1 sinple question....

[Fitz 10+ year member]

Wouldn't distortion numbers vary according to speaker and input power anyway?

he was talking about the distortion just coming from the amp...

 

[Logikalliquid 10+ year member]

he was talking about the distortion just coming from the amp...

Thats what I get for posting at 2am. Let me rephrase since i left a little bit out of that:

Wouldn't distortion numbers(from the amp) needed to blow a speaker vary according to speaker and input power anyway?

 

[Fitz 10+ year member]

Ummm... I'm going to try to explain this the best I can, this late...

Since subs are highly inefficient, distortion doesn't affect them that much since they're already converting a lot of the power into heat anyway. Overpowering will. Tweeters are fairly efficient (~25 percent), thus distortion affects them more. So the answer to your question is yes, although you'll see a lot more speakers blow from overpowering than from distortion.

Underpowering does not blow a speaker

Pushing a weak amp into clipping no where near driver power handling will not blow a speaker

Clipping WILL, however, blow an amp...