissue speakers that are designed to look and sound like the old ones, are far superior. The paper gaskets can get over compressed and sometimes need to be changed.

But even a brand new speaker can be damaged if abused. Some players regularly blow speakers. It is the cost of driving them to get the sound that they want.

 

[BadExample]

Thanks for that perspective on the question. It makes sense to me and I would guess you'd likely run into thermal failures in those elements far more often than over-excursion. I find that when I start to pull the string on these things I thought I understood, my head fills with more questions than I have the background or experience to answer!

I'm just a hack at this stuff. I've done more work with home stereo stuff. It seems most people have grown up and stopped coming to me with blown stereo speakers. Woofers almost always sounded really bad, tweeters always just stopped dead one day (they don't notice it until the day after the hangover). I didn't do like MI pro's and cut it open to see what went wrong. The last time I worked on someone else's stuff was my sis-in-laws blown sub. I tried to get to it. saw how hard it was and unplugged it. Done!

If DIY Avionics becomes common, I'm sure you'll be the @agedhorse of the OT forum fast!