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5. Amplification & Power Handling
As with all professional loudspeaker systems, the power handling is a function of
voice coil thermal capacity. Care should be taken to avoid running the amplifier into
clip (clipping is the end result of overdriving any amplifier). Damage to the
loudspeaker will be sustained if the amplifier is driven into clip for any extended
period of time. Headroom of at least 3dB should be allowed. When evaluating an
amplifier, it is important to take into account its behaviour under low impedance load
conditions. A loudspeaker system is highly reactive and with transient signals it can
require more current than the nominal impedance would indicate.
Generally a higher power amplifier running free from distortion will do less damage to
the loudspeaker than a lower power amplifier continually clipping. It is also worth
remembering that a high powered amplifier running at less than 90% of output power
generally sounds a lot better than a lower power amplifier running at 100%. An
amplifier with insufficient drive capability will not allow the full performance of the
loudspeaker to be realised.
It is important when using different manufacturers’ amplifiers in a single installation
that they have very closely matched gains, the variation should be less than +/-
0.5dB. This precaution is important to the overall system balance when only a single
active crossover is being used with multiple cabinets, it is therefore recommended
that the same amplifiers are used throughout.
6. Crossovers
The i15 is supplied as standard for passive operation via the internal crossover
network. If higher peak outputs are required then the i15 can be used in conjunction
with the Tannoy TX2 controller/crossover which provides high pass filtering and a
degree of parametric equalisation (see performance data section), as well as a fixed
crossover point for use with sub-bass loudspeakers.
7. Equalisation
The i15 is designed to need no equalisation or correction to overcome system
limitations. As a result, it will only need equalisation to compensate for difficult
acoustic environments.
Excess equalisation can reduce system headroom, and introduce phase distortion
resulting in greater problems than it cures. If equalisation is required then it should be
applied gently and smoothly. Violent equalisation will be detrimental to the overall
sound quality.