[yooper]

While watching "Storytellers" on MTV (less than ref level), I heard one hell of a loud "POP"! from my LF Salk HT3.  It resembled a metallic sound, or maybe like someone hitting a homer with an aluminum bat.  I'm talking loud here, much, much louder than the volume was set at, my left ear still knows something happened.  I thought for sure something was damaged.  While everything appears to be ok, I wonder if something may have been hurt.

Anyone ever have a similar experience, or have any idea what may have happened?  I'm a little concerned here (should I be?), and worry about it happening again.

My tubed pre was on, which drives a pair of mono's to power the fronts, and my Anthem amp and pre were driving everything else.

Edit-I also have a Velodyne DD15 subwoofer on the left side of the room.  While it too appears to be functioning normally, it is possible the sub could have made the noise.  Even though the sub can't produce a higher pitch frequency resembling the "pop" on its own, perhaps something else could cause the sub to do make the noise?

Mark

[BrianM]

Yup, I've had the same thing happen before (though not while watching "Storytellers" on MTV...so not a perfect analogy...).  In my case I assume it was because I was leaning behind my gear rack to pick up something I'd dropped, and must've bumped one of the cables, causing a surge.  The sound you describe appears to match what I heard -- very loud pop.  Don't know what caused yours, but chances are your speakers are just fine if they're still playing same as usual (if something was wrong, melted coil or whatever, you'd know it).

[Big Red Machine]

You got bad AC over in A²??

It's not the speaker, for sure.  Did you reboot everything and reseat all the cables?  Check for proper grounding of the cables?  Static build up?

[ohenry]

I've heard a microphonic tube make an audible "clink" through the speaker before, but it wasn't alarmingly loud.  I assumed that it was due to the stress of changing temperature.  You may want to tap your tubes to see if that channel is microphonic.

[konut]

Its been many years, but I heard something like this many years ago when working live sound. A bad capacitor can build a charge and, when a certain threshold is reached, a loud pop can occur. Very hard to track down.

[bprice2]

I experienced this last week.  I had the volume up pretty high and had gone to the next room and heard a sound like what you described.  Everything checked out fine...no damage.  It then happened a couple of times again that evening, but not as loud.  No idea what it might have been, but everything is fine now.  The static electricity idea mentioned earlier makes sense to me.