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[Dave Potter]

Its been years since I was here.  Hi everyone.
I started playing Brazilian percussion and I've joined a community group which has its own rig for rehearsals.  I'm just replacing tweeter coils!.  Firstly, they have no audio knowledge so they treat their gear like trash.  Over-driving everything.  One thing that crossed my mind though:-. 

They use these powered Mackie full range powered boxes, but they only use it for vocals and a ukelele - turned up to the limit.  Are they putting all of their power through the tweeters? or does physics not work like that?

[Geert Friedhof]

Usually it's quite hard to destroy drivers in a powered cabinet. They have protection built-in. But it is not impossible. Most of the time a bad gain-structure is the cause.

Start with setting the gain-structure at reasonable levels, and check that the input on the box is set to line-level. Drive the boxes as hard so the limit-led will occasionally flash. That's the limit! If not loud enough, your boxes are not up to the task.

[David Allred]

They use these powered Mackie full range powered boxes, but they only use it for vocals and a ukelele - turned up to the limit.  Are they putting all of their power through the tweeters? or does physics not work like that?

Are you asking if all the potential power of the cabinet is making it's way to the tweeter if the content is such that power is not eaten in the lower registers?  Are these Mackie's biamped?  Most (an awful lot of) powered boxes use separate amp modules for highs and lows.

[Geert Friedhof]

Good point, David.

Maybe Dave Potter can tell us what type of Mackie speaker we are talking about. Also: are the woofers still producing something resembling music?

[Brian Jojade]

Usually it's quite hard to destroy drivers in a powered cabinet. They have protection built-in. But it is not impossible. Most of the time a bad gain-structure is the cause.

Baloney.  In the right (wrong) hands, it's pretty easy to blow up any speaker. The built in protection only goes so far.  People will find a way to make it do things that weren't supposed to happen.

I'm often surprised how bad people make speakers sound by over driving them, and then wonder why they always end up broken.  It's shocking, really.

[Tim McCulloch]

Baloney.  In the right (wrong) hands, it's pretty easy to blow up any speaker. The built in protection only goes so far.  People will find a way to make it do things that weren't supposed to happen.

I'm often surprised how bad people make speakers sound by over driving them, and then wonder why they always end up broken.  It's shocking, really.

These people are clueless.  They all think they want "quality sound" and then drive the cheap-ass PA into sustained hard clipping until it dies.  The don't recognize the distortion, particularly if alcohol is consumed by the operator, owner, DJ, band or audience.  This is one reason genuine quality of sound is not seen as worth paying for - nobody (and usually the client) has a clue as to what "bad" is, let alone good.

[David Allred]

Baloney.  In the right (wrong) hands, it's pretty easy to blow up any speaker. The built in protection only goes so far. 

To Geert's point,  in the right (good) hands they USUALLY are hard(er) to blow up.  "Baloney" (or "bologna") is a bit harsh, akin to calling him a liar.  Or at least what he said was a lie, which it certainly was not.   

[David Allred]

This is one reason genuine quality of sound is not seen as worth paying for - nobody (and usually the client) has not a clue as to what "bad" is, let alone good.

And therefore easily satisfied by those that can do no better. 
Some how, we (as audience) that find it supremely important that "it" sounds good, get so easily offended when "it" don't.

[Dave Potter]

They are Mackie SR1521s.  I completely agree with all the comments about their use.  Luckily these are only used for rehearsal, (they get proper rigs for shows) but that means that everyone starts messing with it.  I aim to educate them, but I was wondering if a 15" plus horn box was the right choice in the first place.  Hence the question about ONLY using the tweeter.

[Tim McCulloch]

They are Mackie SR1521s.  I completely agree with all the comments about their use.  Luckily these are only used for rehearsal, (they get proper rigs for shows) but that means that everyone starts messing with it.  I aim to educate them, but I was wondering if a 15" plus horn box was the right choice in the first place.  Hence the question about ONLY using the tweeter.

There are fundamental pitches that are 2+ octaves below the HF driver's electrical crossover so no, you do need a cone.  Whether or not it should have been a different size is a red herring, it makes no difference for vocals or uke in regards to blowing up HF drivers.

[ProSoundWeb Community]