Ivan Beaver wrote on Wed, 06 December 2006 15:28 |
It would not have been the underpowering that blew them. If you are simply thinking that the amps would not deliver the rated power to them, then you are confused with the whole "underpowering issue". The reason that underpowering is blamed for "blowing" loudspeakers is when you run the amp into clipping, and that is what is blowing them-not the actual power. If you run less than rated power to a speaker that is a very good thing, as long as you do not clip it.
Now if you were clipping the amps and thinking that they were wired in parallel, then there is a different type of confusion and you deserve the blown drivers. Sorry.
And before you blame the amps you have to determine the REAL cause of the reason the loudspeakers no longer work, there could be other issues that caused them to break-not necessarily "blow" from the power that is applied to them
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Okay, thanks for jumping all over me guys.
I am well aware of amplifier power and the effect it has on drivers. When I use the term "blown", I'm saying they are no longer working - not even passing a signal with the ol Multimeter. Yes, distortion (clipping) is what will kill the driver - well aware of that guys.
As far as saying that I deserve the blown drivers - maybe and maybe not, but that's a little harsh. The terminals were wired improperly, combining 2+ and 1-, then switching it went it jumped to the second NL4. They were not all like this, and that is why some of the cabinets are still working just fine. We purchased the cabinets complete but unloaded, and were told that everything was run parallel. They were half right. We spent some time rewiring the cabs so that they were properly run parallel.
The cabinets were not designed for the lab subs - we knew this from the beginning. The picture in my earlier post is of the dual 12" horn loaded sub cabinets we use - Thats what I mean by that. 2x 12's, one cabinet, horn loaded. We decided on the Labs because of the specs and reviews, and another guy who had an identical system was doing the same thing and raving about them. We know they were designed for a certain cabinet, but wanted to take our chances to see what they were all about. We think it paid off, as they put out an extreme amount of lows. Even after tonight's show, with only 4 working, we were still impressed. We have had the system now for about a year and a half, and nothing but compliments.
We are not calling this a lab box, Ivan. We call them subs like everyone else and they just happen to have labs in them. They truly sound great and produce earth shaking, ceiling tile falling bass. We have not compared them to any of the boxes specifically designed for the lab, but we figure in this particular cabinet that matches the rest of our system, we might as well put in a driver that moves some air.
The amps really are fine (MT2400's), but we would just prefer to have some newer technology, something lighter, and something with a ton more power so we can have the added headroom. Taking off some weight will help too.
We're happy with our system, and all of our clients love it. Very versatile, yet compact, loud and reliable. Like mentioned above and earlier, We're looking at powerlights, but if anyone has any other suggestions for amps to power labs, please feel free to weigh in, as that was what the post was originally about.
Thanks