Can out-of-range frequencies hurt your speakers?

xandra

Not sure if this should go here or in the Speaker forum...

the title says it all "Can out-of-range frequencies hurt your speakers?"

I ask because of 2 situations:

Situation 1: Some Multitrack SACD's seem to send frequencies I assume to be out of range (too low) for my CSiA3. Yammy DVD/SACD -> OnkReciever. (crossover is set to 80)
In general it APPEARS that the Yammie ignores bass management on SACD's...Doesn't matter if running thru Multichannel or HDMI (comes in as PCM),
I've noticed tones as low as Bflat 2 octaves below middle C (have no clue what freq this is but sounds mighty low) More importantly one of my SACD's seems to create a buzzing sound on notes too low for my ears to identify.

Situation2: I've got RTi4's in my BR (no Sub) so everything must play thru the teeny speakers... will this cause damage at lower volumes? (obviously no way to avoid sound effects)

Face

Since it appears to ignore your crossover frequency, can you set the center to small?

Lower volumes shouldn't hurt anything.

xandra

Since it appears to ignore your crossover frequency, can you set the center to small?

Yes, it's set to small. But the Yammie seems to disable bass management on SACD's... unfortunately it SOUNDS like the Onk won't override Yammie's output when playing SACD thru HDMI. (theoretically you're not supposed to impose base mgmt on SACD - this sounds great in most instances, but in some cases it really puts the speakers to work beyond their limits)

VXR8

xandra wrote: »

Yes, it's set to small. But the Yammie seems to disable bass management on SACD's... unfortunately it SOUNDS like the Onk won't override Yammie's output when playing SACD thru HDMI. (theoretically you're not supposed to impose base mgmt on SACD - this sounds great in most instances, but in some cases it really puts the speakers to work beyond their limits)

Does your Yammie have HDMI 1.2 or higher? If not, it won't play SACD as DSD. Most players have HDMI 1.1 with only a few more on the market now with 1.2a and higher.

xandra

Does your Yammie have HDMI 1.2 or higher?

Yes, it's 1.2a.

MacLeod

Generally the answer is no so long as youre not overpowering your speakers. Too much power will kill any speaker regardless of frequency.

A 5.25 speaker will usually roll off natrualy at around 50 Hz and drop off pretty quick from there. The only real negative is that it will screw up your sound. While a 5.25" mid can play down to 40 Hz it cant do so with any real authority and since its having to strain to hit those frequencies it can cause the driver to distort and mess up your midrange.

xandra

MacLeod... that sounds like just about what happens with the RTi4's in BR.

ward91

sub sonic (out of range) frequencys can dammage your speakers, this can only happen at moderate to high power levels. its a bigger problem with pro/pa speakers, if you dont bypass the bass from these it can easily result in over excursion (speakers hitting end stops), or as i found out with my sub from overpowering you send the former/coil off the end of the magnet.
you will know about it if you hit the "stops" and as MacLeod said when overpowerd it notecably detiriorates the sound coming from the driver. my wharfedales dont seem to have a end to their excursion but when you overpower them (alot) the sound from the bass/mid driver loses its composure. and power compression sets in (i think)

xandra

ward - THANKS: I was afraid of that. Just spoke with (another) great polk techie who confirmed exactly what you said... it has to do with the coils.

BUMMER: Now, what to do about this?!?!! The only way I seem to overide is to listen via HDMI and enable some listening mode that uses the ".1" channel. (hardly the ideal for playing SACD's)

Might need start another thread with SACD in title with hopes of finding others who've run into same issue.