PW-2200 Limits (1 Viewer)

[Matt Parnell]

I've got a Paradigm PW-2200 for a dorm HT, and I absolutlely love it. It manages to still put out a clean accurate sound, even in such horrible conditions as a 14' x 14' cement box of a dorm.
Anyhow, for the first time ever I heard the sub reach its limit tonight...I think. I turned off my amp (just left the pre-amp on) and was doing some tests on song with a lot of bass. I turned the pre-amp way up (the sub gain is at about 1/2), and at some point after the walls started excessively rattling (pretty loud at this point), I heard the sub making somewhat of a thumping noise instead of the usual bass. Now granted, the bass probably wasn't the cleanest (from a decent 192 kbit mp3), but I did not hear this thumping component at the lower volumes. Being as paranoid as I am about my HT, I immediately turned it back down. Now for the questions:
1. Was this my sub bottoming out? It definitely wasn't a "clicking" noise like I hear most people describe.
2. Does this sub have any sort of protection circuitry to prevent damage to the cone? I saw mention of it when I searched the forums.
Like I said, I am paranoid about my HT, and that's the basis of these questions. I love my sub, and I don't appreciate the usual crappy boomy sound people around here like. I like loud bass, and for whatever reason think my sub can do more than I heard it doing when I heard the noise.
Oh, I'm gonna try to put up a full page about my setup at some point, but this is my HT as of now, if you're curious:
http://www.msu.edu/~parnell6/dorm_ht/ht_all.jpg

 

[Matt Parnell]

anybody have any thoughts?

 

[David Ely]

It definitely didn't bottom out. You would know if it did. I'm not actually sure if it can bottom out due to the built-in limiter. I'm definitely not going to be the one to try.

You were probably just getting excessive port noise. I can't imagine turning the amp on that unit to the half-way point. I barely have it over the first couple of marks and it's calibrated to reference level.

Never test using MP3 as a source. It's really lousy at producing frequencies at either end of the scale (Especially at 192k). Want a good test for the PW-2200? Throw in Fellowship of the Rings and watch the prologue. There's one specific scene that should make you go "WOW!". (I won't spoil it in case you haven't seen it). I peak pretty high during that sequence (see my sig below).

 

[Dustin B]

Keep in mind that the level controls on subs are a gain control, not an outright level control. It is possible to have the amp putting out everything it can with the level control backed all the way off (if the input signal was high enough).

 

[Matt Parnell]

Thanks for the answers. It does seem like during those moments it's just pushing a lot of air through the port.

 

[DonJ]

Do your neigbors like you. PW2200 in a dorm room???!!! you must blow everyone in the building away. Keep up the good work.

 

[Ned]

Wrong Dustin-
I set my sub to 11 and its 1 louder than any other subwoofer