Am I overdriving my speakers?

[admin_exported]

Hi everyone,

I've just added a power amp to my system (quad 606) and at high volumes, the mid-range drive unit on one of my speakers (AE aelite 3) seems to be emitting a clicking noise whenever there are heavy kick drums in the music.

On closer inspection I think the noise may be related to the cone hitting something during its' travel, the other speaker is fine at high volumes so I'm wandering if this is a defect or whether I just need to keep the volume down.

 

[matengawhat]

I would have thought if been driven to hard both speakers would do it - try swapping either the speakers or interconnects over to swap left and right channels see if you can make the other one do it - if so could be overdriving. If not i would suspect speaker fault.

I had a pair of MA RS6s that when listening at certain volumes and to certain types of musis the mid range driver omitted a strange sound - took back to dealer the cone had worked itself lose and if you applied pressure to the cone surround whilst music was playing you could change the sound of the fault - it was impossible to tighten so dealer returned to MA and speakers were replaced.

 

[Anonymous]

Had this on some 25yr old ProAcs during heavy bass. Removed the driver to find the "corrugated cover" that covers the coil (bit behind the cone) had come unglued from the chassis. Got a quote for £140 to replace the driver so re-glued it. Been fine for over a year now! David

 

[robw17]

I would agree that it has probably come unglued from the chassis, i had a pair of missions that did this. Also i was wondering what kit you use with your AE aelite 3s, i also have a pair of these and am now looking to upgrade the rest of my system. cheers

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies everyone, I think I'm gonna go home and have a look behind the mid range driver, it sounds as if something's worked loose and needs tightening or fixing back into place.

Rob W, My systems not complete yet but so far I have the Aelite 3's hooked up to a quad 77pre and quad 606 power combo and I'm using a Denon DNS-1000 DJ deck as a transport into an old AMC DAC8 as my source. The aelite 3's need quite a lot of power to get the most out of them, I was running the Quad 77 alone through the speakers and although I got a fairly decent sound out of them it's absolutely nothing compared with what I get now through the 77/606 combo. Everything now is a hell of a lot more detailed clear, bass has more weight and punch and the mids and highs have that "hanging in the air" quality to them. I wouldn't say the system adds to or colours the sound particularly and so you may not get the fizz and sparkle that say a pair of Monitor Audio speakers give, both the quad electronics and the aelite 3's are known for their neutrality but the sound I get is BIG , Loud and clear, just the way I like it.

Hope that helps

Hank