2. speakers
  3. 119212-72991

Protecting speakers in home theatre application?

I have an Adcom preamp and amp (GFP-565, GFA-535 II) driving a set of B&W Nautilus 804s. I am considering using this with a new TV via a (yet to be purchased) DAC, but I am wondering whether driving the speakers with TV / movie audio with non-music, non-voice special effects audio audio risks damage to the speakers. This includes signal drop-outs / and static-bursts since the HDTV tuner will be over the air broadcast rather than cable.

I looked for prior discussions but did not find them. Any thoughts or pointers to other discussions?

One final comment- I care most about music, not TV and movies, which I just need to hear. I’m not trying to build a theatre. So, I’m hoping to get a rather cheap DAC and maybe a cheap line-level pre-amp with a remote volume control. These components could also be a worry. To be clear, the setup would be to take the digital TV signal via toslink to a DAC; take the line level from the DAC by RCA to the in-line volume control and from there to an AUX in of the Adcom preamp. For music, my CD player goes into another input of the Adcom pre-amp and is free of all this new nonsense...just CD, Adcom pre-amp, amp, and speakers.
efrank

Showing 1 response by johnnyb53

johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
Here's a professional home theater review of a Nautilus 804-based 5-channel HT setup:

http://hometheaterhifi.com/volume_8_1/b&w-nautilus-home-theater-speakers-2-2001.html

I've been running Mirage M5si's as the mains in my 7.1-channel 1.4KW HT system for 19 years with no problems. 

The main thing to watch out for would be if you watch lots of movies with explosions and car crashes, in which case you'd want to high-pass the signal to your 804s at 40Hz or even a little higher, and let a home theater-worthy powered subwoofer handle the special effects low frequencies.
More to discover