AudioCircle
Audio/Video Gear and Systems => The Musician's Circle => Topic started by: kd4ylq on 20 Apr 2023, 05:58 pm
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My buddy saw my Spatial open baffle speakers (2-15" drivers with a coaxial compression horn in the top one on each side) and the McIntosh Mc75 amplifiers and asked me if he could come and play his Fender tele through my system. Anybody ever done this sort of thing? I think if I stick to just one channel and slowly bring up the gain it should be safe, but I'm hesitant because they aren't musician performance speakers. Ideas?
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Approx. 40 years ago I plugged a Moog synth through my receiver. The receiver smoked after a few minutes.
I imagine it was from distorting the wav signal thus clipping the receiver. So IMO you can do that, just don't be playing distorted sounds that'll clip the wav signals. Thus if the amp section doesn't fry the speaker should be good as well. :smoke:
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Wow, it will be a expensive experiment.
Do you could post it in YT so we can watch the fireworks?
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No problem for speakers or amps. Speakers have high sensitivity, high power drivers, and the amp only needs a few watts to exceed 100dB. The first thing to break will be your ears, so start at low volume. Increase slowly and wisely.
Lowest note on guitar is E2 = 82Hz, so woofers definitely in play. If he slaps or plucks strings you will get thumps even lower freq and louder than normal strummin.
EDIT: Since it's open baffle with passive crossover that means the drivers have high Q, which is caused by loose suspension and weak motor. So pushing them super hard is not advised.
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How much do you like your speakers?
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I did this many years ago with my acoustic guitar. It could sound alright but what you don't count on is the feedback. Suddenly it sounds like you have a freight train going through your family room.
I wouldn't recommend it. And I sure wouldn't do it now with my more advanced system.
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The answer is pretty clear.... Years ago, I plugged an electronic keyboard into my home system... not for long. The way those woofers went in and out at not loud volumes. :o :o :o
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Probably not worth the risk. Although if you do damage something at least Spatial is back at full strength and you could probably get it fixed.
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I used to do this in college. :lol: The limiting factor is that guitars require quite a bit of gain and it was always really quiet on my system so I had to crank it up quite a bit just to get decent volume. The other thing I would do is plug it into my phono input which is quite the opposite problem. Too much gain which lead to distortion which was friggin fun! :guitar: it could possibly be damaging the phono stage, but it never seemed to for mine. :dunno: Not that I cared because I didn’t do vinyl.
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Thanks to all for sharing your experiences and wisdom. I've decided not to run the risk - too many horror stories! - and I DO love my Spatial OB speakers. Not an experiment worth the downside risk IMO. I can think of some speakers that would probably have no trouble with this (but I don't own them anymore) so end of story.
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I lived in a dorm in college, circa 1974 and had my stereo set up in the room. Told my roommates not to use it. Walked in one day to find the guy playing his elect guitar through my system, I went ballistic, never happened again. It did not harm anything except my psychic well being, still pisses me off as I think about it, LOL
Maybe Pez was a roommate ......
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My speakers have pro drivers (AudioKinesis) but I would never think to do something like this. However I do have an old Fender Vibrolux that I plug my Tele into, and this combination is very highly recommended.
https://youtu.be/zhSyDgXUdSg (https://youtu.be/zhSyDgXUdSg)
At any rate, there's no need to mess with your audio system, IMO.
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Maybe Pez was a roommate ......
Perhaps, I only used my pseudonym “Calvin Klein” during college. Does that ring a bell? :scratch:
(https://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=252309)