Thanks TWL for the informative response - it puts it into perpective for me. But note though that even when connected to my MC300 (300 w/ch) at the 4 ohm tap I still got the same sound (I presume these would clip well beyond where the Rowland woud clip). But I realize you were just pointing out a reference point with the numbers, not knowing how loud it actually was registering. I will have to put the disk back in and see at what decibel level it starts to clip.
RR Copland CD speaker killer?
I am wondering if someone with some know-how would like to guess what my technical problem is. I have Aerial Model 6's. When I play the Fanfare for the Common Man from the RR Copland CD the field drum makes my speakers crackle (that's the best word to describe the sound, which seems to come from the tweeter?!). This phenomena happened while the speakers were being driven by my old 300 watt amp (McIntosh) and still my new Rowland Concentra (the 100 watt version). So is it the amp clipping or is the speaker taking in too much power to try to reproduce the drum, even from the Concentra? (I am not sure what kind of peaks it can produce). As a test I did listen to my disk with headphones, and it does not crackle. At lower levels it also does not crackle on the speakers. I am talking normal listening levels here, as well; nothing ear splitting by any means. So are the speakers wimpy or what? This is the ONLY recording (out of many "heavy duty spectacular" types)I have that can make these speakers do this...any ideas?