Sennheiser PC37X randomly goes bad after disconnecting the cable ?
Greetings, Yesterday I was using my headset like normal with my macbook, just listening to music and on a call with people like usual, and the headset was perfectly fine. The stock wire that came with the headset is extremely long and yesterday it annoyed me very much that it kept getting tangled with itself, so I decided to see if the cable is replaceable. I pulled out the cable from the headset and saw the adapter, and looked online for a replacement. Upon plugging it back in, the audio sounded extremely muffled and washed out. Im not sure what I did wrong to make it mess up like that as I've always taken good care of it, ive had it for about 2 years and its always just been chilling on my desk, but anywho I thought the cable just went bad and ordered a replacement. The replacement came, and the issue is still persistant, so I am not sure what the issue is I've tried multiple different headsets and the issue is not with the port, and I also tried it with my windows laptop and...
Apr 23, 2024
Keep in mind, the power rating of your speakers is what they can handle, not what they require. Two or three watts is plenty for laid-back, gentle listening. It's kinda like a car -- it may be able to put out 200hp, but it only needs about 10 to cruise around town, maybe 40 to run at highway speeds. Most desktop/bookshelf speakers never need to see more than 10W. Now, I have a late '80s pair of 15"-woofered Infinity towers... they'll need more than 10W sometimes, under normal use, but nowhere near the >100W they're rated for. Likewise, an 18 wheeler needs more than 10hp, even if it's not carrying a full load.
Sensitivity is the key here -- my Daytons are rated 2dB more sensitive than your Miccas, so you might need to turn the Q5 up to 12 for normal listening instead of 10. The amp has PLENTY of headroom left. As long as you're not trying to power a frat party or a small club gig, you're golden.
Decibel (dB) is the unit of measurement we use for sound, and some other things that most people don't mess with. It's a logarithmic scale, so a 1dB increase in volume is not directly related to a 1 unit increase in input power. It's kind of exponential, sort of like the earthquake scale. Our hearing doesn't work linearly, so the sound scale doesn't either. It takes 2x the power input to result in a 3dB increase in perceived volume. So a 2dB difference in sensitivity is actually pretty significant when you're counting watts, but at the levels we're talking about, you don't need to worry. If you were trying to power from solar panels or batteries or something, you'd want MUCH more efficient speakers.
That 85dB per watt at 1m is a real world number that you can get real world information from. It means just what it says -- if you push a 1 watt sine wave into the speaker and measure its output, you will see 85dB at a point 1 meter from the speaker. 85dB is pretty loud. You can google "decibel chart" to get an idea of what different levels sound like, but 85 dB is a good level you might watch TV at. It's not rocking out, but it's louder than a normal conversation. That's what your speakers produce with only 1W of power, when heard from 1m away. But honestly, 75W is serious overkill for desktop use. I can't think of any situation where you'd say, "Geez, I wish I didn't have this 150Wpc amp!" (except maybe while hiking), but I also can't think of any situation where I would want to push 75W into a pair of speakers that are only a couple feet from my ears. 75W would probably damage your hearing. Now, if you were planning on putting those Miccas into service in a surround sound system, and fill a fairly large room with some serious sound, THEN you'll want that more powerful amp.
Yes, it's great if your amp can destroy your speakers. That means you NEVER have to worry about amp clipping. Ideally, you would never turn your amp up over 50%. That's a rule of thumb that's older than I am, and I'm not sure if it still holds water on modern amps. I know I can turn my car stereo all the way up (and often need to, thanks Subaru >.>) without any hint of strain. When you push an amp to or near 100%, you usually get waveform clipping, which is VERY bad for speakers. I HAVE destroyed speakers in the past that way, and if you find yourself pushing the amp up to 75% or so of its capacity more than a few times, I would definitely consider a beefier amp. If I hooked the aforementioned tower speakers up to this little Q5 and tried to fill my living room with home-theater movie night levels of sound, I have a feeling I would get nervous. With an amp that can push 2x the speaker's rating, that's never a concern, so in an ideal world, I would follow that advice. But when you have to worry about space and money and other real world considerations, well, for desktop use at least, don't sweat it.
I bought a couple pairs, and upgraded the caps in one set. It made a perceptible, but not massive, difference. If I were building another knockaround system (for the garage or a kid's room), I wouldn't hesitate to buy them again, but these days, you have other options in the <$75 range. I'm working on a gaming room now, and I'm looking at the Miccas you have and the Pioneer BS-22s to build the surround system. Maybe ELACs if I get crazy!
Its really cool to have members like yourself in the Massdrop community!