Distortion and popping from new speakers

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.

Dave, my guess is that it is normal in this case. The amp is probably hitting full volume at around the 11 O'clock position. The only reason I find that a bit unusual is because your CD player is part of the same series from the same company and usually same-series components work very well together. Nevertheless it appears to be the case.

So relax and enjoy it. If you need to play it that loud, you'll need a much bigger amp; and at that point you may be taxing the power handling capacity of your speakers.

Distortion like you've experienced can harm/blow your speakers and you don't need to impress your friends at that cost and bother. High-end systems are not normally designed for rock-concert output levels. Heck, if you want really LOUD playback levels buy a pair of Klipsch Cornwalls and a high-powered amp... Then you'll be damaging your hearing -- not your system.

Frank :)

Davef, I had a similar problem but with a Hafler DH-200 power amp. The problem with mine was that it had a bad output transistor.

In your situation however, it could be different. I would call Musical Fidelity and tell them the situation.

Thanks
Alfredo