It is official: I blew my lsi9's upper woofer with the ROTEL RMB 1095 power amp

[nwohlford]

crossover was set at 40hz by Audessey for all speakers and they are set to small too. Are saying that setting all my speakers to 80hz which i believe it is the thx setting, that it will make my lsi9s not be driven so hard by bottom lows?

Yes, set to 80 Hz. While they can do lower than 80 Hz fine, your subwoofer can probably do it better. This will reduce the strain on your LSi9s. To do much below 80 Hz is a lot to ask of 5.25" drivers.

[whitecamaross]

Yes, set to 80 Hz. While they can do lower than 80 Hz fine, your subwoofer can probably do it better. This will reduce the strain on your LSi9s. To do much below 80 Hz is a lot to ask of 5.25" drivers.

sounds good. What about when i place the lsi15s as my fronts ? do i leave the crossover at 80hz?

[nwohlford]

Given that the LSi15s apply a 150 Hz high pass on the 5.25" and your amp should be up to the challenge of driving the woofer in the LSi15s, setting the crossover will be more of a personal preference. It will depend a lot on speaker and sub placement.

[ZLTFUL]

I was a bit harsh and I apologize for that.

One thing you have to realize is that you will NEVER get the kind of sound levels out of a bookshelf speaker that you will out of the monster speakers they use in movie theaters.

This is obvious and I know you know this.
That crossover point is too low for LSi9s in a home theater environment.
For music, that's fine because music dynamics are much smoother and forgiving than home theater dynamics.
The key is that even with the crossover set to 40, that's just the point at which the crossover is going to start rolling off the signal to those speakers. They will still be playing below that at an attenuated level so with massive spikes in volume, even with the db level decreasing the farther out from the crossover point, you still risk hitting spikes that can and will cause damage.

NEVER trust your auto calibration.
Use it as a baseline and work from there.
Granted, it is mostly going to be what sounds good to you but there is a reason subs are designed to handle frequencies from 20hz to 120/140hz.

[Jhayman]

Could this be the same problem again??
I wonder, could it be a design flaw in the Polk's??
Sharp loud spikes in volume very hurtful..

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/show...en-t-destroyed

[whitecamaross]

Could this be the same problem again??
I wonder, could it be a design flaw in the Polk's??
Sharp loud spikes in volume very hurtful..

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/show...en-t-destroyed

i actually read that thread and i also wondered if they do have a flaw of some sort..

[whitecamaross]

I was a bit harsh and I apologize for that.

One thing you have to realize is that you will NEVER get the kind of sound levels out of a bookshelf speaker that you will out of the monster speakers they use in movie theaters.

This is obvious and I know you know this.
That crossover point is too low for LSi9s in a home theater environment.
For music, that's fine because music dynamics are much smoother and forgiving than home theater dynamics.
The key is that even with the crossover set to 40, that's just the point at which the crossover is going to start rolling off the signal to those speakers. They will still be playing below that at an attenuated level so with massive spikes in volume, even with the db level decreasing the farther out from the crossover point, you still risk hitting spikes that can and will cause damage.

NEVER trust your auto calibration.
Use it as a baseline and work from there.
Granted, it is mostly going to be what sounds good to you but there is a reason subs are designed to handle frequencies from 20hz to 120/140hz.

are you saying i should just use a decibel meter to calibrate my speakers? i have played with the whole 40hz and 80hz frequencies on my fronts and quite frankly i can't tell a difference in bass output.. my lsi9s are about 13-14 inches away from the back wall..

[ZLTFUL]

@ jhyman: Did you even read the thread? The OP has already admitted todriving the speakers beyond reference volume.

And the OP cooked 2 drivers while running a too low crossover point for home theater dynamics.

The post you are linking doesn't make any reference to going above reference levels and had damage to the crossovers not the drivers themselves.

If you loathe this place so much wtf do you keep coming back? Nobody wants to hear what you have to say here anyway.

[ZLTFUL]

are you saying i should just use a decibel meter to calibrate my speakers? i have played with the whole 40hz and 80hz frequencies on my fronts and quite frankly i can't tell a difference in bass output.. my lsi9s are about 13-14 inches away from the back wall..

Run auto calibration. Once that is complete, check your settings. For home theater usage, your fronts should be set to 80hz
Once that is done, manually run the test tone and check the output from the speakers with an SPL meter. They should all be equal.

Like I stated previously, auto calibrations are notoriously inaccurate.
If your listening position is centered in front of your TV and your speakers are equi-distant from the centerline, they should be pretty close to the same db level and distance.
Same goes for pretty much the rest of the system.
One of the things I would also check is how far your subwoofer is reported from your listening position. I am willing to bet that it isn't even close to the actual distance.

[cstmar01]

@ jhyman: Did you even read the thread? The OP has already admitted todriving the speakers beyond reference volume.

And the OP cooked 2 drivers while running a too low crossover point for home theater dynamics.

The post you are linking doesn't make any reference to going above reference levels and had damage to the crossovers not the drivers themselves.

If you loathe this place so much wtf do you keep coming back? Nobody wants to hear what you have to say here anyway.

Thank you for saying what we were all thinking!

[ZLTFUL]

Thank you for saying what we were all thinking!

Tact has never been my strong suit with annoying people.

[Jhayman]

Jesus what did I do now, YES I did read the thread and so what only the Tweeters can have an issue not the woofers or vise-versa, even the OP read that thread and said he wondered if the speakers have a flaw..
I all depends on how hard it was driven in the first place..YOU were not there..
and I guess I was the only one who that, NOT..

@ jhyman: Did you even read the thread? The OP has already admitted todriving the speakers beyond reference volume.

And the OP cooked 2 drivers while running a too low crossover point for home theater dynamics.

The post you are linking doesn't make any reference to going above reference levels and had damage to the crossovers not the drivers themselves.

If you loathe this place so much wtf do you keep coming back? Nobody wants to hear what you have to say here anyway.

[whitecamaross]

Run auto calibration. Once that is complete, check your settings. For home theater usage, your fronts should be set to 80hz
Once that is done, manually run the test tone and check the output from the speakers with an SPL meter. They should all be equal.

Like I stated previously, auto calibrations are notoriously inaccurate.
If your listening position is centered in front of your TV and your speakers are equi-distant from the centerline, they should be pretty close to the same db level and distance.
Same goes for pretty much the rest of the system.
One of the things I would also check is how far your subwoofer is reported from your listening position. I am willing to bet that it isn't even close to the actual distance.

Believe it or not, audessey did set the right distances on my speakers and the db levels for each are almost dead equal from the listening position i chose. i will do the calibration via db meter and see what comes out.

[ZLTFUL]

Jesus what did I do now, YES I did read the thread and so what only the Tweeters can have an issue not the woofers or vise-versa, even the OP read that thread and said he wondered if the speakers have a flaw..
I all depends on how hard it was driven in the first place..YOU were not there..
and I guess I was the only one who that, NOT..

Let's see what we DO know.
THIS post is about LSi9s and a single blown top woofer in each. No known damage to crossovers with the OP stating that he turned it up well above reference.

The post you linked is about RTi7s and blown capacitors in the crossovers of each speaker. No drivers were damaged and the OP in that thread never mentioned excessive volumes. Only that he "turned it up a bit" and suddenly everything went quiet.

What we know:
LSi9s and RTi7s do NOT use the same crossover networks. They may share a capacitor or two but other than that, they are complete different crossovers.
Damage in both threads are to completely different components and the listening in each, completely different.

Now, I will relent and say that *if* both threads were about the same speakers that used the same drivers and crossovers, you would have a case.
But they aren't, they don't and you don't.

And my information is based on the information provided by both posters. So unless they are both deliberately misleading all of us, my advice and comments stand.

[whitecamaross]

Yes, set to 80 Hz. While they can do lower than 80 Hz fine, your subwoofer can probably do it better. This will reduce the strain on your LSi9s. To do much below 80 Hz is a lot to ask of 5.25" drivers.

ok, i just got done using the sound decibel meter and set all speakers to 75db. I did have to turn them all up by the way.
That being said, i set the crossover to 80 hz on all speakers INCLUDING the subwoofer which was set at 120 hz. Should i leave the subwoofer at 120hz or drop it down to 80 hz like the rest of the speakers?

[mdaudioguy]

how loud is the thx reference mark on the receiver? how many db ?

Numbers don't really matter. Your ears told you it was too loud.

everything was ridiculously loud and to the point that i felt i was going to have heart murmurs. i turned the volume back to SANE levels and kept watching the movie.

Chalk it up to temporary insanity...

[ZLTFUL]

ok, i just got done using the sound decibel meter and set all speakers to 75db. I did have to turn them all up by the way.
That being said, i set the crossover to 80 hz on all speakers INCLUDING the subwoofer which was set at 120 hz. Should i leave the subwoofer at 120hz or drop it down to 80 hz like the rest of the speakers?

At 120, to me, it would sound too "boomy". 80hz is a nice rolloff point for both. You are going to have a minor dip at 80hz but barely, if at all audible.

[Drenis]

Numbers don't really matter. Your ears told you it was too loud.

Chalk it up to temporary insanity...

You can only guide the horse to the stream, up to him to drink!

[nwohlford]

ok, i just got done using the sound decibel meter and set all speakers to 75db. I did have to turn them all up by the way.
That being said, i set the crossover to 80 hz on all speakers INCLUDING the subwoofer which was set at 120 hz. Should i leave the subwoofer at 120hz or drop it down to 80 hz like the rest of the speakers?

It depends what the subwoofer crossover means. Sometimes that is the high pass for Lfe in which case 120 hz is fine.

[F1nut]

Could this be the same problem again??
I wonder, could it be a design flaw in the Polk's??
Sharp loud spikes in volume very hurtful..

This is your brain on drugs, kiddies. Just say no.

[whitecamaross]

It depends what the subwoofer crossover means. Sometimes that is the high pass for Lfe in which case 120 hz is fine.

well i am not sure what the onkyo 1009 means by 120 hz? does anyone know if in the onkyo units that is the high or low pass filter?

[nwohlford]

well i am not sure what the onkyo 1009 means by 120 hz? does anyone know if in the onkyo units that is the high or low pass filter?

In a quick look at the manual, I only see what they refer to as the LPF of LFE and not a subwoofer crossover, so I would guess it is the low pass filter of the LFE. The setting is probably not critical. I would leave it at 120 Hz for now, but you can play around with it when you have the LSi15s.

[whitecamaross]

In a quick look at the manual, I only see what they refer to as the LPF of LFE and not a subwoofer crossover, so I would guess it is the low pass filter of the LFE. The setting is probably not critical. I would leave it at 120 Hz for now, but you can play around with it when you have the LSi15s.

ok sounds good. In your opinion, how good of a job do you think the ls7s do vs the lsifx ? i was considering moving the lsi7s to the back and using a fxi A6 as a back surround so it would be more of a 6.1 rather than a 7.1 because the onkyo allows you to choose the amount of back channels you have.