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From Wharfedale

This is from Wharfedale:

Burn Out:

"This happens when the amplifier from a high average running level refuses to supply any more power to the loudspeaker. The Cones or diaphrams are then prevented from making a full excursion as required to produce the note or signal they are trying to achieve. The cone becomes an unstable quivering object with no power left to propel it forward or to pull it back, and heat builds up in the voice coil.
[my note as to why receivers sound so crappy with bass heavey material - they're SLOW at controlling the woofers] Normally, this heat is dissapated through vents and by conduction along the former, aided by the motion of the whole assembly through cooler air, and because changes and gaps in the signal level provide a rest offerring some brief respite to allow radiant and conductive cooling. Even a few watts can cause a rapid and damaging build up of heat under these conditions, after all, the wire round the coil is little different from the wire in an electric fire or a bulb. So, a sustained onslaught of even a few distorted watts is always likely to prove fatal.
The message is clear...IF YOU LOSE DETAIL OR YOU HEAR DISTORTION TURN IT DOWN."


"all Wharfedale loudspeakers are designed to accept the full output power capability of a 100 watt amplifier when correctly used. They can withstand momentary or short duration peak signals well in excess of 100 watts [and knowing the Brits they mean WELL inescess]. The can be destroyed or damaged by as little as 10 watts.

BY far the commonest cause of loudspeaker failure is damage to the voice coil caused by "amplifier" overload. All loudspeaker manufacturers regularly receive letters from indignant or perplexed customers who have inadvertantly damaged their loudspeakers. Typically, these will state the the volume control was not at maximum at the time, and the speaker is rated at several times the amplifiers power rating..."


RGA
I would say that *MOST* people who run floorstanding speakers(which typically are rated well above 150RMS+ power handling)are running amplifiers WELL WELL below that rating...likely in the 50-100 watt range. I would bet 90% of all speaker owners are in this kind of camp where they are running lower powered amps with high watt rated speakers. Yet they blow tweeters...to say the only way to blow one is to overpower them is nonsense since most people who blow them are clear examples of underpowering them.

A basic understanding is that bass drivers request most power and if the amp is in trouble you get high distorion sent to the tweeter...which should make a real irritating sound which should get you to turn it down. When you don't the tweeter can blow.

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