Speaker damage


Hello all. I’m spiraling and thought maybe a discussion with you all would help me chill out. 
 

I own a pair of B&W 804S’s that I bought second hand a year ago. The tweeters were dinted so I replaced them immediately. Loved the sound, eventually added a “vintage” REL sub and power everything with a Rogue integrated, 100w. 
 

I’ve been chasing down tube problems for the last year while waiting to get my Krell integrated fixed, but during that time I’ve been enjoying system. Listening mostly on vinyl, some digital, and the movies and video games.

Recently, I started to listen to some recordings a little louder. This was after a discussion on Reddit on how people interpret some recordings that are written by the artist to “listen loud”. I found that most of my time listening, I am listening around 75 to 80dB. My listening position is about two meters away. 
 

The new “loud” has been 85-90dB. Only certain recordings, but still. This is not even “half way” on the volume knob on my amp and the speakers seemingly never distorted. 
 

Last week, I’m listening to a deliberately distorted industrial metal record and it gets to a point where there is some droning frequencies that are lowering in pitch. In this lowering, there’s a distinct almost “crackle” sound coming from my right speaker. I turn down the audio, play again and still hear it in the same spot. I switch to the digital recording of the track thinking maybe it’s the record. Same thing. I switch tube slots—same. Move speaker cables—same result. Right speaker crackle.

I switch out tweeter—same. I order a replacement MF driver—ah ha! No problem. So I order another MF driver to keep them balanced. The ones they are replacing are from 2008, these are manufactured in 2025 from B&W. 
 

But now I’m paranoid. It wasn’t the cheapest replacement and I still don’t know what caused the “failure”. I can’t emphasize enough that the crackling was almost song/section dependent. I listened to more recordings before replacing the driver and only noticed something maybe similar once. I’m in my head. 
 

So now I have two new drivers and I’m having a difficult time enjoying my hobby. I’m afraid every time I hear a pop or a crackles from vinyl surface noise. I’m listening quieter again. But I feel like I need some perspective here. Is there anyway to find out what happened to that previous driver? Maybe it was always shot but just needed the right frequency and amplitude for me to notice?

I do listen to a wide range of music: metal, noise, drone, electronic and all the standards as well. Am I listening too loud? I don’t feel like I am, especially when considering the numbers, but maybe I am mistaken?

Thanks in advance!

h3n_drix

You experienced and fixed a failure of great speakers. Well done.

“Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself”

you need to regain confidence in your speakers, and drive the bejesus out of them when needed!

https://www.soundstagenetwork.com/revequip/bw_nautilus_804.htm

 

If I understand you, you have replaced the right tweeter and both midrange drivers. While I virtually never listen to music over 85db... your speaker are capable of producing far greater volumes without distorting. 

I understand your concern. I would say, you fixed them. The thing about a problem like this is, it will continually occur in daily usage if it is still there. So, if you relax and try to listen to music... it will either keep happening or not. If it does... then time to roll up your sleeves and figure out what is going on. 

Thanks guys, this is exactly the support I was needing. Just needed the confirmation that I wasn’t doing anything wrong. If there is an inherent problem, I’ll fix it! It’s part of the hobby :)

happens to me more often than I would like.

There is a song by a female vocalist with an incredible range. Most speakers and amps can't play it right, the sound crackles at certain sections. And not only that, it happens from a CD and streaming too. Only my album and carefully matched amps and speakers can deliver it. That's the part of the hobby that we can explains but we still get those looks.

 

Dumb question, does this phenomenon happen on both channels of the amplifier with the speaker? Just troubleshooting this in my mind and I’m wondering, have you switched channels to make sure it isn’t your amplifier that is causing this.