I'm looking for feedback about an observation I made last night.
I have my M100v4 connected to an external amp which in turn is connected to my Onk pre-outs. There's an 800v4 in the mix. This was the first time I added an external amp to this system. I was listening to 2.1 yesterday and I kept turning it up and up and up. The volume reached a point where the deep, 3D soundstage started to compress until it was just a 2D plane right up front where the M100 drivers are. The width and height were preserved. Also the well-detailed images with darkness between them sort of merged together, got larger and shifted positions. The effect was like wearing glasses and seeing everything in focus and then removing them and things got fuzzy.
I haven't taken any SPL measurements to see if the M100s may be compressing or the amp or pre-amp is reaching its limits. I very much doubt it's the M100s because I can't imagine the system is anywhere near 600W of power or the pre-amp because I am at +3 on the Onk and still have 9 more dB to go. It could be the amp.
Any similar experience from any of you would help. Thanks in advance.
