I have no reason to doubt the above posts about speaker damage resulting from the Star Wars DVD, but since 100,000s of copies of this disc have been sold/rented, then why aren't we hearing reports in the media of tens of thousands of damaged HT setups? If this disc is causing damage to high end speakers with hefty power handling capacities, then I can only imagine what its doing to a typical sub $1,000 real world system.
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.