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Woofer damage from new Star Wars THX DVD?

Both woofers in my JM Lab Utopias blew with the THX intro (exploding sphere) on the new Star Wars DVD. Happened at normal listening level through my Theta Casablanca II/VTL 7.5 preamp/Halcro dm58 amps. I've not blown a driver in over 30 years of being an audiophile. I've heard that the base was boosted as much as 36db on some of these DVDs. Even though the speakers are under warranty, I'm out $1,200 for a new Focal woofer (JM Lab only covers 1 driver for this kind of damage). Anybody with information or suggestions? Needless to say, I'm not happy about eating this expense if the fault really lies with an overmodulated DVD with no warning about increased bass levels. At the verey least, I'm curious to see if this happened to anyone else. The sound level was high enough that the concern for hearing loss came to mind (I'm a physician and I don't think I'm this concern is frivolous). Thanks for any thoughts or other input.
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Showing 1 response by blkadr

blkadr
739 posts
 
$1200 for one woofer? Glad I cant afford those speakers (big lie). I once blew both tweeters on some Mission speakers with a clipping 300wpc amp. They were almost new and the local super-store exchanged them on the spot. This was 15 years ago, a friend still uses them. Cheap speakers, great service!

I like to run (stereo) 2-way speakers full range with 2 subs and find that occasional dynamic peaks in the lows can over tax the woofers in my monitors. DVD engineers need to get a grip, how loud does a bang need to be?
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