diff --git a/app/engine.js b/app/engine.js
index 262de8b..d7e5559 100644
--- a/app/engine.js
+++ b/app/engine.js
@@ -1931,23 +1931,34 @@ async function pump() {
      * drains does not recover on its own.
      */
     /*
-     * 0.85 and a backlog of five, both measured rather than chosen.
+     * SLOWER THAN THE AUDIO IT COVERS, AND LANDING LATE.
      *
-     * The Mini's sentences ran 4.4 s against 4.5 s of audio — nominally FASTER
-     * than real time, while the queue sat at 46 and the lag climbed past 150 s.
-     * Per-sentence time alone therefore misses it: the work outside this timer
-     * (segmenting, the preview model sharing the GPU, the scheduler) is enough
-     * to lose on its own. The margin catches "near enough to real time to be
-     * losing"; the queue depth is the proof that it actually is, and keeps one
-     * slow sentence on a healthy machine from touching anything.
+     * This used to fire only past 8 s, on the reasoning that 8 s meant slower
+     * than people talk. That held when a chunk could be 8 s long; chunks are
+     * capped at HARD_CUT_MAX, 5.5 s, so a 4.4 s sentence is already losing and
+     * never came near the old threshold.
+     *
+     * Both numbers below were measured on a campus M4 Pro, and the second one
+     * only after a first attempt got it wrong. 0.85, because that Mac ran 4.4 s
+     * against 4.5 s of audio — nominally FASTER than real time while losing
+     * badly, since the work outside this timer (segmenting, the preview model
+     * sharing the GPU, the scheduler) loses on its own.
+     *
+     * The second test was a queue depth, and watching that Mac go red disproved
+     * it: the queue sat at 2-3 while the lag held at 15 s and the verdict was
+     * already red. A machine can be persistently late without ever stacking work
+     * up — it finishes each sentence just slightly too slowly, for ever. So the
+     * test is how far behind the speaker the sentence actually landed, which is
+     * what the operator is complaining about in the first place.
      */
-    const losingGround = jobAudioMs > 0 && took > jobAudioMs * 0.85 && queue.length >= 5;
+    const behindMs = Date.now() - job.at;
+    const losingGround = jobAudioMs > 0 && took > jobAudioMs * 0.85 && behindMs > 8000;
     if (took > 8000 || losingGround) {
       state.slowRun = (state.slowRun || 0) + 1;
       if (state.slowRun >= 3 && !respawning && lighterAsr(state.asrModelInUse || state.cfg.asrModel)) {
         state.slowRun = 0;
         log('transcription is slower than people are speaking (' + took + ' ms for ' +
-            Math.round(jobAudioMs) + ' ms of audio, ' + queue.length + ' waiting) — ' +
+            Math.round(jobAudioMs) + ' ms of audio, ' + Math.round(behindMs / 1000) + 's behind) — ' +
             'stepping down to a lighter model', 'err');
         respawnWorker(state.asrWorker);
       }
diff --git a/app/package.json b/app/package.json
index 562b348..74df696 100644
--- a/app/package.json
+++ b/app/package.json
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
   "name": "church-translate-engine",
   "productName": "Church Translate",
   "version": "3.23.2",
-  "buildNumber": 117,
+  "buildNumber": 118,
   "private": true,
   "description": "Live sermon translation — self-contained: captures audio, transcribes, translates, and serves the congregation page itself",
   "main": "main.js",
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@
       ]
     },
     "asar": false,
-    "buildVersion": "117",
+    "buildVersion": "118",
     "win": {
       "target": [
         {