Sierra Ribbon Towers and Safe SPL

[Pogre]

Hey guys, I've had my new towers for about a week now and am really enjoying them. Gorgeous sound.

I'm also using a pair of subs and cross them over at 80 hz, which is working really well. My normal listening volumes are 75 dB for music and usually less for movies and tv. However, I do like to crank up the volume from time to time and push reference levels for a song or 2.

So I did that with Chocolate Chip Trip, a drum solo with an aggressive kick that comes in around 2 minutes.



I sit 15' from my speakers and that song (among others with good bass) really seems to push the Sierra towers right up to the hairy edge of blowing a bass woofer (midrange also). I can see them moving, easily from where I sit 15' away. They move A LOT. The word "alarming" comes to mind... lol. I don't think I heard any clipping or distorting tho. I have a Monolith 7 amplifier and it's rated conservatively at 350 WPC into 4 ohms.

Am I becoming alarmed for no reason? Anyone else feel like they've hit limits with the towers? Dave, what say you? Should I use a higher crossover when turning it up like that?