Could this have damaged my speakers?

Akagi · 14 Nov 2012 at 14:51

Hi there, my setup is an Asus Xonar DS connected to a Sony TA-D505 connected to a pair of Wharfedale Diamond 9.2's.

I had a friend around, and I invited him to play some music while I was away down the shops for a few minutes, anyway, when I returned I found him playing 'Slow down the bass' by 'Bass outlaws' via YouTube at a fairly loud volume (the light fittings downstairs and the doors were rattling). I ran over and turned it off and got a little annoyed as you can imagine.

In the few seconds I could hear the 'music' playing some 10Hz bass notes, the drivers were exurting considerably, and the bass was accompanied by the slight rattle/blowing sound of tonnes of air being forced out of the bass ports.

I have since then listened to many different types of music and auditioned each speaker individually, and there is nothing obviously wrong with them but i'm not convinced that they sound the same, however I am naturally paranoid about this kind of thing so I am probably just imagining it.

Thoughts? :confused:

Lowe · 14 Nov 2012 at 17:35

You might have got away with it, and he just blew out the dust for you. Ported boxes have a frequency at which the box is tuned for. If you try to play frequencies below this port tune the driver has far less air resistance behind it and so the cone will flap around a lot more than normal - which if driven hard enough can cause damage. If you're not hearing audible distortion (and if the voice coil was burned out or damaged you'd know about it) then you got away with it.

10Hz though? Most subs won't even hit that!

Akagi · 14 Nov 2012 at 17:40

Lowe said:
You might have got away with it, and he just blew out the dust for you. Ported boxes have a frequency at which the box is tuned for. If you try to play frequencies below this port tune the driver has far less air resistance behind it and so the cone will flap around a lot more than normal - which if driven hard enough can cause damage. If you're not hearing audible distortion (and if the voice coil was burned out or damaged you'd know about it) then you got away with it.

10Hz though? Most subs won't even hit that!

Thanks a-lot, lets hope it is just me being overly paranoid then

I could definitely hear the bass tone despite the fact that these speakers are not rated for frequencies anywhere near that low. They are very surprising

I love them

Would hate to break them.

Tazzfalcon · 19 Nov 2012 at 16:52

Will excessive bass such as this be a problem at any volume or just when driven excessively? I'm now listening to the offending 'song' or 'article of sound' as is more than appropriate on Youtube on my Klipsch image s4's at work and it bloody low!

413x · 19 Nov 2012 at 19:11

Tazzfalcon said:
Will excessive bass such as this be a problem at any volume or just when driven excessively? I'm now listening to the offending 'song' or 'article of sound' as is more than appropriate on Youtube on my Klipsch image s4's at work and it bloody low!

Gonna try this when I get home. I'm intrigued
(running monitor audio 5.1 bronze/silver mix)

Akagi · 19 Nov 2012 at 20:49

I listen to the bass outlaws in FLAC on Foobar sometimes through my headphones. The bass is insane.

Wouldn't dare play it on my speakers again though, not until I get my new amp and matching wharfedale sub at least. At that point I might occasionally play them to 'blow the dust out' of the system.

If you really want to torture your speakers, I want some bass by bass outlaws is more punishing. And of course Bass I love you by Bassotronics for ultra deep bass.

413x · 19 Nov 2012 at 21:06

Aw man I just played it on -25 volume

and I never heard my Subwoofer vibrate like that! It hurt my ears but wasn'tloud .

Gf was moaning about bass so didn't turn it louder, think I can stillfeel it now ! Awesome
Yes I can see how it would shake the house and break a speaker

You weren't joking or exaggerating!

Akagi · 19 Nov 2012 at 21:10

al4x said:
Aw man I just played it on -25 volume

and I never heard my Subwoofer vibrate like that! It hurt my ears but wasn'tloud .

Gf was moaning about bass so didn't turn it louder, think I can stillfeel it now ! Awesome
Yes I can see how it would shake the house and break a speaker

You weren't joking or exaggerating!

Play it on 0.00dB

On second thoughts... Maybe not

413x · 19 Nov 2012 at 21:16

acme15 said:
Play it on 0.00dB

On second thoughts... Maybe not

I dunno how hi I'm gonna try it.. Not zero! The av receiver is mid upper range I guess and I don't know how much the sub can handle!

Akagi · 19 Nov 2012 at 21:34

al4x said:
I dunno how hi I'm gonna try it.. Not zero! The av receiver is mid upper range I guess and I don't know how much the sub can handle!

Please don't blow your system up :rolleyes:

I will feel guilty

413x · 19 Nov 2012 at 21:37

acme15 said:
Please don't blow your system up

I will feel guilty

It's a bizarre song, I've never heard anything like it

Akagi · 19 Nov 2012 at 21:51

al4x said:
It's a bizarre song, I've never heard anything like it

The Bass Outlaws were a 90's bass music group from Miami. They mixed their music mainly to be played at 'bass races' I believe.

413x · 19 Nov 2012 at 22:32

acme15 said:
The Bass Outlaws were a 90's bass music group from Miami. They mixed their music mainly to be played at 'bass races' I believe.

I like it, even youtube quality the bass is impressive.
I haven't had a good sub very long and by a long long way that is the most work it has had to do. Usually its quite discrete in its output, my crossover is at 80hz,but that song was 70% sub I'm sure!

I wouldn't like to send all that through my fronts!

Glad I youtubed it

Akagi · 19 Nov 2012 at 22:40

al4x said:
I wouldn't like to send all that through my fronts!

Quite