Loud Snap at High Volume

@erik_squires I tried plugging the ports with dense foam, did not influence the "snap".

@onhwy61 I downloaded Decibel X on my iPhone and the crescendo where the peak appears spiked to 95db.

@mijostyn My program source is Qobuz streamed through an 432 Evo Aeon MkII playing in bit perfect to a Playback Designs MPD 8 Dream DAC.  And, yes, the snap happens in the same place.

So playing around with the Decibel X made me realize a few things.  When I drop the volume so that the peak is 90db or less I do not get the snap.  And at this level it is just as "live" sounding and of course no doubt better for my hearing.  The system will play at a sustained 95db (ear plugs in) with no problem.  It's just when there is a sustained build up to that level or above that brings a snap and in some cases a complete drop out of the speakers before they come back on.  Which means some protection circuitry is kicking in.  Not good and certainly not enjoyable to play at that sustained level.

My conclusion is it's the tweeter making this noise when pushed.  Since it happens equally in both tweeters I doubt it is a faulty tweeter, rather the limit of the design.  The tricky part is that the volume control on the DAG, rather than a number, is where the needles are pointing on the gauge while you have your finger on the up or down button.  Meaning it is difficult to pick an exact volume level as you might with electronics that give you a number.  Since the system is so dynamic, picking the right listening level that gives you room for a peak at 90db or so is tricky.  I think in fact that I have to use the Decibel+ to do this, i.e. set the initial level in the low 80's.  But of course it depends on the recording and it's dynamic range.

Maybe this tweeter snap--if that's where it's coming from--is a blessing in disguise, making me be more careful of the peaks I subject my hearing to.

@8th-note Don't know which Borresen speakers you were listening to but the Z2's are supposed to have the same tweeters as the other models up to their large 05 array.  I do plan on speaking with the dealer.  Be interesting to see if they've ever heard the tweeters react like this. 

Just out of curiosity, what is the specific Mahler 8th recording that does this? It'd be interesting to look at what's in the recording at that point.

@misstl I misspoke at the onset.  It is Shostakovich's 8th (The Stalingrad) not Mahler's 8th.  The 2016 DG recording with Andris Nelsons conducting the Boston Symphony.  It is approximately 2/3 of the way through the final movement, Allegretto. There are a succession of drum rolls followed by crescendoing strings, winds and horns.  It is on the third crescendo that I get the snap.  Be interested to know how your speaker handles it at 95db!

I wouldn’t expect speakers in that price range to have trouble handling 95 db peaks. Most mid fi gear can coast through that.

OK, just listened to the piece. The drum rolls occur between 9 minutes into the piece to just over the 10 minute mark. There is an incredible amount of very, very deep bass involved, but I heard no cracks or snaps of any type on my stereo.  My system is a pair of Ohm 1000s powered by a Schiit Lyr 3 with a Multibit DAC and Aegir amp. I also have a GE Supersub X to handle the low end. The Ohms have an active high pass filter at 70 Hz to let the sub do the bass work. 

I didn't pull my sound level meter out, but I listened at my preferred level, which is typically in the 80 to 85 dB range, which is as loud as I want to hear music these days.

I also downloaded the track and looked at it in Adobe Audition. The track is just over 16 minutes long. The dynamic range is quite amazing -- you don't see many recordings like this. 

 -- Over the entire track, the =average= level is -30 dB
 -- The first seven minutes has an average level of -35 dB
 -- The last five minutes has an average level of -42 dB
 -- However, the average level of the range from just past 9 minutes to about 10.5 minutes has an increase in the average level to about -20 dB
 -- The drum strike peaks jump all the way to 0 db, so you are talking about a 30 dB peak over the average level of the whole piece, and still 20 dB peaks over the middle section.

I also looked at a frequency analysis, and the vast majority of those big drum peaks are in the low frequency range with the highest point well below 100 Hz. Audition doesn't give a lot of graphic resolution under 100 Hz, but it seemed pretty clear that it wasn't rolling off in the subsonic range.

The thing you need to look at is how your are listening to the soft parts. What is the listening level for the first seven minutes? If you are listening to this section at 90 dB, you are asking the speakers (and amp) to reproduce a 120 dB kettle drum strike with a ton of bass energy.  That's a challenge for most any system. Interesting, in terms of dBs, all of the drum strike sections peaked right at 0 dB, but the bass energy differed slightly between them, with the third one having a slightly higher bass profile.