MarcW

Denon 1803 keeps blowing speakers

A friend of mine bought a Denon 1803/Energy Take 5+1 package over christmas. After about a month of usage one of the rear woofers blew. He contacted Energy and they send him a replacement woofer. A few weeks later both of his front woofers blew. He contacted Energy again and now they are saying that he is driving the speakers too hard. The receiver is rated 80w/ch @ 8ohms. According to Energy's documentation on the Take 5+1 system the satellites recommended amp power is 15-100watts/channel. So if the speakers are supposed to be able to handle up to a 100watts/ch then how come 80watts/ch will blow the woofer ? He is not even pushing his receiver to the max. Usually his listening level is around -10db. If anyone has this specific receiver/speaker combo and could offer some advice my buddy would highly appreciate it.

Thanks,
-MarcW

Keith Shaw

Did he set his front speakers to "small" in the receiver settings?

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Lee Bailey

He can be driving the amps in the receiver into clipping, and this can happen with sudden peaks. You're saying that he is running it at -10db below the max, that does not leave alot of headroom.

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Rich Malloy

I'm also guessing he's clipping the signal. In other words, it's not the speakers, it's the receiver. Simply not enough juice to get the volume he wants. Remember, it's far more dangerous to run with too little power than too much.

Still, you say he's running at 10db below reference? Any receiver rated at 80watts/channel should easily be able to hit those levels with the easy-to-drive Energy speakers. And I'm also surprised that one of the rear woofers blew first... did he associate it with a particular loud sound?

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MarcW

Thanks for the replies guys. His fronts are set to small on the receiver. I haven't heard his setup but I agree with Rich that running these speakers at -10db below reference shouldn't be a problem. My buddy tells me that at -10db DVD's are really not all that loud. So what are your suggestions ? Buy better speakers ?

Thanks again,
-MarcW

Ian_A

Maybe your buddy when he set up the receiver he could have turned the volume for each speaker all the way up. The factory settings are 0 and if he just turned them to +12 thinking it would make it louder now that -10 on the Master volume is more like +5 and there will be no headroom left.

JeremyFr

I've got the 5+1's running off a Yammy 730 and have never had a need to get them past -20 on my reciever, though the satellites are internally crossed off at 90hz as to prevent blowing them, I've had mine since December and have had no problems with them at all. Depending on the source material used -10 could very easily drive the amp into clipping which yes would easily blow most speakers, I would suggest either something with a little better headroom or trying to listen to not nearly as loud.

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Marc H

I would also guess at clipping too but it's usually the tweeter that goes first in that situation.

Rich Malloy