Pop Sound in my speakers when driven loud from studio recorded CD sources.


Hales Revelation 1 bookshelf speakers are what we're talking about.  Purchased in the mid 90's and had been in storage for about 15 years in climate controlled conditions.  Just started using them again.  I'm finding under most conditions they perform admirably all around.  When listening to certain studio recordings on CD where the sound is very dense or the recording has a compressed quality,  I am hearing a distinct "pop" (not part of the musical presentation) when, for instance, the drummer makes a strong slap on the snare drum or tom tom.  Low frequency bass response is still very agile and stable for these small speakers.  Is it possible my mid bass driver is stuttering under these circumstances?  These Hales are known to be power hungry speakers.  My amplifier is 85W per channel and I'm noticing this pop when I get the volume knob to about '12 o'clock' .  That's when it starts to sound loud in my listening room.  Other lesser sources like radio or streaming sources, don't seem to bring this on.  It's the up front, dense sound from a CD that does it.  

Any diagnostician out there that can tell what the disfunction is? ... what I can do about it, if anything?  Thanks!

chametzoo
As far as amplifier clipping is concerned. A recently completely restored Marantz 2275, which was bench tested at about 85 wpc is what the Hales speakers are working with. I don’t know enough about clipping to know if it possible that my amplifier is producing this effect. Playing the same CD passages at lower volume does not produce any of the "pop" "fart" sounds.  It only happens at higher volumes.

Doing some research on clipping. My issue does seem to be (and sound like) amplifier clipping.  Only specific 'sharp' sounds seem to cause the speaker drivers to shutter.

Anyone want to confirm this? The amplifier in the Marantz receiver does not have a gain control. Is my only option playing at lower volume? A more efficient, powerful amp.  I really thought 85 wpc would drive these speakers properly.  Thanks.

Sure sounds like amp clipping, which can fry tweeters. It happened to me one time.
The Hales are 86db at 8ohms - that might be a pretty difficult load to drive at high volume for most amplifiers less than 100 watts. The review of them (1998) on Soundstage! had them powered by 200w Pass Labs. he did use a 40w Clayton S-40 tube amp, but I'm not sure how much that was also helped out by the Threshold FET pre-amp.

Your Marantz also has an input sensitivity of 180mv. WHat's your CD player's output?

Thanks all!  

Simao: Cambridge Audio CXC Dedicated Transport.  It says "Output Impedance" <75 ohms.