After a week I haven't found flaws with the Fluance Signature 3-Way speakers. Being such a big space the barn is taxing for an audio system. It is easy to lose touch of how much wattage one is driving the speakers. I don't recall the wattage (100W per channel by my memory) output of the Sony Receiver. To have a live-like listening experience 50 feet away from the speakers one have to set the volume level quite high. For sound each doubling of distance drops the sound pressure level by 6dB. That means for each doubling of distance the SPL reduction is 1/4.
With the Sony Receiver I generally set the volume to about 35 driven by line in source assuming to be nominally "calibrated", which for close quarter listening is very loud. However in the barn at a distance it is not. A good pair of speaker tend to obscure the loudness for human auditory perception because of low distortion. However with same SPL from a pair of poorly made speakers will sound very loud because of the harmonic distortions.
As I spent more time listening to the new speakers I noticed a troubling distortion from the mid range drivers when play above certain loudness. They sound almost like the driver cone rattle from physical distortion. I first suspected the Sony receiver outputs were being taxed, and hence high THD. I decided to dig out my 200W per channel Adcom GFA-555 power amplifier and the needed preamp from my mothballed hi fi equipment collection.
making sure the amplifiers are not outputting DC which can destroy the new speakers
you never know what can happen with an amplifier that has not been operated for 20 years
it turned out the Carver preamp is in need of repair
I use a sacrificial speaker to check out the amplifier first
fortunately I have another preamp
a pile of equipment for testing
At the mean time I decided on a 12" rather than a 15" subwoofer, I had my eye set on a Klipsch but the price was increased by 18% when I was ready to order. Instead I found a no-name one to save some money. I have no reason to think the Klipsch is anything special except the branding. They all use the same class-D amplifier module with active crossover.
the price was $205 only a week ago; my smart money went to Acoustic Audio instead
Like most potential buyer of the Klipsch, I too was attracted to the copper color speaker cone, but giving it more thought, I realized it is the marketing ploy. I soon started looking for a no name brand for better value without sacrifice in performance. Klipsch nowadays are nowadays, like their former peers, are just a hollow branding.
the 12" subwoofer arrived and it is everything I expect, and it matches nicely with the 8" woofers
most powered subwoofers in the market have the same basic class-D amplifier module
As I poundered on the midrange distortion I came to a conjecture of what might cause it. I can at time hear the same distortion on both speakers. I need to get to the bottom of it before the return window closes.
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