Originally Posted by
anthonyTD
Most reputable speaker drive unit manufacturer used to state Max SPL figures as well as Max power handling, one could easily establish then for eg, if a drive unit had a maximum SPL of say 114 db, and a sensitivity of 96 db per watt, per mtr, then well,,,I am sure most will understand where I am coming from on this...
Distortion, and paticularly certain aspects of distortion can be a tel tale sign that something is too loud, however, when you have an amp that has lots of clean power, then it can be quite easy to reach SPL levels not only damaging to the drive unit, but to long term human hearing too!
It's far more commonly quoted for single drive units than for speaker systems of course and for obvious reasons! If where you are going here is to agree with phar-off then yes if you have an anechoic chamber, a calibrated measuring mic, a source of a test signal (usually pink noise) and can set the mic up precisely on axis at one Meter then it is possible to do it. Now try it in a normal reflective room, using music as the signal, with a pair of multiway speakers rather than a single drive unit and a typically only +/- 20% accurate SPL meter.... Absolutely no way in a month of Sundays will you get any sort of meaningful measurement whatsoever....
Arkless Electronics-Engineered to be better. Tel. 01670 530674 (after 1pm)
Modded Thorens TD150, Audio Technica AT-1005 MkII, Technics EPC-300MC, Arkless Hybrid MC phono stage, Arkless passive pre, Arkless 50WPC Class A SS power amp, (or) Arkless modded Leak Stereo 20, Modded Kef Reference 105/3's
ReVox PR99, Studer B62, Ferrograph Series 7, Tandberg TCD440, Hitachi FT-5500MkI, also FT-5500MkII
Digital: Yamaha CDR-HD1500 (Digital Swiss army knife-CD recorder, player, hard drive, DAC and ADC in one), PC files via 24/96 sound card and SPDIF, modded Philips CD850, modded Philips CD104, modded DPA Little Bit DAC. Sennheiser HD580 cans with Arkless Headphone amp.
Cables- free interconnects that come with CD players, mains leads from B&Q, dead kettles etc, extension leads from Tesco