Thread: Sony 5300 runs hot - Protection kicking in

Hope you're right on that! Maybe the fact that I went with 14 ga. wire vs. 12 ga. "helped" in this situation. Both surrounds have 50' of 14 ga. currently in the loop in anticipation of the final wiring scheme when I decide on a final placement. (I won't need as much - maybe 40' - to run to the surrounds when I go to 7.1, but then I'll use those 50' lengths for the SBs.)

I don't have a lot of experience with the Paradigms, but I find them rather crisp and clean and with no evidence of distortion even at the higher levels I occasionally enjoy, and yes - I do expect them to handle that level at least occasionally/intermittently. As mentioned above I never had any audible indication of any "distress" in a speaker leading up to the short (adding to my desire/enjoyment of the higher level) and hence the extended time it took me to discover the problem. Maybe Paradigm is giving me the benefit of the doubt, or perhaps maybe there was indeed an "infant mortality" in play! Either way, their service is great!

FWIW, in my experience the tweeter issue is more with high volume levels coming from underpowered amps, when clipped signals are more likely. But I could ALWAYS hear that kind of distortion well before any damage resulted. That's one reason I went with the 5300 - 120 w/ch vs 100 w/ch in the 4300 - to get the extra margin of safety from clipping. In the case of lower frequency speakers, I can hear other kinds of distress - like the voice coil form bottoming-out or unnatural "harshness" - in advance of permanent damage. I mentioned above the only time I ever actually damaged a voice coil due to overload, and that one was permanent.

Re: "BD ready" - I went so far as to add the HDMI cable and even name the input on the receiver in anticipation of getting a BD player at some point. But for now I'm strictly enjoying my rather extensive HD-DVD collection (dead indeed!) with both the A2 and A35 connected. (With 6 HDMI inputs, why not ?!?) And I'm getting some titles - some even with TrueHD audio tracks! - for as little as $6 ea. shipped. I won't pull the trigger on BD until Profile 2.0 is released and "affordable" ($250 - $300 ??), and hopefully the titles priced a little more reasonably as well. But that's a topic for another thread...!

Tks all for your comments and support. I might report back when I get the fans running...