Paul G. wrote in
:

snip

I've heard a story where some
guy takes a crappy little amp, runs it flat out (square
waves or worse) and destroys speakers that have a
reasonable power rating. I'm not sure if its an audio myth,
but it was supposed to have ocurred when a knowledgable
customer challenged a salesman at a hifi store, claiming
the expensive powerful speaker could be damaged by the
little amplifier.

I have heard similar, from technicians I used to work with. It
is the distorted nature of the sound waves that destroys the
speakers, not the volume (of course, volume CAN kill speakers as
well).

It is not coincidental that cheap crappy amps claim 5,000 PMPO
(about 15W/side) and deliver clipped non-sound, and THAT is what
will destroy a speaker. 20 W per side of QUALITY is all anyone
really needs, unless, as MANY people do, you own equipment to
appreciate IT, not the music it lets you hear.

A GREAT musician I used to go to music school with had a crap
little amp (with two volume controls and one tone control, built
circa 1970, Radio Shack branded...).

But he was a MUSICIAN and he cared about the MUSIC - he was not
a ****** who only cares about the fact that only 30 other people
in the world can afford a system like his - on which he (once or
twice a year) plays his ***3*** CD's (which came free with one
of his magazine subs).



--
Any mental activity is easy if it need not be subjected to
reality.