Blown midrange setting gain

[ieatdrt 10+ year member]

Anyone blow a speaker setting the gains by ear? I have a set of ID CSX54's in kicks. I just got a SX500.2 and I used a 1kHz test tone @ 0db to set the gains. Well everything worked fine. Heard the tone change when it began to clip and brought the gain down a bit. Now the midrange sounds like there's static. The right channel which wasn't connected when I set the gain sounds great but the left is hosed. Now I'm paranoid about setting the gain by ear when I get the new mids and because I'm replacing the deck with an AVCI-N2 and have to reset the gain.

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[maylar 10+ year member]

Speakers don't like sine wave tones. Voice coil heats up real fast. You found that out the hard way. By the time you can hear distortion it's sometimes too late.

I use music to set main speaker gain. Duty cycle of music is about a 5:1 peak to average ratio. Much safer for speaks.

Bummer for you.

 

[ieatdrt 10+ year member]

Yes i did. Thanx. I have a harder time hearing distortion in music. Maybe I'll stick with the Multimeter method. Probably much safer.

 

[Mackenzie 10+ year member]

Yes i did. Thanx. I have a harder time hearing distortion in music. Maybe I'll stick with the Multimeter method. Probably much safer.

Yes it is safer

 

[tclay77 10+ year member]

can you send me the test tone, i have one for subs but not mids. tclay77@lcii.net

 

[maylar 10+ year member]

Problem with multimeter method on main speakers is that installation has a lot to do with how much power they'll take. Not like subs where a certain box is assumed and power rating can be fairly accurately specified.

In my experience it's the midbass that hurts main speakers the most, forcing them to the excursion limits. My method of setting gain involves setting EQ where I want it and cranking the gain until midbass peaks make them "pop", then backing off. It's very much dependant on EQ curve, hipass frequency and install variables.

Of course if you're hipassing mains above midbass range then you can use manufacturer's power limits and set gain with a dmm, but for most installs the speakers will bottom out on lows before that point. Realize that the power rating on comps is the max the voice coil will handle, not the suspension.

 

[T3mpest 10+ year member]

what actually causes that fabled pop noise? Thats how I always ended up setting them when I had to do it ghetto style, but I never knew just how bad it would be on the speaker.

 

[Decipha 10+ year member]

what actually causes that fabled pop noise?

the speaker

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

what actually causes that fabled pop noise? Thats how I always ended up setting them when I had to do it ghetto style, but I never knew just how bad it would be on the speaker.

Usually either the speaker bottoming out, or the coil jumping out of the gap.

 

[ieatdrt 10+ year member]

I didn't smell anything, or hear anything other than the tone change when it clipped. And no magic smoke. I did get that static sound after so I knew that the left channel was shot. Thanx for the info I'm going to set the amps up with the MM and set the to the speakers recommeded RMS 100W for the CX54's and 150 for the ID8V3's. There's being powered by an SX500.2 and KX400.1 respectively. Birthsheet 530 and 460. So i know I won't be over driving the amps either. Thankx