Do Audiophiles blow speakers?

i blew a couple of drivers of my ap libra's running pse studio v mono blocks... much to my surprise they didnt have enough current ( pse studio v's are pretty good in regards to current,however the libra's are pretty inefficent- 85-86 db @ 4 ohms...)

i changed the pse for classe cam 350 monos and never blew another driver and i listen to pretty stupid levels sometimes (when the wife isnt home..::)

also, never blew a driver in the car system either (balanced eclipse deck, zapco monos blocks on the comp. speakers and jl 500/1 on the subs, dynaudio seperates and image dynamic subs)

Bassman99

It sounds like you are a demanding user.

Consumer audiophile gear is designed to sound good at reasonable sound levels and not specifically designed to be played at extremely high levels for long periods (coils heat up and fail). Also an 8 inch woofer is never likely to play extremely loud as it simply doesn't move enough air ....why else do rock concerts feature rows and stacks of many 12" and 15" woofers.

Also note that as a coil heats up - its impedance rises and this leads to audio compression => as speakers heat up they actually start to play less loud....this may cause a user to crank up the volume more to compensate for the lower SPL output...eventually leading to higher temperatures and eventual damage/failure....a vicious circle.

My suggestion would be to go for pro gear - like they use in high end night clubs or recording studios - these speakers will be big rather than esthetic but they will have more expensive magnet designs for reliable high SPL's with less compression ....big woofers for high SPL's and big magnets that dissipate all the heat generated.

Another option may be to go for speakers with circuit protection or an amplifier with a soft clipping circuit....but if you like loud crystal clear sound then pro gear is probably your best bet.

I have blown countless speakers over the years and proud of it too!

It seems to be a regular hazard for someone who spends countless hours listening to music and has multi-room setup. I admit that a couple of times it was not me - once the kids and another time when someone turned it up too loud at a party....a crowd of people absorb sound (so does the beer!) and make you need higher SPL's then listening alone....sometimes higher than the system can handle ..tweeters seem to go most often but I have blown woofers too.

Fortunately over time I have migrated away from consumer gear to pro gear and professionals are pretty hard on their gear and often require repairs....so it is pretty simple and inexpensive to have the drivers re-coned or order replacement tweeters if those get over driven and burnt....I have done this on three separate occasions over the past 10 years.

Audiophiles do not blow speakers when sober.

Audiophiles do not blow speakers when sober.

Untrue. I blew up both 8" drivers and half the midrange drivers in a pair of Totem Wind. The preamp I was using shorted, and sent unattenuated white noise at full gain to the amp, which faithfully reproduced it at full blast and fed it to the speakers. KABOOM! Actually, it sounded more like WONK!SCHNORK!POP!scufflescufflescuffle!

FWIW, the amplifier was totally unharmed