Conference cookie::notes$archive:cd_v1

Yes, I damaged a speaker.  The woofer in an AR-11.  I changed amps, went
from a 50 watt/ch ten year old Kenwood to a Carver 130 watt/channel receiver.
I haven't gotten up the guts to play the 1812 at any volume again!

    I haven't damaged my speakers with it (they are Allison 9s), but
    I sure scared my cat, who was sleeping on the floor in front of
    one of them!  I really enjoy the dynamic range of that CD.

    Well, I have never damaged my system (AR90 and Dynaco 416), but
    the dynamic range is really too high.  I live in an apartment 
    (townhouse), and in order to listen to the soft passages, I have
    to keep it reasonablly loud, and when the cannon comes up, I always
    find myself walking to the amp to turn it down because I don't want
    to disturb my housemate or next door neighbor.  
    
    I am not worried about damage (as long as I don't really go crazy
    with the volumn), and I guess if I move into a house I own, then
    I will probably leave it blasting.
    
    Charles
    

    My system (Yamaha R90 and Ns1000's) took the abuse, but the guy
    upstairs thought I was a terrorist, checking out new bombs. :-)
    
    I like it though!
    
    Jeff
    

    The 1812 overture did a number on one of my woofers.  There are
    other Telarc cd's that will do damage if your not carefull.  The
    start of Time Warp will lull you into a false sense of security
    just prior to sending your woofer through the floor.  The dynamics
    of CD's is great but a certain amount of caution is required even
    using high quality equipment.
    
    The sound is so clear you dont realize how loud it is until its
    too late.....

    Luckily I had a 35W amp going into 150 W speakers otherwise I would
    have probably thrown a coil. Even at that, it was pretty spectacular!
    
    Re .5 
    
    I also found the beginning of Time Warp much more potentialy damaging
    though. Definatly will wake you up if your not prepaired for it!
    

I have the Philips ADD 1812 with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and the BSO.

I sometimes start this disc at the second track, which is the Fantasy Overture
Romeo and Juliet (BSO) followed by Eugen Onegin and the Oprichnik (Orchestra of
the Royal Opera House).

----

>    Luckily I had a 35W amp going into 150 W speakers otherwise I would
>    have probably thrown a coil. Even at that, it was pretty spectacular!

Isn't it usually too little power (and therefor dirty power and clipping)
that zaps speakers.

I created some sort of strange distortion in my BA300s, probably with the
Telarc 1812 vinyl through a 15-year-old Fisher amp.  I don't feel like
playing it loud through my Carver and my Infinite Slope 1s.  BA has
told me they will fix my speakers for free.

/john

      I damaged the bass driver in one of my Bose 501's with this
    recording.  Guess I got a little carried away after I got the Carver
    receiver.  It wasn't the initial cannon blast that did it but was
    the afterblast(if that's what you would call it).  I do not believe
    that the Carver was clipping.  In fact, I don't believe that it
    even flinched.  I asked Bose customer service about built-in speaker
    protection and found out that only the tweeters are protected. Oh
    well, sometimes you learn the hard way.
    
    -Jim
    

    Woofers have a tendency to bottom out if their not capable of handling
    large power. this will cause cone seperation or creases in the cone.
    If the amp is under powered and is driven into clipping the tweeters
    are the victims.  This is caused by the output of the amp to go
    into an almost DC state at the amps full power causing the tweeters
    to just give up the farm.  
    
    The trick is to just be careful with CD's that have extended dynamic
    range.  Specially with non musical events like cannon shots.

        For all of you who own the CD version of this, you are missing one
        of the best views in audio. I got the LP long before anyone ever
        heard of CDs. The cannons must eat up 1/8" of vinyl as they wiggle
        from side to side. Try looking at the bits on your CD (-: 

    My first playing was on an hk580i (45w/ch) with my Infinity Qb
    speakers (150w/ch?).  I had played it at moderate levels with no
    problems.  Since then I have upgraded to an Apt/One amp (100w/ch)
    and have played it at around the halfway point on a couple occasions.
    The lights on the Apt seemed to indicate all was OK.  Maybe one
    of these days I'll fire it up again.
    
    						-Dave

    re .10
    I had to put a nickel on my tone arm to get it to track the big
    wiggle.  I wonder if you have to turn up the laser to read the BIG
    numbers? (what about floating point? :-))
    

    Both Carver receivers I have used shut down for a couple of seconds
    when playing the TELARC 1812 at a bit higher than moderately loud.
    The LEDs on my 200w/ch Carver jump off the scale on the first blast.
    The Snell Cs take it all in stride and have never faulted.  Playing
    at the ususal moderate loud level will have my neighbors looking
    for a bomb shelter.  

                           -< Telarc 1812 Overture >-

This may sound dumb but just what is the TELARC 1812 Overture. I know
what the Overture itself is but what is special/different about the
Telarc Version ?

Just last night I saw a version of the 1812 in the RCA CD Club
magazine so I was wondering if the one they are selling is the same
as this 'special' one ...

Thanks,

Peter.

    Telarc's 1812 Overture is the spiffy ultra-hi-fi LOUD version --
    they recorded LIVE cannons.   Sonically impressive (which is the
    whole intent of the recording), but of dubious musical value.
    
    Personally, I find a bass drum more than adequate, and a better
    balance with the orchestra.
    
    		George

    to reply to .14:    The TELARC recording contains some of the most
    incredible cannon shots ever recorded. The record jacket describes
    collapsing microphones and other stuff in the process.
    
    The displacement seen on an LP is truely amazing. My arm follows
    the lowest frequency component so it isnt seen by the cartridge
    or (mercyfully) the subwoofer.
    
    The biggest transient I own is also on a Telarc.  It is the final
    bass drum stroke on the St Louis Symphony's Carmen.  The first time
    I played it I thought it was a record defect 'cause my $600 cartridge
    would not stay in the groove. I took it in and found all the other
    records looked the same and actually tracked using a Koetsu. I later 
    compensated for the problem by upping the VTF to the cartridge maximum 
    and decreasing the arms lateral damping reservor fluid level.
    
    In both cases, the digitally reproduced version has more impact
    than the LP.
    
    Walt

    There are some very difficult transients to track on the Telarc
    Chopin LP.  My Grace F9E couldn't hack it and made a mess of the
    groove.  A friend's Dynavector does better, but still breaks up.
    
    The CD works just great though.
    
    Very few real-world table/arm/cartridges will track the cannon shots
    with any fidelety, even if the preamp doesn't overload.
    
    Why distress your system with trying to reproduce 6hz when all you
    will hear are harmonic distortion products, excited room resonances,
    and speaker box resonances?
    
    Back to .0, why would anyone WANT more than one recording of the
    1812?  Yeacch.

    Yeah, but this stuff is kind of fun in a machismo way. You may not
    do it, but wouldnt it be nice to know you could back nails out of 
    2x4's and peel paint from the walls with the same system that gives 
    you goose bumps with a solo cello ?

    
    Walt

                                     -<1812>-

Thanks all for the replies and info.  I guess I'll go with the less
(probably) dangerous version from the RCA CD Club.

I don't know enough about the internals of my system to take any
chances .... (-:

Thanks again,

Peter.

    Re: .10
    
    If you think the record is an interesting test, pick up a copy of
    the Telarc Omni Disc.  There is a section where they play the cannon
    shots over 4 times.  Each one +2db higher than the previous set.
    
    My Dual will make it to the 3rd cannon in the 4th set without going
    into hyper space.
    
    Steve
    
    For those of you not familiar with the Omni Disc, it contains all sorts
    of test tones, tracking tests, cartridge alignment aids etc to help
    setup your system. I found it invaluable when I was setting up my
    system in my living room (fairly small).  The test tones allowed me to
    quickly move my speakers around to get rid of the echo I was
    encountering.  
    
    In addition test tones are useful to test your cartridge (to determine
    the state of the damage) after some kid has played "bouncy bouncy" with
    your tone arm. 
    

    
    I'm selling my Telarc Omni Disc if anyone is interested.
    It's been used only once. Brand new they're $35, I'll sell mine
    for $20.
    
    Ken....
    WHY::ADEY
    225-6934

I've had great fun with the Telarc 1812 through my Snell A-II's.  With
my previous Nikko amp, I did activate the shutdown once, but no speaker
damage.  With the new Carver m1.5, I haven't dared turn it way up,
but I don't need to...

About the live cannons and the Cincinnati Symphony Orch.  Every summer
(at least they were still doing this in the late 70's when I last lived
at home) the CSO plays a series of "concerts in the parks" that always
ends up in late August at Winton Woods (the largest county park).  They
set up on the end of a promontory into a lake.  They always made the 1812
with real cannons (pointed out over the lake) their finale.  The turnout
was typically 50,000 people (no misprint, my brother worked as a ranger at
the park).

Well, with all the people around the ducks would come up to shore looking
to be fed.  The rangers would try to shoo them away, but... At the first
cannon blast they would all take off, then the second would always get
a few...  Poor things.

It was a spectacular show.

Bob

    If you wanna talk about cannons and the Overture, you should've
    been where I was at the Boston Pops' Fourth of July concert last
    summer.  Yow!
    
    Police estimated there were 300,000 people on the banks of the Charles.
    
    Dave W.

Does anybody have any comments about 1812 Overture recordings BESIDES the
infamous TELARC recording?  Has anybody listened to the others mentioned
in .0?  Any comments about them?

--PSW

    
    My roommate's mother has the Overture on a Deustche-Grammophone
    recording and says that it's flatter-sounding and noisier than her 20 year
    old LP.  I'd stay away from that one.  I'm not sure which orchestra
    it is.
    
    Dave W.