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liquidsun
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Joined: Dec 20 2016 - 2:02pm
Speaker bottoming out or Amplifier Clipping?

Hello All.
Yesterday I was listening at pretty loud level (according to Phone SPL meter 83db average with 87db peaks at distance of 9 feets from the speakers) and I did hear I belive "thumping" noise from the Low Frequency driver of my Sonus Faber Olympica 2 speakers only on the drum kick parts of the song (was playing Max-O-Man song by Fourplay on TIDAL 16bit/44khz).
I could see the woofer doing very long excursions but I'm not sure weather I was clipping the amp or was pushing the limit of the speaker. The amplifier is Primare I35 Prisma which according to hifinews can deliver 190W / 395W Continuous power (<1% THD, 8/4ohm) and 192W / 415W / 510W / 260W Dynamic power (<1% THD, 8/4/2/1ohm).
The volume control of the amplifier was at 70 out of 100 units. According to Sonus Faber user manual, the speakers can handle 50 – 250W and the Long-term max input voltage (IEC-268-5) is specified at 20 V rms.

So, does anyone have clue what is happening, is it the speaker defective or is it the song having just to much low bass notes?

Kal Rubinson
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Joined: Sep 1 2005 - 9:34am
It is likely the speaker

It is likely the speaker since "clicks' rarely come from an overloading amp but, more commonly, from a mechanical device (like a speaker driver) hitting a physical limit. Note that the single with bass driver in the Olympica II is pretty small with limited output (according to the reviews I see).

liquidsun
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Thank you for your replay Kal

Thank you for your replay Kal. Actually i think i confused the term clacking and i should've used thumping sound rather the clicking or clacking. You know the bass was somehow distorted similar like a port noise sound. I will edit my original post as well

Kal Rubinson
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Still more likely the driver

Still more likely the driver than the amp, imho.

liquidsun
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It's a bit disappointing that

It's a bit disappointing that a speaker that costs almost 10k USD can't do more than 87db SPL :(

I hope Mr. John Atkinson will shed some light on this issue

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