The links were excellent in their description of what is actually going on. As I thought, compression/ clipping/ distortion is not the "real" problem. The short answer is that the manufacturers are playing games, once again, with the power specifications. The speakers (tweeters) simply won't handle the overall specified power over their specified frequency range. For example, a speaker rated at 100 watts, will not take 100 watts, single frequency, at 15,000 Hz. However, it might take 100 watts at 100 Hz.
Many of today's speakers are not single speakers, but, rather, an ensemble of several speakers, of different types, put in a common enclosure. In general, the bigger speakers need more drive power and can handle (tolerate) more total power than the smaller speakers. The bigger speakers are used for the lower frequency range and the smaller ones for the higher frequency range. That's how you get a smooth and uniform audio response from about 60 Hz to about 20,000 Hz out of one speaker ensemble.
What we are finding is that the power rating of the speaker is not that of a single tone or frequecy rating, measured anywhere across the entire frequency spectrum of the speaker. Rather, it is something like a composite, integrated power spectrum over the frequency range of the speaker. That power spectrum has a maximum power rating for every frequency. The articles state that the power rating is much higher for the lower frequencies than the higher frequencies. If you exceed the power rating evelope at any given frequency, you risk damaging (destroying) your speaker.
So, for Bug's question, what to do? I'm afraid, my friend, that there isn't an easy answer. You could find out what the maximum power rating of the tweeters in your speakers are, and then never run your power amplifier past this point. This would insure that tweeter power rating will not be exceeded by compression, clipping, or anything else. I'm just not sure that this is a very practical or realistic solution.
There are also numerous fixes that could be done to your power amplifier, but those tend to be quite technical. And, I'm not sure how consistent power amplifier design is across the various brands.
So much for a good solution!#$%?%$#!
The Rat.
