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Can music with extreme bass damage speakers even at not so high volumes?

Pearljam5000

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Can music like this :
Or EDM with a lot of bass or movie explosions can damage speakers even when listening at not so high volumes?
Yeah it's kind of a dumb question but I was always afraid to listen at volumes I'm used to because I felt it was too much for the speakers compared to "normal music"
 

tomtoo

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Its not the music, its the hearing and the brain at the volume knob that destroys speakers.
With music that has a lot of distortion in it its harder to hear when speakers or amp start to distourt. But you can hear.
 

hege

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Genelecs are indestructible. :cool:
 

Vacceo

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After almost 20 years of playing stuff like Evoken, my two PSW 2500 still pound, so if you keep it reasonable, they will not blow up.
 

fpitas

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Yeah, if you don't exceed the woofer Xmax you should be fine. But when clumsy musicians drop the bass, it can get damaged ;)
 
OP
Pearljam5000

Pearljam5000

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Neumanns also, so the new big question is, which should Pearljam5000 buy? :p
The dilemma of my life
;)
The heart says Genelec 8361, the brain and wallet say Neumann KH150
 

DVDdoug

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If the amplifier has enough power, yes! Especially if the frequency is too low to hear or too-low for the speaker to reproduce.

But, you'd probably hear distortion and you are probably OK if the speakers are rated to match the amplifier power.

DC (zero Hz) can also damage a speaker. You can get that from a blown amplifier. There is sometimes a small amount of DC in digital audio files but it's usually too small to cause serious problems and most amplifiers will filter-out DC (and subsonic frequencies).



P.S.
Speakers can also be damaged with constant test-tones. A 100W speaker is supposed to handle music hitting 100W on the peaks with a much lower average level.

And tweeters are only designed to handle the lower-power high-frequency part of the music. You can easily fry a tweeter with high-power high-frequency test-tones, and at very-high frequencies you might not even hear it, or it may not sound that loud.

I blew the tweeters in my car a couple of times... That might be related to a recording that was "dull sounding" before I used a harmonic exciter effect to add high frequencies. I might have added some too-strong high frequencies that are beyond my hearing range... Or, maybe I was just listening too loud! :D
 
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D

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Any speaker driver can be damaged. It depends on the design and whether the speaker system has safeguards built in. It also depends whether the output you desire is within the safe power envelope of the amp driving the speaker.

Very high-level bass (and infrasonic bass) are usually difficult for the average speaker systems to reproduce. Look at it form the viewpoint of the manufacturer; they have a price bracket to meet, and that imposes definite limitations. Very high-level bass and infrasonic bass demand voice coil assemblies that can take high heat, suspensions (spiders and surrounds) that take high excursions in stride, and (usually) amps that have both high output and overheat protection. That takes money.

I haven't seen all the active speakers out there; far from it. The few that I have seen of modest size had limiters built in to the circuitry to ensure survivability. (They were commercial, not residential.) I think that's a good idea, but it may limit the output you desire, robbing you of the goal you seek.

Needless to say, good subs come into play at this point. They will take bass signals at high level and for long term that generally aren't matched by stand-alone speakers of the same price level.

Whatever you decide, I wish you good luck. If the magic smoke escapes, you know you went a little bit too far! :D Jim

p.s. - commercial speakers and subs may (I stress may) be capable of such high output that your hearing is damaged before the speakers or amps are damaged. However, you would need a very large room to utilize that sort of equipment ..... and tolerant neighbors.
And when the smoke escapes, just have a surplus og this Magic Smoke 1 ltr.. Remember, always think ahead!
 

fineMen

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Can music... because I felt it was too much for the speakers compared to "normal music"

If You "feel" the speakers, then it is not exactly hifi that You experience. But it would be a ride on a particular machine with--in this case severe limitations. It is not music. You better
a) buy more appropriate speakers
b) band-limit the content, which would take away from the music, but prevents from bad feelings (!?) while listening

Surely speakers can be overloaded. What did You think?
 

AdamG

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Yes. Overheating the voice coils will kill. Of course you know that already. Playing low freq test tones and prolonged low frequency test tones disguised as music is all the same to the speaker. How long is a guessing game where the rewards are buying replacement drivers.
 

FrantzM

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The dilemma of my life
;)
The heart says Genelec 8361, the brain and wallet say Neumann KH150
You are an enthusiast, if money allows, please get the pair KH150 ($3800.oo) + miniDSP 2x4 HD_Umik-1 ( $325.oo) + 2 x (SVS or Rythmik or Monoprice or other good 12 inches sealed or Ported Subwoofers (About $1300.oo) + REW (Free but please , contribute to the cause) + MSO (Free but please , contribute to the cause)+ Frequent questions + PM threads to ASR (Free but please , contribute to the cause) and you will have for "pas trop cher" a system that will surpass on several aspects what you could obtain from the pair of 8361 ... Full range and full blast :D..
Invest time (IDK) and money (<$6000.oo) in the above ... rather than pondering ad infinitum "what if" ... Setting up such a system will teach you a lot and you will enjoy it .. I guarantee it ... Come to think about this,

An interesting upgrade path ... for me ;) ... mhhhhh

Peace.
 
D

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If You "feel" the speakers, then it is not exactly hifi that You experience. But it would be a ride on a particular machine with--in this case severe limitations. It is not music. You better
a) buy more appropriate speakers
b) band-limit the content, which would take away from the music, but prevents from bad feelings (!?) while listening

Surely speakers can be overloaded. What did You think?
Really? So HiFi isn't loud and powerful?
 

fineMen

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Really? So HiFi isn't loud and powerful?
Language barrier? In case one has to think of the speakers while using the high fidelity system for music reproduction, it fails to work. Because the very purpose of the speakers is to make themselves forgotten in favour of the music. So, if speakers always remind the user of themselves, they are not high fidelity.

In this case here the speakers make the user even fear some bigger financial losses in form of the expected destruction of presumably costly devices. Now You get what I'm after? Better to change the speakers to something more suitable.
 

Vacceo

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You are an enthusiast, if money allows, please get the pair KH150 ($3800.oo) + miniDSP 2x4 HD_Umik-1 ( $325.oo) + 2 x (SVS or Rythmik or Monoprice or other good 12 inches sealed or Ported Subwoofers (About $1300.oo) + REW (Free but please , contribute to the cause) + MSO (Free but please , contribute to the cause)+ Frequent questions + PM threads to ASR (Free but please , contribute to the cause) and you will have for "pas trop cher" a system that will surpass on several aspects what you could obtain from the pair of 8361 ... Full range and full blast :D..
Invest time (IDK) and money (<$6000.oo) in the above ... rather than pondering ad infinitum "what if" ... Setting up such a system will teach you a lot and you will enjoy it .. I guarantee it ... Come to think about this,

An interesting upgrade path ... for me ;) ... mhhhhh

Peace.
It is my understanding that Genelec subs are not great bang for buck by themselves. However, they do not work in the void and they're optimized for Genelec's EQ solution. If that makes integration easier (and integrating the subs is never plug and play), the value proposition changes drastically.

If Dirac universalizes a similar help, that would be a killer deal.
 

fineMen

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I'd say quite the opposite......
Many recordings need a system that is powerful enough to deliver tactile bodily sensations....to be truly hi-fi.
Seems You didn't get my caveat / recommendation quite right. I've explained it further in post #17.

Whatever, the recording cited above does *not* have deep bass to speak of (measured with Arta at 'peak hold'). Same as with Madonna's Ray Of Light: no bass except that people always talk about it being a 'good test'. Bass down to 31Hz full level is used musically here: Boren & Der Club Of Gore, Kleiner Finger ( Youtube only has hilariously distorted copies, do not even try ).
 
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YSC

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Somehow I wonders if genelec subs have the same protection power limiter in it
 
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