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V.
PROTECTING YOUR INVESTMENT
A.
For full, year-after-year enjoyment from your speakers, you should
respect their limits. They will produce room-filling volume in average-
sized rooms-and handle peak momentary levels at those volumes
without audible strain. But avoid louder-than-life playback of music or
movies, especially in large rooms. Even the most "bulletproor
speakers can be damaged by excessive volume levels, especially for
long periods.
B.
When listening to music or movies at very loud volume, you
shouldn't tum up bass or treble all the way or close thereto. This
sends tremendously increased, disproportionate power into the speakers,
and may well damage them. Some loudness compensation ("Loudness")
controls, which boost both bass and treble, can also be troublesome at
high volume. They are intended only for low-volume listening.
C.
Finally, you should be aware that when amplifiers and receivers are
pushed to their limits to produce excessive volume levels, they are
driven into "clipping" and can do severe damage-especially to
tweeters. Often, the damage is done by underpowered amplifiers, which
may reach their limits very soon. When such units begin to "clip" the
audio waveform, they may generate high-frequency "spikes" of
tremendous power. More tweeters have probably been destroyed by this
phenomenon than any other. If using your speakers at loud levels,
listen carefully for any sign of harsh, garbled midrange and
diminishing intelligibility-and tum the volume down right away if
you detect it.
NEVER TURN UP THE VOLUME ALL THE WAY TO SEE HOW LOUD
YOUR SYSTEM WILL PLAYI
D.
Recommended Power
We recommend amplifiers and receivers rated from a range of 20-150
watts with our compact systems, 20-200 watts with our tower models. For
playing at consistently room-filling volume, a minimum of 50 watts is
usually a good idea. As just indicated in the paragraph above, be wary of
driving low-powered amplifiers to their limits.
We recommend a maximum of 80-150 watts for sustained program
material-as, for instance, with organ pedal tones of long duration, or
minutes-long subterranean special effects in movies.
Be aware amplifiers with equal power rating may not play equally loud.
Those with higher dynamic power ratings, better satisfy the power
requirements. Some have protective circuitry that curtails power available
in demanding situations.
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