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paranoid listener-damaging speakers?

I am one of those guys who is always wondering if he is listening too loud for his speakers capability. my system briefly consists of a prima luna prologue 2 integrated, custom eton 2 way speakers with a silk dome tweeter and 8 inch midrange, with a mhdt labs constantine dac. my room is 15x12 feet roughly. i listen about 6 feet away.
I like to listen at a level where i can feel the bass and midbass and feel that the speakers are loud enough to recreate their original acoustic on the recording. is there a rough guide to know if i am listening too loud without a meter? i will occasinally think i hear some distortion on loud passages, but it may be on the recording, i may just be paranoid? advice please? thanks.
djwilbourn
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,467 posts
 
In typical home audio system peaks are reaching 100W and average power is around 1W - same ratio.

Yes - exactly - that was my point - this is barely beginning to compete with the dynamics of real instruments unless you have high efficieny horns and even then you would be obliged to add a large 1000 watt sub in most domestic spaces to cover below 90 Hz.

Speakers are woefully inefficient unless you go to horns...
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kijanki
4,394 posts
 
Shadorne - With the amount of money some people spend on audio pursuit every year it might be cheaper to hire symphony orchestra for home performances - nothing beats real thing.
james63
534 posts
 

uhmmm... worry about your ears not the speakers.
djwilbourn OP
42 posts
 
guys, i really appreciate your input so far. i am surmising that 1. i need an spl meter and 2. i am hearing the distortion in the tweeter so maybe i am clipping the amp a bit, although i thought 40 watts of tube power would be more than enough to drive this fairly simple two way. feel free to continue the discussion and advice.
mlsstl
1,372 posts
 
Djwilbourn said: " although i thought 40 watts of tube power would be more than enough..."
That, my friend, is why you need a SPL meter. Everything is just conjecture and speculation until you get a solid reference point for your particular flavor of "loud."

If you're trying to push 110 dB of chest-thumping bass and window-rattling volume from speakers of currently unknown efficiency, the odds of that are not on your side with 40 watts.

If 85 or 90 dB meets your definition of "loud" then chances are a lot better that your power is sufficient if your speakers are medium efficiency or better.

You've been given a wealth of information to work with. But now the ball is in your court and you've got some legwork to do.
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