Subsonic paranoia - should I be worried?

[ifyoulikethetone]

I guess you could call this a vinyl-hypochondriac thread. In my signature you can see the current set-up I use. Importantly, my speakers are of the modern ported kind: http://www.system-audio.com/_en-GB/abou ... 230/SA1230

Let me start by saying I have not experienced any kind of woofer pumping, flapping sounds, weird buzzing, distortion exclusive to the speakers or any other kind of apparent problem. I simply - and probably unnecessarily - have the fear.

But I wanted to ask you guys to see what you thought. My NAD 3020i, according to the original 3020 specs, has 'ultrasonic filters' for both the inaudible/extreme high and low frequencies and this makes me think that there shouldn't be a problem. However, I wanted to get a second opinion in case people felt the NAD's filters weren't quite up to the level of protecting my speakers from long-term damage. If this is the case, I could get a phono pre-amp with built-in SS, like the Cambridge Audio 640p or something, and connect it to the CD/AUX input of my NAD. But if people think that would be overkill, it would be a small weight off my mind!

[davidsss]

I have had woofer pumping, very dependant on the records in my case. Some records were bad, others the pumping was virtually non-existant. I bought a KAB subsonic filter.

Have you seen the specs of the filters on the NAD amp? That should tell you if they are effective. Post them here and I'm sure someone will know.

DS

[13oots2]

Personally I think you ought to have your wings clipped, might stop you flapping so much Unless you are really driving the speakers very hard with the NAD I can see little to no potential to damage them. You can find some sound advice here from Bobby McFerrin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-diB65s ... 1GVtWI8T8I

The NAD is a reasonable amplifier and the phonostage was actually rather good. Rather than blow your hard earned money on a new phonostage I would look at upgrading your cartridge, you are really crippling the potential of your SL 1200 with the Ortofon you have.

[goatbreath]

I have both the NAD 3020i and the Cambridge Audio 540p...To my ears the NAD phono stage is better balanced and nicely detailed..The 540p just sounds shrill and brash at times compared to the NAD...I'm not saying the Cambridge isn't well built..It is but in stock form it sounds brash to me and my speakers are quite darkly balanced..

The 3020i is a great little amp and some way higher rated amps as far as watts go can't keep up with the no nonsense NAD..It has real speaker driving ability at 4 ohms and below..

[ifyoulikethetone]

@13oots2 Thanks for your reassurance! I thought I might be being a little bit obsessive, but hey, this is audiophile-land... And I know that the Ortofon 5e is an embarrassment :p I've posted here: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=45649&start=30#p369071 on that very issue.

@goatbreath I do love the NAD, I just wanted to be sure I wasn't damaging my speakers inadvertently or anything. It seems to be a fantastic build, the 3020i, and could blow my speakers sky-high if it wanted to - unassumingly powerful.

[Ottermel]

Power alone doesn't destroy speakers, it's clipping distortion that does.
You can drive speakers rated for 50 Watts max. power with a 500W amp as long as you don't overdo it.

[13oots2]

Power alone doesn't destroy speakers, it's clipping distortion that does.
You can drive speakers rated for 50 Watts max. power with a 500W amp as long as you don't overdo it.

That reminds me of a feature the NAD has, there is a soft clipping switch that you can throw to prevent the amp driving into clipping. If the OP has any worries about over-driving the amp then this can be enabled.