Hello everyone, as the title says both tweeters from my Infinity primus speakers has died. I have the speakers about three years so this is second time a tweeter dying. First time it was year ago and now the other tweeter died as well. This is my setup:
Marantz Pm7003 receiver Pioneer active subwoofer SW80S Infinity Primus 250 speakers
And this is how the equipment is wired:
Mostly of the time i listen at normal volume (1/4 of volume knob) but sometimes i listen at very high volume (3/4 and above). Also, several times has happened the amp to power off automatically while listening at max volume level, but when this happens the amp is never overheated it's always normal temperature. Could this be the reason for burning my tweeters?
Thanks for your replay Mr. Vigne. What could be the reason for driving the amplifier into clipping? According to amp spec its 70wpc at 8 ohm while according to speakers spec they can handle 10-150w into 8 ohm. Do you think they are not compatible?
No, the system is fine. You are the cause of clipping.
Do a search engine on the topic.
You are asking more Voltage from the amplifier than it can safely and cleanly produce. The specs mean nothing when the amp is off a test bench. Speakers don't give a sh!t about "power handling". No matter how many watts you have or how much power handling is stated on paper, there are eventually limits to how loud you can go.
When you over drive the amp, it distorts - that's clipping. Clipping is constructed of mostly high order frequencies due to the nature of music and amplification. That distortion is sent to the tweeters and they burn out.
The answer is in one of two options:
1) Turn down the volume. This is the easiest and cheapest solution.
The position of the volume control has little to do with how much Voltage the amp must produce. A "3/4" position - whatever that is - is too much though. The more bass you or the source adds, the worse the situation becomes. Even with a subwoofer. If you don't have your front speakers set to "small", do so, let the sub do the bass and that will limit somewhat the amount of wattage the amp must produce for the front speakers. The crossover from sub to fronts should be set to approximately 80Hz.
When you hear distortion, turn down the volume. Know that the amp is limited in its output and cannot simply play without distortion when you crank the volume.
2) Buy a more "efficient" speaker. That's going to be rather difficult unless you want much larger speaker cabinets. And the sound will change when you buy, say, a Klipsch.
Every three decibels of additional efficiency is the same as doubling your amplifier wattage. Buying loudness in speakers is much easier than buying volume in amplifiers.
Or simply don't play your music and videos as loud as you have been.
Speaker manufacturers understand clipping and they typically won't cover tweeters that constantly get blown up by it. Forcing a customer to pay for their mistake is the manufacturer's way of trying to get the message home.
Clipping has been covered in other threads on this forum and it is easy to research on line. Read about it, understand it and then stop blowing out tweeters.
...or you could get a different receiver. I say this because speakers are very subjective and you might like something different than Klipsch. Some people think speakers like Dali Zensor has clearer and better highs. You can sort of get an idea by hearing them on youtube - search for Dali speakers sound test and compare it to klipsch sound test.
Look for more powerful receiver or amp if you do go this rout to get more choices in speakers.
Hope this helps - and please consider not playing music too loudly - you might damage your hearing. You don't have ringing sound in your ear when there is no sound?
