How do you damage studio monitors?

My pair of BM5As is my first set of studio monitors. I've had them for a couple of months now, and they are performing beautifully. I used them to listen to Beethoven's 9th symphony the other day (Bernstein's 1989 "Ode to Freedom" recording), and it literally brought chills to me.

So how do I break them?

OK, what I really want to know is: what kind of monitor damages can I cause with my synths? How do I prevent damage from occurring? How do I recognize if damage has occurred?

I know how speakers work, so technical detail is OK here.

Bonus Qs: Are unmodified square waves bad for monitors? Do different pulse widths make it more or less bad?

Any sound that causes the speaker drivers to go past their Xmax (Max Excursion) will blow them. Gernally, a speaker has to move farther to produce lower frequencies at higer volumes. So, playing a bass patch at a high volume could potentially cook a driver. They can also over heat, from being played at high levels for too long, with the speaker do lots of high excursion stuff. This will overheat the voice coil and warp it, causing it to rub against the pole piece, In extreme cases Ive seen the voice coil literally weld itself to the pole.

This is weird. I was going to make pretty much the same post.

I too have a new pair of BM5a's, and have been wondering how I can protect them. I was considering buying a Sherman Filterbank, and someone here warned me about the possibility of it damaging my speakers. As Awake suggests, it had something to do with very very low bass frequencies, but I'd really like more information.

I actually read the paperwork that came with the speakers and it seemed as though they have built-in protection against such things, but, ??

This question might also suit one of the HC recording forums.

Well, if they are powered they probably have a limiter on them...turn those 'mothers down!

How do you damage studio monitors? Have a kid!! When my son was a baby, he stuffed a baseball into the woofer cones in my Yamaha NS-10s, which were hooked to my A/V system and on the floor at the time (i.e., my fault!). Other than that, I couldn't find a way to damage them!

Ah, that was me with the half-joking warning. Here's what the Sherman's manual says (on page 10):

"Our warning 'Dangerous frequency range' is not a joke. Speaker coils can actually burn when they move too slow, and have lack of ventilation. This can happen at high volume and unhearable low frequency. The FB can easily produce frequencies below 1 Hz."

In practice I've never had any problems, and I've been using the FB for over a year. It's definitely possible to destroy your speakers with the Sherman, but I think it would probably take a fair amount of effort.

Originally posted by AJP How do you damage studio monitors? Have a kid!! When my son was a baby, he stuffed a baseball into the woofer cones in my Yamaha NS-10s, which were hooked to my A/V system and on the floor at the time (i.e., my fault!). Other than that, I couldn't find a way to damage them!

Or have a cat--they'll sharpen their claws on anything, speaker cones included.

Speaking of monitors,

I don't mean to take control of your thread or anything, but do the majority of you guys use active monitors? I think I made the mistake of buying passive monitors with a power amp. It never really dawned on me these past 3 years I've owned them, but I have a feeling that the amp can really color or change the sound of the monitors. This can be good or bad, I suppose. I guess if you have really good active monitors they have all the right electronics associated with it so they sound like they should, whereas if you have a {censored}ty pair of Samsons (like me), I don't think the amp type is going to do them much justice.

The BM5a's are the first "active" monitors I've owned. Before that, I had the same pair of Tannoys for nearly twenty years.

LOVE the BM5a's

This is all good advice, but I am surprised that a powered monitor would be susceptible to damage in this way. Are there no filters (on monitors in general) to reject damaging frequencies?

I know the BM5a has a high pass filter to enable use with a subwoofer. Currently, I have it set on "full range", since I don't have a sub. Yet, I notice that when low frequences go off the end of the response curve (well above 20Hz), the woofer cone stops moving. Does this indicate that the HPF is still filtering even on the "full range" setting, and thus, I am protected from extreme low frequencies?

(Or does it mean that my virtual oscillators can't produce a sine wave that low? )

It might mean that your speak's don't respond to the 20 hz range. Powered monitors are easier on your ears and have other advantages. They are not the "truest" sound, but that depends on a lot. "True" sound has no color and absolute response. I can't think of ever hearing any speaker maker claim that. You just need to find out where your needs are. I don't have a studio; professionally sound proofed and all, so I just need something loud, semi accurate, and something that can take a freak'n beating without me crying over dints and crap (price was also the issue). I just got a pair of fostex pm-1 powered speakers (the big ones); and tho they are not the "truest" sound, I can blast 'em, and they are very reliable (and cheap). One day I'll have the studio of my dreams, but Ill have to build the wife her sewing room first (HA!).

Bump.

So my powered BM5a monitors won't break because of input frequencies that are too low, because it just won't reproduce them at all.

It seems like all one has to worry about is high excursion over long periods of time. Am I right about this?

If so, how does one judge that the excursion is too high and the period of time too long?

Actually, ive been meaning to post about my Monitor problem, and this gives me a good opportunity..

I have a pair of KRK V8's which I got a pretty good deal on a couple years ago. While they, at first, sounded excellent..it seems like they have been steadily loosing their bass response since I got them. I have no clue what could cause this, but I have actually reverted to using a pair of good headphones for most of my listening, just because the sound coming out of them sounds like its giong through a HP filter...

This probably means its time for new monitors, but I just wanted to ask if anyone else has had this kind of problem, or do you think its all in my head? My hearing certainly hasnt changed as I can still here the bass on the headphones, and I dont listen to the music at high volume anyway because Im in a townhouse with neighbors right throught he wall.

Any suggestions?

Interesting thread. About the Filterbank manuals warning. This is not at all relevant to a couple of BM5A

Ok. I have noticed that when I

Not true. The magnet is still being energized, it just doesn't have enough to reproduce what you are feeding it. I don't know the specs on these things tho, so it might be that it does hit freqs that low, but thats pretty dang subwoofer low dog.

Also, if you have a limiter set, it be filtering those freqs out.

I didn't read every post in this thread, so I'm sorry if this has been mentioned already. If your monitors are active, then they probably roll off at a certain frequency, so you could feed it all the low frequency you want, it just won't reproduce it.

All right, seems perfectly logical. Considering what I've learned, and that I don't monitor extremely loudly, I don't think I have too much to worry about from overexcursion or overheating.

So now, how would I damage the tweeter in my BM5As?

I have fed 1 hz square waves into my BX8's. NO ill effect. Nothing happened at all, so as mentioned some limiter must have protected the driver.

Good idea, I'll make sure not to throw a crowbar at them.

dude, you cannot hear 1 hz, even if those puppies could push it thru. Human hearing range is about 20 hz to 20 khz. The only thing listening to you were elephants and whales.

Yet they make things that have response down to 0Hz (i.e. DC, direct current).

http://www.eminent-tech.com/RWbrochure.htm

Let's just say your ears are not the only organs capable of sensing sound, especially extreme low frequency.

Easy, I'll send you my 4 year old son.

He removed the grills from my hifi speakers (B&W 603) and pushed the tweeters with his fingers. Luckily they seem to be very sturdy as I tried to suck them back into shape (as advised in an SOS article) but without succes. They still sound ok though.