Distortion and popping from new speakers

You may be overdriving your amp -- since it sounds good when you turn it down. Is it VERY LOUD at the point where it starts to distort and pop?

11:30 on the volume control does not indicate 45 percent power -- in your particular case it could be closer to 150 percent at that setting. You don't get bad distortion and popping unless you are clipping an amp excessively. The fact that it doesn't distort until the volume is raised past a certain threshold indicates the distortion is probably in the amplifier. If the volume level is not loud and the speakers are distorting badly then there may be something wrong with the amplifier. Try a different, more powerful amp if possible and see if the problem persists. Also, check your speaker cables and make sure none of the positive and negative connections are touching/shorting.

Hey Dave, I just thought of something else -- make sure the CD player is NOT plugged into the phono input! That would definitely cause the symptoms you've outlined above. The input level would be way too high with the bass boosted out of proportion as well -- surefire recipe for overload.

Yes it is very loud and I would not listen to it for more than about one song at that volume. When I first noticed it was when a friend come over and we listen to the intro to Hotel California. the "bass" and Acoustic Guitar into. didn't cause the problem it was after they started to play the song. So then it might be normal for a system to only play distortion free up to about 40% of full volume?

The cd is plugged into the cd input.

Depends on a lot of factors, including CD output voltage power rating of amp, and sensitivity of speakers.