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NS-777 Replacement (1 Viewer)

vermont17

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rob watson
Hello all, I have had a pair of Yamaha ns-777 tower speakers for many years. Aesthetics are important to me and are in large part why I bought the speakers. Originally I used them as the two front speakers in a 5.1 setup, but more recently I have them connected to a Yamaha stereo reciever and one by one I have watched the drivers and woofers blow. At this point they are totally unusable as one speaker only has the 1" tweeter working and the other the 5" driver... all 4 8" woofers are blown (one i must admit was due to my right foot in a moment of frustration). I have read in many user reviews when looking to replace them with the same speaker that they work wonderfully for home theater but do not handle loud stereo sound. I also admit i know nothing about home theater other than how to plug in the cords.. I thought powering two speakers which claim to be rated at 250W with a receiver that puts out 80W per channel would be fine, and that blown speakers were due to too much power but I guess not? My friend who knows more about these things said it might be because these speakers were designed for a specific sound range or something.. but I forget. Anyways my question is that although I do watch movies often and enjoy surround sound I am more interested in playing music, and playing it loud. Although I do think the NS-777's sounded just wonderful at this point I am looking for a recommendation for a pair of tower speakers that can handle loud stereo sound and would be willing to sacrifice the quality a little bit if it meant i could turn them up and not have to worry about blowing them out. Any Ideas? I would need to stay in the price range of the 777's which is about 250-350$ each. Again I'm looking for ability to go loud without worry, and style is a factor. Thanks for your help, Happy New Year!
 

vermont17

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rob watson
My fathers 6.1 system uses all paradigmn speakers. My understanding was that they were also designed for higher quality sound as opposed to per say designed to be loud. Do you find that you can really crank these without worry of blowing them? Thanks!
 

Wayne A. Pflughaupt

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I have had a pair of Yamaha ns-777 tower speakers for many years... but more recently I have them connected to a Yamaha stereo receiver... Anyways my question is that although I do watch movies often and enjoy surround sound…
Not sure how you’re getting surround sound from a stereo receiver, but...
I thought powering two speakers which claim to be rated at 250W with a receiver that puts out 80W per channel would be fine, and that blown speakers were due to too much power but I guess not?
This statement tells us that you blew your speakers because you have a lack of basic understanding about speakers and amplification. The truth is, low-powered amps blow speakers more often than high-powered amps. Are you familiar with audio signal meters, like the kind that used to come on cassette decks or that you often see on professional power amplifiers? If you are, then you know they constantly move back and forth with the music. The meter is a reflection of the output from an amplifier: Like the meter, the amp’s output voltage constantly varies with the demands of the music. What happens with the meter when you push the amplifier to higher volume levels? It hits peak, and as the volume is increased more and more, eventually the meter no longer fluctuates with the music signal but lights steady. At this point the amplifier’s output voltage to the speaker is steady-state, just as you’d have if you plugged your speaker into a wall outlet (albeit at a much lower voltage). So it should be easy to figure out that a low-powered amp is going to max out and resort to steady voltage much sooner (i.e. at a lower volume level) than a high powered amplifier will. This is why low powered amps typically blow speakers easier than high powered amps. What effect does a constant-voltage signal from an overdriven amplifier have on the speakers, that causes them to blow? Like the “bouncing” signal meter, the cone movement from a speaker is also a reflection of the voltage output from a normally-operating (non-stressed) amplifier: The cone moves back and forth in reaction to the fluctuating voltage output from the amp. Normal cone movement helps keep the speaker’s voice coil cool. When the amp maxes out and starts delivering steady voltage, cone movement is greatly reduced, as is the natural cooling the movement provides. Eventually the voice coil overheats and burns through, which causes an open circuit (same as what you’d have with either the [+] or [-] speaker wire disconnected). Congratulations, you’ve burned out your speaker. The moral of the story is, as long as you insist on operating your system at ear-bleeding levels, you need to get a higher-powered amplifier to drive them instead of the piddlin’ 80-watts you’ve been using (which is probably an optimistic figure to begin with). Either that or get some highly-efficient speakers like Klipsch, that generate tremendous volume output for the watt. Klipsch speakers will generate 10 dB or more output at any given volume setting than your NS-777s or most other speakers. Regards, Wayne A. Pflughaupt
 

thefferon

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Jan 13, 2016
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Tim
I realize this thread is stale (4 yrs since last post) but I'll post anyway...


Wayne, you provided a LOT of very helpful information, thank you! I have been a home audio enthusiast for a while, and I learned a lot from your post.


That said, your advice would be even better if it were put more kindly:


"you blew your speakers because you have a lack of basic understanding about speakers and amplification"


"as long as you insist on operating your system at ear-bleeding levels, you need to get a higher-powered amplifier to drive them instead of the piddlin’ 80-watts you’ve been using (which is probably an optimistic figure to begin with)."


No need to spoil good Samaritanship with disrespectful attitude.


Again, however, thank you for the useful information.


-Tim H.
 

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