"The best advice I can give is to use a huge shelf system for a few years, until your out of school. THEN, if you still have a serious interest in audio, pursue real equipment in a gradual, judicious manner. Your trying to condense 30+ years of analog knowledge (mine, that is) into small packets of "quick facts". Without a solid and instinctual understanding of electronic theory, you will end up wasting thousands of dollars and many hours. I can't possibly condense the complexities without losing the knowledge base in the process. The truth is that I didn't stop destroying equipment until I prepared systems of gargantuan size, and immense power. Even then, there were some notable failures. I was about 40 when I began to accept the inevitability of catastrophic failures at high reproduction levels. This is true even in so-called "Pro" systems in big arenas and nightclubs. The only thing that seems to work (for me) is six beefy bookshelf (or monitored systems) per channel and a pair of Carvers. Even then, you'd have you be alert to overheating of the Carvers operating at a very challenging 2.6 ohm load. The speakers would be FAIRLY resistant to damage, BUT NOT IMPERVIOUS. Also my listening room is only 19.5' long by 9.5' wide x 7' high. I have the most desirable concrete floor and paneled walls. Your room is a huge 19' x 19' x 9' if I remember correctly. Your room has more 2.5 times the volume of mine, has a loose floor, and is square. This adds up to about four to six times the power I need for the same impact. I used to have my equipment in that same room and it was very disappointing sonically. Avoiding driver failures is a mix of serious electronic knowledge and instinctual understanding of how long a particular product will sustain abuse. This skill take decades to accrue. I can't transmit it as if by"osmosis". If you can learn not to destroy small limited systems, you will do likewise with big systems. The alternative is hearing loss, poverty, and frustration. You could consider tube amps and a pair of Klipsch corner horns. The durability and SPLs would be daunting, as would the price, around $15,000.00 retail, or perhaps $5,000 used!"
"A Carver and a pair of C-Vs would be plenty loud for someone possessing restraint. The problem is that an inexperienced listener tends to continue raising the level of reproduction as auditory extinction occurs, with the end result being a damaged amp or speakers, or both. Car stereos appear to be "overwhelming" because of the miniscule transmission distance involved. A room the size of yours can require 10 to 100 times the power for the same SPL at the listening position. Also car gear is made to play loud and poorly forever(consider the age of the users). Forget subtle nuances with car gear. A setting of 2.5 on a volume control HAS NO RELAVANCE TO POWER OUTPUT BECAUSE THE SOURCE MATERIAL MAY BE RECORDED AT DIFFERING AVERAGE LEVELS. Therefore, 2.5 may be the same as 8 on a different CD. Stereo reproduction often creates uneven power demands from left or right channels. Therefore, one speaker can self-destruct while the other is in affected.
As far as Behringers and C-Vs go, I'll bet you get about a few days of very loud music followed by silence. We've already covered this one before."
" Placing an ear near a speaker can usually only detect impending mechanical failure. It gives no feedback about the temperature of the voice coil. Cone excursion probably should never exceed 0.25" on small systems and 0.5" on classic air suspension systems. Excursion also tells you nothing about the temperature of the voice coils. Crossovers ALMOST never die. The drivers will blow LONG before the crossovers will. Voice coils may only be observed by removing the cone from the basket assembly, rendering the speaker useless. At least you can then see if the coil is burnt or physically deformed by impacting the backplate. Finally, all that loud is a VERY relative thing."
Now, everyone, help me here. This is the lecture I got from my dad, when I accidently blew ONE SPEAKER. A 198- something Realistic Nova-15. Can someone here tell me a way in which I can attain the Cerwin Vega V-15F's and power amp, and not blow them? It turns out I have a bad habit of burning voice coils I guess. Is there any instrument I could use to measure temp. of the voice coils so I don't blow them in that manner? I really do want the CV/Power amp system, but I don't want to blow things either, because they are costly items at almost $300 a piece! Anyone here who can help me out? It would be much appreciated.
Your dad gave you very good advice as opposed to what you may interpret as a lecture. You should listen to him. And from your quotes, you were actually paying attention, that is a very good sign.
Is there any reason why you can not ask him the same questions? Or are you afraid of another lecture? From your writing, I think he would be a great source of knowledge.
But but but...IM A FRAPPING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT, NOT A NEURO SURGEON LOL! It's good advice, but I still want big sound. Is there any REAL problems with me buying two CV's and a Behringer Power amp and playing them responsibly, meaning at what I feel is appropriate, and not to impress friends, family, etc.? His name is Doug btw lol. Oh, and I do ask him the same questions, and he always seems to evade them with some long drawn out story about other things...
Haha, that is funny. Especially that part about being used...not saying you don't have money for brand spankin' new ones, but still, I saw some of their speakers on their site, and just one speaker is $800! I'm sorry, but in my own opinion, unless those things are solid gold, they aren't worth that money! From what he's told me, CV's are a good brand considering their lineage, are they pretty good? What I'm saying is, are they better than Sony, Pioneer, Infinity, KLH, Kenwood and other brands of that sort? Out of curiousity, how much were your used Klipsch Horns? Were they really $5000?
I see. Well CV does make some pretty beastly car audio stuff I would like to get my hands on too...Especially to replace my Volfenhag gear haha. Even though it's part of a tri company of Performance Teknique/DHD/Volfenhag, for being an unknown lower-end company, my Volfenhag gets the car job done...for now . Still, if any of you are into car gear, as well, check out CV's newest subs, the Stroker/Stroker Pro, quite the niceness.
Out of curiousity, how much were your used Klipsch Horns? Were they really $5000?
A little under half that. They go used from $1500 (if you're very lucky or they are beat up) to about $3000, for 15 to 30 years-old. A more recent pair will fetch more. You can buy them new for under $7000 in the States, from what I hear. In Canada, I hear the price for new ones is C$15000 a pair. It's hard to get a bargain on them new because they are special orders.
Vintage Klipsch, JBL and Altec Lansing have their following and hold their value well.
Yea, I've heard that old school JBL is quite nice. But my dad said here recently they've lost their touch a bit, primarily stuff from the 80's back is what he told me to stick with as far as equipment for output like receivers/amps. That's why I was going to get a carver, but when I found out some of the parts of a faulty channel in one of those vintage power amps can cost $150 or more, I said "Eh, No. Not worth it, even if it is really good." Oh yea, what kind of RMS output can be expected from those Klipsch horns?
TB, I dont think the horns are self-powered. The only thing cranking out wattage will be the receiver. The horns WILL crank out substantial SPL if that's what you mean.
They are rated at 104 dB SPL at 1W input, measured 1m away. This is 17 dB above the average of 87 dB (which I find a low number these days; 90 dB might be a better average). The KHorns have a rated maximum handling of 100W RMS and 400W peaks. At 400W peaks, they output the same SPL as a speaker of average sensitivity (87 dB) driven with 20000W.
But that's not why I own them. They sound sweet, full and image a soundstage incredibly well.
