Professor.Ham.Slap Posted March 31, 2003 Share Posted March 31, 2003 I own a pair of Klipsch RS-7's and I had the misfortune of blowing one of them today. What confuses me is the fact that my amp can do 115x2 watts and it was turned less than half of the way up. The specs declare that the speaker can handle 150 watts continuous before it blows. I want to know if this is my fault or is it a defective speaker. Am I missing a concept here or something? I would be incredibly grateful to anyone who could clear this up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynnm Posted March 31, 2003 Share Posted March 31, 2003 ? What do you mean by "Blew one up" ?? What is the make and model of your amplifier and what are you using as a source. Is it a power amp - If so what preamp are you using? It is possible that your amp went into clipping on a transient and fried the tweeter on the RS. Give us more detail. I am sure someone here may be able to assist you in preventing this problem from recurring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Professor.Ham.Slap Posted March 31, 2003 Author Share Posted March 31, 2003 I was putting the Beastie Boys Anthology through the system and all of a sudden the left surround speaker made a loud crack and the system shorted out for a split second. If you put signals through the line it will work fine at a very low power level (barely audible at about a yard). If the volume is moved higher, it will pop again and the system cuts out again. I am using a Carver Magnetic Field Power Amplifier (purchased in 1991) on those which has a power rating of 115 watts per channel (2) continuous. I am positive the amp didn't go into clipping, because it wasn't nearly up to that level (I use this same amp to drive my cornwall IIs for DJing and it can push out a lot more power very easily). I'm using my Pioneer VSX-D811S as a preamp for the rears plus power my center and fronts (I needed more power than the D811S could output so I had to split the work between two amps). Also I am positive that it wasn't a problem with the preamp because I did not hear any hard hits or distortion coming from the other surround. If you need anymore information from me just let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnA Posted March 31, 2003 Share Posted March 31, 2003 Check your wiring very carefully and test the system with another amp. Many Carver-designed amps have the reputation for being grenades. From here we cannot tell whether it is the amp ir speaker. Assuming it sounds normal at very low volume, it may be the amp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Professor.Ham.Slap Posted April 1, 2003 Author Share Posted April 1, 2003 Actually (and I probably should've clarified this) I switched the blown speaker to the working channel and I still got the shorting... Although I think I'm gathering that this was just one of those few Klipsch rejects, but luckily I still have my warranty to fall back on. Thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted April 6, 2003 Share Posted April 6, 2003 I personally don't think that this is a " klipsch reject ". Even though you claim that the amp was only turned up to half, most volume controls ar logarithmic, meaning that full output can be achieved with a main volume setting of half. Not to mention all amps are designed with a maximum input voltage level, meaning that if you couple it with a preamp that puts out a hot signal, you could be overdriving the amplifier with less than half volume. Combine that with a loud transient and you may have yourself a problem. I believe that you have a blown speaker, but I don't believe that it was the result of a manufacture defect. An amplifier driven to clipping will start to crop the tops of the waveforms of the normal ac signal and this increased dc content can quickly fry tweeters, whose tiny voice coils cannot dissapate much current and the resultant heat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted April 6, 2003 Share Posted April 6, 2003 Try and find the carver preamp that was designed for your power amplifier used. I think that the mismatch in preamp output voltage and the carver amp input voltage plus a loud transient did the speaker in. Feel free to send me an e-mail or p.m regarding this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frzninvt Posted April 7, 2003 Share Posted April 7, 2003 The problem also lies with the level that the CD is recorded at, most of the newer CD's that I have purchased are so saturated and over-recorded that it sounds broken up even at very low volumes. So with the recording being at such a high level compounded by the volume level this will lead to certain disaster. I have to use my DBX 5BX-DS to compress the signal somewhat to make it tolerable, newer recordings are horrible. Play an older analog recorded CD and it will sound nice and clear, my DBX 14/10 measures line voltage in real time and the older recordings average about 1 volt. Some of these newer pressing push things into the 5 volt or more range. I have a link to a website that fully explains and illustrates this. The Beastie Boys also has very heavy bass content and the little 6" drivers in the RS7 will have alot of trouble reproducing it especially at such high recording levels. I hope that I am making sense here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frzninvt Posted April 7, 2003 Share Posted April 7, 2003 Follow this link to see what I am talking about. http://rvcc2.raritanval.edu/ktek9053/cdpage/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artto Posted April 7, 2003 Share Posted April 7, 2003 Just because the 'volume' control was turned 'half way up' doesn't mean the amp was putting out half of its power (for instance). A 'volume' control does not determine how many 'watts' the amp will put out. The 'volume' control is actually, more properly called, a 'gain' control and it controls the amount of INPUT gain to the amp/receiver. Any amplifier can be driven beyond its rated power output at the lowest volume control settings, given enough input signal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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