SVS Abuse? (1 Viewer)

[David Giles]

I posted this on avsforum in response to a thread there, but would love to have any opinions from you guys here as well.
I just received my SVS 16-46PC a couple of days ago, and it sounds GREAT! I haven't intentionally tried to push it extremely hard, but I have run the LFE Frequency Sweep on it many times while trying to figure out the best placement and level settings.
A quote from Paul Scarpelli on avsforum: "I would avoid doing frequency sweeps at high SPL with any speaker, which is borderline abuse. Your sub should sound great on program material, so why pound it to death with test tones?"
I had no idea that Frequency Sweeps were considered "borderline abuse" until I read Paul's post above. My room seems to have some pretty strong boosts in certain ranges, so my RS SPL meter jumps around pretty good, but I try to run the sweeps so that I don't go much over 90 dBs.
Question 1. Is the range I'm running the sweeps in safe? (90 dBs and below)
Also, I think (but I'm not sure) that I heard the 16-46PC bottom once. It wasn't an "attempt to determine just how loud and low your sub will go" type situation. I simply was caught off guard when the Toy Story 2 logo flys onto the screen. My previous subwoofer didn't go near as low as the 16-46PC, so I just didn't realize how much strong, LOW bass was there. My receiver's master volume was set well below (quieter than) reference level, but this was before I had done much calibration, so the sub's output level may have been too high. I thought I heard a single, brief, sharp clack during the rumble. I suppose it could have been something other than the driver bottoming, but that's what I assume it was.
Question 2. Have I likely done any damage with the multiple frequency sweeps, and one instance of bottoming the driver?
Thanks!
David

 

[JerryW]

nope, that's not abuse... that's entertainment.

Seriously, this won't do it any harm.
And bottoming a driver won't hurt it... unless you do it constantly over a period of time.
Cheers, and have fun.
------------------
September 11, 2001
"Those who died will always be remembered.
Those who killed will never be forgotten.
We who remain will not let it happen again."

 

[Tom Vodhanel]

Well, Paul knows his stuff. Generally low-level sweeps won't be be destructive...but if you venture into other test tone areas...it might only take a few seconds to ruin a subwoofer. A lot depends on the design/quality of driver's motor.
Bottoming out once isn't going to hurt a svs....if you bottomed it out hard once a night over the course of a few weeks...you might run into some issues.
TV