SWF 18100
SHF 0104 & 0210
Have you ever blown a loudspeaker? Then you probably don't want to do it again. Here's how not to
shred your speakers.
• There are two ways in which a moving coil drive unit may be damaged. One is to drive it at too
high a level for too long. The coil will get hotter and hotter and eventually will melt at one point,
breaking the circuit ('thermal damage').
• The drive unit will entirely cease to function. The other is to 'shock' the drive unit with a loud impulse.
This can happen if a microphone is dropped, or placed too close to a theatrical pyrotechnic effect.
The impulse won't contain enough energy to melt the coil, but it may break apart the turns of the coil,
or shift it from its central position with respect to the magnet ('mechanical damage'). The drive unit
will still function, but the coil will scrape against the magnet producing a very harsh distorted sound.
• Many drive units can be repaired, but of course damage is best avoided in the first place. The trick
is to listen to the loudspeaker. It will tell you when it is under stress if you listen carefully enough.
• To get the best performance from a loudspeaker, the amplifier should be rated higher in terms of
watts. It wouldn't be unreasonable to connect a 200 W amplifier to a 100 W speaker, and it won't
blow the drive units unless you push the level too high.
• It is up to the sound engineer to control the level. Suppose, on the other hand, a 100 W amplifier
was connected to a 200 W loudspeaker. The sound engineer might push the level so high that the
amplifier will start clipping. Clipping produces high levels of high frequency distortion & will
easily damage the speaker (especially the HF diaphragms).
Studiomaster Professional Speakers Guideline
SHF 0104 SHF 0210
I N S T R U C T I O N M A N U A L