I had the same measurement experience and reaction.
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Did it do any damage? My screen is a little warped now and it scraped my tweeter enough to leave a mark. I was considering sending just the tweeter back so Dave could repair it, but he determined it was only cosmetic and would have no effect on performance. Not worth the cost of repair (~$100 plus shipping both ways). I don't hear any difference and the mark is so tiny you really have to get close with a bright light to see it. At first I thought it was a piece of dust.
I didn't have any damage. Nothing was playing at the time, so maybe I just lucked out.
I didn't even think about the magnets when I stared the measurement, but they quickly came to mind during it. Afterwards I thought "well that was pretty dumb of me".
I just met you, but we already have much in common! Here's what happened to mine.
Attachment 1968
Attachment 1969
Dave told me it's only cosmetic and not worth the cost to repair, but damnit all...
So whats the deal with these speakers you can't play loud with them? Never heard of tweeters getting blown. Maybe it's better to order them wit the dome?
they get plenty loud - just have to make sure the amp has the wattage to get to the sound pressure levels you want. No different than any speaker -- if the amp clips, you risk blowing a tweeter.
Exactly. A combination of not enough power and too much volume will blow any tweeter.
In fact tweeters tend to be the first thing to go when things do go south, whether dome or ribbon. When you exceed an amp's limits and it starts clipping the signal bad things can happen to any speaker.
The Sierra 2s do get plenty loud, but they need good clean power to do it.
Really? I've blown loads of tweeters in my lifetime. Especially in college, trying to play too loud.
In fact, for years I had a set of speakers that had Audax tweeters in them, and I blew the tweeters often enough that one time when I was driving through Madison, I stopped at Madisound and picked up a half-dozen of them so I'd be ready to replace them if I had to. (This is pre-internet.) I think I still had a couple left when I finally got rid of those speakers, but I ended up using most of the replacements.
The tweeters I used to blow all the time were domes. The problem isn't the tweeters, it's the amp clipping. If your amp never clips, you won't blow a tweeter.Quote:
Maybe it's better to order them wit the dome?
I haven't blown one, dome or otherwise, in ages. Amps are better now, and I have more disposable income to put toward them. I don't generally listen as loud, now, either.
If you're worried about it, decide how loud you want to listen (maximum), your distance from the speakers, look up how efficient your speakers are, and work out how much wattage you need for that volume level (there are calculators for this on the web). Then add at least 20% to that for safety margin, and you shouldn't ever have to worry about blowing a tweeter.
Example: THX "reference level" says you need to hit 105dB for peaks (this is crazy loud, BTW, and I never listen even close to this). But let's say that's your target. Let's say a pair of S2s near the wall, you're 9 feet away. Calculator says 120 wpc, so I'd go for at least 150 wpc. But if you have a 120 wpc amp and try to go to "reference level" loudness, don't be surprised if you end up frying a tweeter. Your midline Dennon 3700 is right around this much power so it'd be chancy.
I thought about mentioning sensitivity too. The Sierra 2 is an amazing sounding speaker but with 86 dB sensitivity it's going to take more power to hit higher spl than say, a speaker with a more average sensitivity of 88-89 dB.
Just a 3 dB (like 86 to 89 dB) difference in sensitivity represents a doubling of power to hit the same spl.