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Loud Snap at High Volume

I like to listen to orchestral music at fairly high volume.  I have Borresen Z2 speakers driven by a D'Agostino Progression Integrated in a fairly small room: 13x16x12.  At the peak of a crescendo, as you get in say the last movement of Mahler's 8th Symphony, the speakers will emit a loud snap, almost like the crack of a whip.  I haven't measured, but I doubt I have the level much over 90db.  I don't hear any distortion or break up before the snap. so it doesn't seem to be clipping.  Which I can't imagine happening with the power of the DAG (200w into 8ohms/400w into 4 ohm) into a relatively benign 89db sensitive speaker that doesn't dip much below 4 ohms.  I have read it could be loose speaker wire connections, and in fact the Shunyata Alpha V2 cable's banana connectors are not super tight at the back of the speakers.  Or could it be the Z2's ribbon tweeter breaking up?  Any insights would be welcome.

128x128stephendunn
knotscott
826 posts
 

If it's not clipping, my first guess is something with the ribbons, but I'll reiterate that its a guess.  Any idea how low the ribbons are crossed over?

stephendunn's avatar
stephendunn OP
151 posts
 

Don't know where the ribbons are crossed over.  This is my first experience with ribbon tweeters.  Love the sound of them, but maybe they can't be pushed.  Discouraging.

erik_squires
15,912 posts
 

It may be you are overdrivign the woofers.  Try plugging the ports on the rear and see if the problem vanishes.  Not saying you should run all the time like this, but it is possible severe low frequency signal could cause excess excursion below the port frequency.

russ69's avatar
russ69
3,360 posts
 

@erik_squires    Erik has got the answer. The dynamic range of classical music can be huge. Play Fanfare for the Common Man with cannons and turn the volume down until you don't hear any distortion. That will be your approximate system limit. If you want to play loud and not damage loudspeakers you might want to look at loudspeakers that can do that with ease, like big horn systems. 

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