Sierra-2 Development Thread

[Pogre]

Hi Pogre,

Very happy to hear that you have been enjoying the Sierra-2. Reference level at a 15 foot listening distance with a speaker rated at 86-87 dB sensitivity is very problematic. To reach 85dB from one speaker at this distance requires only about 20 watts of power into the speaker. The problem is that there is 20dB of headroom, such that reference level peaks = 105dB. To be able to reproduce these peaks at your listening distance with speakers rated at this sensitivity requires a massive 1600 watts of power. Your receiver or amplifier does not have that kind of power (nor can a speaker handle anywhere near this), thus you run the very real risk of causing your amp/receiver to clip badly. This can cause extensive damage to your speakers that is not covered under warranty.

At your listening distance, I highly recommend going with our towers, which have much higher sensitivity and can also handle more power.

Hope this makes sense!

Okay, thank you! Yes, it makes perfect sense. More cabinet volume and more drivers make for better power handling and sensitivity in the towers. I have no idea what to expect from the EX kit, but I think you sufficiently answered my questions there. No matter what, it's still a bookshelf speaker and not meant for reference levels in large rooms! Towers it is then! I need a little more time to get the budget together, but you can expect to be hearing from me soon!

I'm not playing them at reference for the reasons you stated above. -5 (-10 to -15 most of the time) is about as much as I'm comfortable with, even then only for maybe a song and only when crossed over to my subs. Am I still pushing the limits when using an 80 hz crossover at that volume? I have a Monolith 7, using a SR6011 as a pre pro and Audyssey calibrated for mlp.

I'd never push them that hard at full range. Last thing I wanna do is break my new favorite toys!