Hello J.B.,
Keep in mind that the Energy 22, as good as it was in its time, is a simple 2-way speaker with just two drivers, so it wasn't very efficient and needed lots of power. Nor could it cleanly handle very loud SPL levels because of the limitation of any 2-way speaker. The M80 has 6 drivers, so it's considerably more efficient and able to handle high power levels. I don't recall the output of the Hafler but if it was shutting down, then you may have exceeded its output capability because of the Energy's power demands.
Regards,
Alan
thank you for the info.
i don't remember exactly how many watts the Hafler puts out, i know it's around 325 W/ch continuous/8 Ohms, and around 500 into 4 Ohms (those are not published figures, but results of a test published at the time in either Stereo Review or High Fidelity Magazine).
the only figure i know for sure is a measurement i made with an oscilloscope once with a short burst and it gave me around 735 W/ch/5.5 Ohms.
just before the Hafler went in protection mode, i clearly sensed there was some compression and clouding in the sound, a clear indication of overdriving.
