Is it safe to place bookshelves (Focal Aria 906) at the corners and set them as large to get more bass?

[PHD]

Hi

I just tried to move my Aria 906 (rated at 55Hz -3dB, 120W max) to the front corners and ran Audyssey measurements. They were detected as Full range and after A1 Evo calibration, they were set as large (LFE+Mains) with subs polarity inverted. I've been listening to music all day and they sound very good with deep clear bass reaching 35Hz even when I turn off the subwoofers! Even with DEQ on, they can still handle low frequencies w/o any noticeable distortion at 95dB SPL.

They are driven by Hypex Nroce NC400 amps. Is such a setting safe for these speakers? I assume that because the walls are doing most of the job below 60Hz, then they should be fine. What do you think?

Thanks

 

[Oddball]

Well, we have the review here:

Focal Aria 906 Speaker Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Focal Aria 906 Bookshelf/stand-mount speaker. It was kindly purchased by a member and drop shipped to me. I think it costs US $2000 for a pair but I see it on Amazon including Prime shipping for half that at US $999. Better yet, they have a...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Generally, you would not want to run the 2-way bookshelves in this manner. If you like what you hear, then time to upgrade to some 3-way towers that could actually do a decent job in the lower end. My best bet is even if the speakers are keeping up with your settings without really noticeable distortion, there is still a problem if you run 35hz bass at 95dB.

As a general matter, you should not extend your speakers beyond the measured response, and adjust your curves accordingly. Bumping them up in the area where they have more that +3dB response is fine, but extending them beyond what they can do in the roll-off is not. They might have internal protection against this, but one way or another, these should not be engaged to run so hot.

 

[DVDdoug]

If it sounds good its' good!

With you AVR set to "large", the "point one" LFE channel still goes to the sub, but regular bass goes to your main speakers.

They are driven by Hypex Nroce NC400 amps. Is such a setting safe for these speakers?

Well, you do have enough power to burn-out your speakers, no matter the bass setting. But if you listen at reasonable levels you should be OK.

 

[MaxwellsEq]

Hi

I just tried to move my Aria 906 (rated at 55Hz -3dB, 120W max) to the front corners and ran Audyssey measurements. They were detected as Full range and after A1 Evo calibration, they were set as large (LFE+Mains) with subs polarity inverted. I've been listening to music all day and they sound very good with deep clear bass reaching 35Hz even when I turn off the subwoofers! Even with DEQ on, they can still handle low frequencies w/o any noticeable distortion at 95dB SPL.

They are driven by Hypex Nroce NC400 amps. Is such a setting safe for these speakers? I assume that because the walls are doing most of the job below 60Hz, then they should be fine. What do you think?

Thanks

Ultimately it comes down to handling of distortion and power. The old adage about displacement is sensible, i.e. low extension and power needs bigger boxes and drivers. Assuming you're not significantly overloading them, you shouldn't do any damage, but you also probably should not expect high volume, low distortion sound, either.

 

[mike7877]

Hi

I just tried to move my Aria 906 (rated at 55Hz -3dB, 120W max) to the front corners and ran Audyssey measurements. They were detected as Full range and after A1 Evo calibration, they were set as large (LFE+Mains) with subs polarity inverted. I've been listening to music all day and they sound very good with deep clear bass reaching 35Hz even when I turn off the subwoofers! Even with DEQ on, they can still handle low frequencies w/o any noticeable distortion at 95dB SPL.

They are driven by Hypex Nroce NC400 amps. Is such a setting safe for these speakers? I assume that because the walls are doing most of the job below 60Hz, then they should be fine. What do you think?

Thanks

As long as you don't boost the bass or play them louder than you're supposed to, your speakers will be fine. Bookshelf speakers have existed for ages and have been taking full bandwidth signals forever - only recently have filters become available for "small" speakers. If you want extra volume, you can put an 80 or 100Hz filter on them and use only the subs for bass. If you're not being reckless with your hearing or trying to fill a 25x35x14 foot room with sound, there's no reason to filter LF to those speakers. Looking at the review here, their distortion does appear to rise in the 1.5-2kHz range at 96dB, so I wouldn't push them too far with 80-100Hz filter

Tip for when you're listening loud, bring the level down a few dB when you switch albums or to a song you don't know the LF content of very well.

Something good to do is play different bass tones at a constant level, a pretty high level - high enough that from 35-80Hz you can see the woofer moving. Maybe 10-15 minutes a day for 10 different days spaced over a couple months, you'll get a feel for which sounds are which frequencies, and in time you'll be able to keep your speakers running hard but not too hard that you damage them!

 

[Roland68]

Hi

I just tried to move my Aria 906 (rated at 55Hz -3dB, 120W max) to the front corners and ran Audyssey measurements. They were detected as Full range and after A1 Evo calibration, they were set as large (LFE+Mains) with subs polarity inverted. I've been listening to music all day and they sound very good with deep clear bass reaching 35Hz even when I turn off the subwoofers! Even with DEQ on, they can still handle low frequencies w/o any noticeable distortion at 95dB SPL.

They are driven by Hypex Nroce NC400 amps. Is such a setting safe for these speakers? I assume that because the walls are doing most of the job below 60Hz, then they should be fine. What do you think?

Thanks

That is absolutely not safe and not good for the speakers.
Last year I saw a large speaker that was operated as a "large" speaker on an AVR without a subwoofer. Due to the constant overload, the membranes on the 2 x 20cm bass chassis (per speaker) were torn all around. A total of 4 chassis for 800€, a total loss. On one chassis, the wire was even torn off due to the deflection.

Just think about what happens.
A 30cm subwoofer has an area of around 700cm², with a stroke of 1cm, that's 700cm³ of volume that is moved.
A 16.5cm chassis has a theoretical area of around 213cm², which would correspond to a stroke of around 3.3cm to displace the same volume. In reality, the usable area of the 165 is only around 177cm², so you have a deflection of 4cm.
The loudspeaker will of course try to follow this impulse if the amplifier/DSP or the crossover do not limit the deflection of the 165s. Since the deflection of the chassis is nowhere near as high, they will limit themselves mechanically.
This is a very bad idea, especially with the flax sandwich membrane, since the composite material made of flax fiber and glass fiber loses its cohesion due to the overload and the layers will separate over time or tear/break.