Mine are on output and most of the time are barely moving. I can't see well enough to tell you what the output measurement is but it's solidly under 5% of the total deflection potential. That said, yesterday I had the house to myself for a bit and decided to crank it to my personal taste and the VU meters were absolutely bumping up to the 50% mark. It's in a relatively small room and much beyond this would have been immediately harmful to hearing. Regardless, sound was still very much controlled and clear.
I think the Lintons are just now starting to break in because I've started to notice a lot more light details like guitar strums and stuff feeling more separated from the mix of sounds. They were absolutely great out of the box but are starting to really come into their own. I feel like the NAD pairing fits my listening style well in that it's extremely accurate and neutral sounding. It's not clinical or sterile but there's nothing but original intent being fleshed out. I think some people might prefer more personality and some form of EQ would definitely get you there.
The Lintons seem to be very sensitive to placement. Hell, the grilles are labeled right and left because the fins are angled to better direct the sound to ideal position. Fortunately, in this space I can get them however far off any wall I like and they seemed to do best at about 30" off the back wall and 20" inches off the side wall of the corner. I toed them at 60deg and then spaced them 12' apart to create an equilateral triangle point at ideal listening positioned just off the far wall. For most listening being inside the triangle is good enough although the closer you are to either speaker you will detect more presence or speed from that speaker. When I cranked it up the other day though, it was only truly well formed at the ideal position. There were some easily perceived speed difference issues outside that point at high volumes. I think this because there's necessarily a lot of sound reflection in this room as there's only wood and metal in there. If I were going to crank them often with no regard for where I was sitting I'd have to go to a larger room and place the ideal spot more towards center of room and probably add some type of treatment like a rug.
I would note that even when everything is at moderate volume it still sounds really good well outside the room with no direct path from the speakers to an ear. Also,
@nolalady gets big points for fully supporting/humoring me while I worked out everything with a speed square, a try square, and a tape measure.
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