How loud can I listen to my P3esr without damage?


I sometimes listen to jazz with my P3esr at about 85dB average (at 1.8m.), reading from iphone app. Would like to know if it's safe for my Harbeth. My amp is Luxman 509X rated at 125W at 8 ohms and room is 4x5 m if relevant.
wisawa

Showing 1 response by helomech

Power handling per the manufacturer is 50 watts. With a speaker sensitivity of 83db, 90db peaks at 1.8 meters would require 16.2 watts. 95db peaks would require 51.4 watts. 95db is very likely the SPL limit of your speakers before damage becomes likely. Sustained power handling is usually about 2/3 of max power, so in this case it’d be ~25 watts.

Since most phone apps measure between 5 and 10db lower than a real c-weighted meter, you’re likely listening at higher SPLs than you thought. So if you’re really at 90db averages, you might be risking speaker damage with highly dynamic music. There’s only so much a 5" driver can handle.

This is assuming anechoic or semi-anechoic conditions. With a couple db of wall gain they'll be less stressed.