Every so often I push the system a little too far.
Earlier this week I had the NAC 282 volume at the 12 o’clock position, it never really goes above 9-10 o’clock.
Son came down from upstairs and told me to turn it down, better half said I was going to blow the speakers, but I continued as I just wanted to listen to something very loud. Neighbours are undoubtedly livid
Many moons ago I blew the tweeters in the SBLs doing something similar but I think the NAC 72’s volume was almost at maximum.
All sounds reasonable today, but I’m going to have that nagging doubt I’ve damaged something for a few days at least…
Suspect I am not alone in doing this.
…and it must have been loud as I’ve felt that pressure in my ears as though I’d been to a very loud live gig for the last 36 hours.
i’m sure if all your cables, connections etc… are sound then all will be well. On another note, are you stressed out about anything? I normally find if i’m stressed out about something then the volume control is getting it…be careful though, as you know, it may come back and bite you on the a**e. Just relax and put some Enya, Enigma on or something, I find it works a treat in backing off with the volume dial. Ah, relief.
Spot on Stephen, something at work had really riled me before the weekend and it had been festering in my mind until I mentioned it to Mrs AC after a few glasses of wine on Sunday, after which I basically decided to indulge myself with high volume music and a rant about colleagues which persisted until 3am. Not very clever but certainly cathartic and possibly prevented me venting my annoyance directly at several people yesterday.
Yup. A deep breath, Enigma, headphones, wine… it works for me every time as a counter action. I remember blowing both my ‘active’ Credo tweeters with the volume at 2 or even 3 'O clock on the dial, it served me bloody right. Hope all is well.
Thanks Stephen, I really appreciate the advice and insight, my mother died in April, and my father isn’t in great health either - I don’t think I’ve really come to terms with it yet for a couple of reasons and I honestly wonder if I was finally letting off a bit of steam about this precipitated by something at work.
Apologies for these rather personal comments entering the discussion.
No worries. My father too passed away in April so I do feel your grief here… If both your speakers are working and you can hear all the frequencies at a very low volume then all will be fine. The tweeters will normally be the first to go if you were heavy with the volume control, they will either work or not is what I have found from past experiences. Sometimes they may buzz or rub but normally they just cut out without warning.
If its damaged you will know. So if it sounds OK, there is nothing to worry about.
As for playing loud, some music just demands it, and whilst I resist much of the time out of respect for my ears, i do have a blast from time to time, at realistic levels, but for a limited period - maybe only two or three albums. However I am lucky enough to have a detached house, though out of respect for other family members I choose times when they are out, or occupied at the other end of the house. (Mind you, in my time I’ve lived in three terraced houses, but a key factor in house choice has always been to check that sound transmission through the party walls has been reasonably suppressed, and despite my occasional very loud playing - and frequent moderately loud playing - in 44 years of home ownership I’ve never had complaints from neighbours.
BTW, volume control setting gives no indication of loudness, as even for people with the same amp, differing speaker sensitivities, and differing listening distances and room characteristics can make for very different sound levels.
Meanwhile my commiserations for your bereavement - it is a difficult time, and one that can take a lot out of you. If playing music loud helps, then do it!
Crazy perhaps but the house was purchseed as it had generous rooms I specifically wanted for audio, being a Victorian end-terrace, but the major thing for me was having stair to stair adjoining walls not to annoy the neighbours. Sadly they are paper thin walls sonically, not something I realised with elderly previous neighbours, though perhaps I should have realised when we had a raucous moving in party 20 years ago and they complained.
A detached or secluded residence is clearly on the wishlist for many of us!
A very timely post indeed. I am currently playing the system way higher than I normally do. Bad day at work (camera crew in and expected to dance like a monkey while trying to do my job) has left me feeling very grrrrrrrrrr. Pales into insignificance reading about people’s losses puts my day in perspective and very sorry for you both.
I remember when I had my Muso I accidentally yagged the volume up full on the Apple Music app which was connected via AirPlay, afterwards everything was fine in reality but I convinced myself that it dident sound right, I never got over it and traded up to an Atom not long after, that dident last long either! Anyway, cognitive bias is a very powerful thing and it can convince you of lots of irrational things
Oh gosh, a camera crew when you least want them at work is infuriating even if interesting for the audience, and I generally hide away and am fortunate that I normally can.
An oddity here is that playing things so loud into the early hours after a good few glasses of wine was Mrs ACs comment that I always woke up when she came down and turned the volume down when I was obvoiously asleep - apparently this happened on multiple occasions - I recall many attempts to turn the volume down and akso rewinding the concert video I kept watching.
It’s a bit like sport too I guess, I hit the sh** out of the balls playing tennis last Friday/Saturday, and I think that subdued my annoyance until Sunday when I really should have gone to a social tennis night but opted for wine/BBQ instead. Interesting that music and sport can relax or ignite passions.
I did a very similar thing to you and felt quite guilty afterwards, it’s a kind of self harming if you like, you must be going through a very difficult time and you have my full sympathies. I have found that being very apologetic to those that I had disturbed at the time helped a lot and luckily everyone was very understanding, which kind of helped me too, in another sort of funny way. I have also found that being kinder to myself and likewise to those around me is also another great way of dealing with such grief, just don’t the blow the stereo up in the process!
Yes, best upgrade I ever did was to move to an old detached house with no close neighbours. There are two thick internal walls, so even if my wife has gone to bed, I can play at moderate volumes without getting told off!
Once, when on headphones, I knocked the mute button on the Naim app and cranked the volume to max trying to hear something. Fortunately, I checked the dial on the amp before unplugging the headphones to see what was going on
