I am not sure whether or not I am pushing my speakers too far.
I've always pushed them this hard and they are just fine so I am sure I am not.
The front speakers have their drivers running near their limits on the bass drum kicks, and I can kinda feel it.
The rear speakers do too (they have a lot more throw), but they're 43 years old and I'm afraid I'll pop a capacitor if I do it more than a few seconds... Is it worth replacing those or should I build a new pair?
And I usually give the front speakers a cool-down period after a couple minutes of heavy bass drum.
Andre, the driver impedence and thus its reaction will change with the load and heat buildup after periods of duty, so your duty cycle seems ok. Why punish a set of drivers into duty cycle rather than treating a bass diver to what it is intended to do? The mechanical stops are generated by the end-of-coil field, and are a very bad thing to find.
Running a load to its thermal limits also presents a more unstable load for the amplifier, as currents run higher the load becomes more unpredictable.
Well.. I need to get my subwoofer system built.. I know I've been talking about it for years now. I actually have 1/3 of the money needed.. isn't that a surprise.. Accumulated most of it within the past six months (good grades and lawnmowing lol).. maybe a job is.. soon? I dunno. busy lately..
You guys act like I listen to my music really loud.. I use a bass boost to increase the bass.. the actual music is like 80dB.. and the bass is where it's loud. I want to feel the bass and have it shake the room.
I can't really do that with a cheap pair of speakers with low xmax 12" drivers. More than about 10 watts at 60hz is too much.
If you still say bass hurts the ears then fine, but it doesn't even seem that loud.