I always wondered about how loud my system could play. I have a pair of K&H O300D (predecessor of Neumann KH310) supported by a Genelec 7060b subwoofer (10" woofer, 120W amp) in a 50 sqm living room / open kitchen with enough bookshelvs and furniture to offer a rather dry environment. Listening distance is 3.8 m. Room EQ is done in an AVP.
Recommendations by Neumann and Genelec for this room size and listening distance are much bigger speakers than these comparatively small 3-ways. When I bought the sub the Genelec support recommended the 7070 sub as the better match but said that if I wouldn't play too loud the 7060b should be sufficient.
The O300D is an active 3 way with 8" woofer (150 W amp) and 3" (65W amp) and 1" (65W amp) domes for mids and highs in a sealed housing, crossed over at 85 Hz. According to the manual the company logo (which is lit when power is on) shall flash if the speaker overloads. I've never seen it flashing though even when I played loud.
I took the chance that my wife was out to see how loud I could play before the speakers complained:
How loud do you listen?
Recommendations by Neumann and Genelec for this room size and listening distance are much bigger speakers than these comparatively small 3-ways. When I bought the sub the Genelec support recommended the 7070 sub as the better match but said that if I wouldn't play too loud the 7060b should be sufficient.
The O300D is an active 3 way with 8" woofer (150 W amp) and 3" (65W amp) and 1" (65W amp) domes for mids and highs in a sealed housing, crossed over at 85 Hz. According to the manual the company logo (which is lit when power is on) shall flash if the speaker overloads. I've never seen it flashing though even when I played loud.
I took the chance that my wife was out to see how loud I could play before the speakers complained:
- I started with Metallicas Black Album and realized that my ears were the limiting factor, not the system. I played some 10 to 15 dB above my normal SPL (according to the volume control) and the company logos did not flash. The sound was still clean but I couldn't stand to go higher.
- Next test was Faithless Reverence track of the album with the same name. No flashing of the O300D but the sub gave way. Above +8 dB I could locate it because of too high harmonic distortion components when it played the deep loud bass notes. So Genelec support was right.
- Joe Jacksons Heart of Ice (final track of the Body and Soul album from 1984, one of the best sounding pop albums ever done) starts very very quiet and culminates in a very loud (but short) ending. It sounded absolutely great at 15 dB above my usual SPL.
How loud do you listen?