Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners MAX VOLUME

this question was touched on by the 'burn-in' thread, but my inquiry is a little different.

i am wondering, is there a certain amount of hours i should use my new speakers, before really cranking the volume dial and seeing what they can do?? i believe the whole 'burn-in' theory has been defunked in here.. that is, the fact that its your ears that need to adjust, not the speakers.. i am cool with that.. i am asking if cranking them WAY up is a good or bad thing right out of the box?

i ask as a precautionary measure, cause i know once i get everything hooked-up, my trigger finger is gonna itch real bad!!!

any advice??

bigjohn

Bigjohn,
My impression to this is to play at lower volumes for a week or so to give your ears a chance to recognize the clarity of the Axiom speakers. FULL BLAST right out of the box may give you unwanted initial impressions of the speakers..."TOO BRIGHT" comes to mind (especially if you have had poor quality speakers before or none...)

Dark Side of the Moon as an initial offering will give you a great understanding of what the speakers are capable of without tearing the place down...Give it a week or so, then watch LOTR or U571 or Titan AE, etc on the next weekend...

You'll appreciate it more...

My .02,

WhatFurrer

You know, the only way I've ever been able to justify this phenomenon to myself is that there are a number of moving parts inside the speaker. The voice coil, the diaphram, and the suspension all move. I always figured that if "break-in" was a real phenomenon it would have to be due to structural changes in those components induced by hours of play. (kinda like a wire bent back and forth enough times gets weak and brittle, or the texture of a sheet of paper changes notably if you crumple it and flatten it enough times.) I still don't buy it though, looking at how those components could physically "degrade" after hours of use just doesn't seem to add up to any difference that should be audible.

I had the same thought process as you. If there's actually break-in, how does the driver know when to stop breaking in? Why wouldn't it just continue until it disintegrated?

bigjohn,
I did some of this 'max' testing (although with great caution) with my M60s as well as with the Tannoy Saturn S6s and with both an Onkyo 797 and a Denon 3802 receiver, while driving the speakers in stereo-only mode.
I highly recommend that with 2 channels driven, the dB stay below 100. Audible clipping was apparent just over the 100dB mark so i'm throwing these numbers our there with a bit of a conservative estimate. These numbers would be measured at about 8 foot distance.
With all channels driven (using an equivalent receiver or power source) i would recommend the dB stay even less, perhaps <95 at the peak.
These are just estimates
This SPL range is quite loud and should easily fatigue your ears in a short period unless you are partially deaf.

well, heres a real stupid question.. how will i know what dB's i am pushing?? will i need a meter for this? i keep seeing all ya'll talk about calibrating and using the pink noise, and making volume adjustments?? that is all foreign to me.. i was gonna wait til i actually got my speakers to start asking questions like that, but you opened the gate, so i am gonna walk in!!

i have warned all that i was gonna have several dozen questions concerning set-up.. so consider this the first.. someone keep count if you like..

PS- if you wanna wait to answer the tech questions til i get my speakers, its OK..

bigjohn

Radio Shack - Analog SPL meter...You'll need one...

Look here

WhatFurrer

I got my analog radioshack SPL on ebay (every store within 200 miles of Atlanta was out of stock). Picked it up for $27 including shipping. not so bad...

My mother registers an even 82dB when she calls me from her cell phone...I had always guessed it was more like 87dB or 90dB, but now I have proof.

^billy

ya'll can tell me later on how to use the thing.. i am intelligent(i think), so i should be able to figure it out with some coaching.

its kinda like chinese trigonometry(sp).. it helps if you got someone there to guide you along..

bigjohn

This might help.

jr