Yeah those Mc-1201s are no joke! I will eventually grow into separates but my speakers are rated at 200 watts and the amp 150 wpc. Just concerned about blowing them from distortion with what I presently have.
My Speakers Starving?
- Thread starter Lossless
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PanheadXR290
Well-Known Member
One of the benefits of buying a McIntosh amp is you can throw insane wattage at any speaker with no danger of blowing a driver thanks to the power gaurd circuirty,in 1/100th of a second power gaurd starts working as soon as it senses any speaker clip.
Mc-1201 is an awesome beast! Here I go again web shopping. I hate this hobby!
damacman
Resident Psycho
A 150W amp driven into hard clipping can make as much as double its non-clipped power. Power destroys speakers, not clipping - no matter how many times that's repeated by those that are ill-informed.
PanheadXR290
Well-Known Member
1st off I'm far from Ill informed,rather extremely informed,within 1/100th of a second of McIntosh power gaurd sensing any clipping it automatically shunts the power leaving the amp into the speaker & only delivers the wattage below clipping levels ,you may want to read up on it before saying it blows speakers .
It's 100% impossible to drive an Autoformer amp into hard clipping ,it cannot be done .
Audio Magazine 1990 in depth test results for Fisher the RS-Z1, "clipping did not occur until about 263 watts per channel were being delivered to the 4-ohm loads.”
My Speakers are rated 200 watts 91dB 1watt/1 meter. That has to be enough to drive my speakers 9ft away? Maybe not though?
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damacman
Resident Psycho
As a fellow Mc enthusiast and XRT22 owner, you're in good company with me. Yet this clipping blows speakers stuff is today and always has been just marketing fodder. We need a new thread to discuss and debunk it. Any amplifier with autoformers, like any of the few hundred Mc amps I've owned, is unable to pass Direct Current. In addition, those with Power Guard won't allow the amp to clip. However your MC1201s or my bridged MC2600s could smolderize a pair of the largest 500W speakers when playing heavily compressed media with the PG lamps flashing 20% of the time. And that's simply a function of heat. Recall, most loudspeakers have an acoustic efficiency of around 5% - the other 95% is wasted as heat.
Many other brands of amps have anti-clipping circuits. A 100wpc amp with such driving 100w speakers - well now, that's certainly safe. However, when said 100wpc amp really makes 200wpc at the onset of clipping and said speaker's power rating has been inflated due to marketing pressure, well then we have a recipe for speaker failure.
PanheadXR290
Well-Known Member
Check this out ,this was done about 15 years ago at Audioholics where I hooked a pair of my Mc-1201s up to my cute little McIntosh XL-1 bookshelves,then drove the amps till the meters showed 1,200 watts going through bookshelves ,mulester and I laughed our butts off.
It won't allow me to take my own pic from the site so here's a link of my bookshelves hooked up to my 1200 watt amps lol
https://goo.gl/images/pV44SX
damacman
Resident Psycho
Such a unit could make as much as double that when driven to hard clipping ... 2 1/2 times the power rating of your speakers ...
I did catch a woofer on fire recently while PWD (playing while drunk), lesson learned. It was a really really loud but fun party.
Now, I’m more careful and don’t drive speakers into clipping. 110 dB was just a bit too much for those old B&Ws to handle. Max decibles is 105 dB @ 10ft safely.
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PanheadXR290
Well-Known Member
The reason I used Autoformer Amps as an example because every Autoformer amp has power gaurd ,of course the example you gave would eventually blow a driver ,I won't dispute that because it's fact , especially with the pg activated 20% of the time ,my entire thought process is built around using power gaurd ,if it blinks more than once an album then it needs to be turned down but for short term the amp will not blow a driver ,I played an entire song through the XL-1s and 1201s in the link above at 1,200 watts on the amp for the " all amps are the same " crowd at Audioholics and I'm still using those bookshelves today ,when the lights come on it's meant we adjust volume ,using the pg lights in an average listening sessions of 2 hours we can't blow a driver .
I'm also a xrt-22 guy ,they are the fronts & rears to my 5 channel rig ,I love them .
damacman
Resident Psycho
Power vs time ... A few seconds no problem. Play Benny Benassi Satisfaction - the XL-1s wouldn't make the first minute.
damacman
Resident Psycho
MC2300s don't have PG. Many an ML4 died as a result ...
PanheadXR290
Well-Known Member
If I remember right I used Frank Zappas G-spot Tornado which is absolute torture for any speaker ,time & heat are the issues ,if your watching your rig pg won't allow a driver to overheat and I've tried ,i mean really tried ,I tried to kill Klipsch Cornwalls for fun and they never blew,my resolve to destroy them broke 1st while the 1201s kept pumping right under the pg activating .
PanheadXR290
Well-Known Member
Yeah but that's a pro amp ,we're talking about power gaurd anyways lol
damacman
Resident Psycho
I'm a FZ fan yet I've never heard that song ... Go figger. That Benny Benassi song is lethal to speakers. Buy the CD Hypnotica and you'll understand. But I sure as hell wouldn't play that song loud on any speaker that didn't have serious power handling capability from 800Hz and up.
damacman
Resident Psycho
No more than an MC2105 is ... I have two MC2300s still - I've had a few dozen. Man's amp fo sho!
ScottFan355
Super Member
I’ve gotta wonder - what kind of room were you pushing your amps near 500 watts continuous?!? And can you stil hear?!!!
damacman
Resident Psycho
While I love Mc meters, they're not the last word in accuracy driving reactive loads - you really need something like this: https://damore-engineering.myshopif...ation-tools/products/im-sg?variant=1058918153