Quote:
Originally Posted by
DanF8500 
Ramatam, Please help me to see better why you think I don't know what I'm talking about...lol. Listen, I know Oppo has got to fix this problem...you obviously weren't at fault for generating this pink noise, as you call it. However, you did push your speakers to its limits (obviously they got blown out). I don't know what max wattage your speakers/tweeters are rated for, and I'm assuming that your speakers and amp "will" operate perfectly at wattage extremes with each other.
I treat a burst of noise, as you call it, as any other type of generated sound (a loud peak of voltage generated out of your amp controlled by your preamp's volume setting), whether it's supposed to be in a recording or not. Obviously if you dont have a crossover network in your speakers, you can easily blow out a tweeter giving it a high wattage of low frequency waves. So you're saying that this "pink noise" is audibly different? Any audio frequency sent above your speakers allowable wattage will do damage....not just "pink noise". Sorry, I just disagree with your statements. I would have been much more sympathetic toward you if you had stated you were running your Oppo directly to your power amp when you blew out your speakers (you can't control when a bug in the Oppo decides to output audio at max voltage), but since you had the ability to manually control your voltage(your inline preamp), you have to take the blame for your blown out tweets.
I remember years ago a lady suing McDonalds because she burnt her skin/mouth when she drank her coffee she just purchased. She actually won that lawsuit, but further customers who have tried to sue McD have failed because McD's had to state that drinking hot coffee can hurt you on their cups..
So you're basically saying that anybody who plays this "pink noise" on their home systems will have blown out speakers? You're saying if it's above a whisper, you will do damage? This just can't be true....sorry I just can't believe that statement. "Too much current" blows out speakers, not "pink noise". I've read a few articles where pink noise, played continuously at listening levels is used to "burn-in" new speakers. Blame Oppo for generating the unwanted noise, but don't blame them for blowing out your speakers!! Would you blame someone else for a banana peel lying on the ground, making you fall and hurt yourself because "it wasn't supposed to be there", or would you take full responsibility for stepping on it? You sound like the type of person who would try to find out who left the banana peel on the ground and sue them rather than just admit, "I take responsibility".
Dan,
I like DMUSOKE's response. Would you blame those people as well? Though I shouldn't, I can't help the urge to address some of your comments..........Apologies in advance to the other readers.
The problem is, you are making ASSUMPTIONS. You Assume I WAS PUSHING MY SPEAKERS TO THE LIMIT, but in actuality, I was not. Tell me how you arrived at that conclusion without any reference to dB level settings in my initial post? I don't make a habit of noting dB settings while listening but I will say that the meters were PEAKING at only about half way. -20dB would not be an inaccurate guess.
I'm sure everyone of us here has listened to their system at a decent level before. That's one reason we invest in this stuff. There's a big difference between loud and pushing the system to the limit as you say, though. BTW amps are rated at 500W, speakers are rated at 500W.
I like your McDonald's coffee analogy. Here's mine:
the coffee is hot, you know that, you take care in not spilling it but you don't realize that there's........ an explosive device, submerged in the coffee and it blows up in your face!!!.......I take no responsibility for the blown tweeters. Oppo has admitted to knowing about this...I pasted their email earlier;, they should have let us in on their little "bomb."
Here's the crux of the matter:Listening to music on the BDP-105 at say for the sake of argument -20dB, which would be considered loud but well below "pushing the system." BDP-105 manufactures an unwanted artifact at probably 0dB...tweeters fry within 2 seconds.
Listening to same material at same level from same source on my BDP-93. NO artifact produced, music enjoyed, tweeters remain intact, sitting in chair, in musical bliss, with perma-smile across face.............any questions???
Here's another thing....the Pink Noise artifact, as I call it for lack of a more accurate term,( I can only describe it as a "spawn of Satan artifact, sent from the bowels of hell"), is falsely assumed to be pure, clean pink noise.....what was produced was harsh hash, full of what I can only say was pure distortion that sounds like pink noise. Distortion is what destroys.
I spoke with Albert Von Schweikert who makes the speaker, and by the way, who is known for his incredible crossover designs. He agreed that the unexpected noise, while listening to music at an audiophile level (orchestral concert hall), would indeed have taken out the tweeters. He told me a few more minutes of that noise might have taken out the mids as well due to heat build up. At no time did he blame me for listening too loud and, though the warranty didn't cover this sort of thing, (just as with a lightning strike), he sold me replacements
at his cost and even sent the same silver solder and sealing clay that they use. Very cool on his part.
After replacing my tweeters I asked him if I should play pink noise (of which I do have a pure signal source) to accelerate break-in and his e-mail answer is quoted below:
"Don’t use pink noise, it will give a continuous signal that will heat up the voice coils without giving them enough movement. Just play music with snappy treble, like guitar; medium volume level."
Albert Von Schweikert
President, Chief Design Engineer
Now A couple of final answers to your questions:
-No, I'm not basically saying "anyone who plays "pink noise" on their home systems will have blown out speakers" ...so long as it's not prolonged and at an excessive level (I'm putting my money on the graduate from Cal-Tech, Mr. Von Schweikert).
-No, I don't believe listening to pink noise "above a whisper" will do damage to a system.
-Uh, yes, I would blame someone for carelessly throwing a banana peel on the ground I didn't see coming and I slipped on it. It's not supposed to be there!!! That's why people hang WET PAINT signs....interesting logic you have.
What you have correctly argued in your discussion is that sudden voltage spikes WILL produce enough energy to destroy drivers in a system...but that argument is lost here. What we are talking about is, a nasty, distorted, harsh, unwanted "spike" created at 0dB by a piece of equipment, while listening at loud, albeit safe volume levels, ripping through and destroying the most delicate components of a speaker, the tweeter. I seriously doubt that had I been listening,
at the same level, via the Oppo's pre out it would have made any any difference.....same outcome.
That's where it begins...... and that's where it ends.
I do appreciate your opinions and spirited discussion.
Now, time to move on.
