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
I have another Marantz... the 2245. Also fully restored and putting out about 58 wpc. Probably not a good for testing with the 8 ohm Hales.

My bad for not reading your earlier post more clearly re: the Cambridge transport.


You might be hearing the woofer voicecoils, bottoming out, or- when woofers exceed their max excursion, things can sound really nasty. Another possibility, that I’ve experienced: a bad filter capacitor in your amp’s power supply. I thought one woofer, in my TL, actively bi-amped, bass system was cracking, on big bass transients. Couldn’t find any issue with the driver, but replaced both anyway, as they were purchased in 1981. Same noise(crack/pop), after spending about $500(better woofers, so- no regrets). Took the cover off the amp and found a leaky electrolytic. Replaced/upgraded all four.
Filter capacitor: Not likely. They were all replaced & upgraded (along with a lot of other internal components) in the Marantz’s restoration process, only a couple of months ago. The unit was also extensively bench tested before it was returned to me. But, you never know...