What do the power ratings on a speaker mean?
For the most part the power ratings on a speaker mean that you can write “500Watts” on an in store display to help you sell speakers. This is probaby a rather unsatisfying answer, so I will elucidate. The ratings originally arose from a genuine desire to let the consumer know if the amplifier he had would blow up the speaker. The problem with this line of reasoning is found in this riddle: “Which amplifier will blow up your speakers first; the 1000 Watt amp or the 10 Watt amp? Answer: the 10 Watt amp because it will clip first.”. Unless you are using a tone control, you will most likely blow up your tweeter, because the amplifier can’t deliver at the volume levels you want. When you do this, the top of the waveform gets sliced off, as if it was clipped by garden shears. The result of all this, is the production of a huge amount of high frequency information, which is why the tweeter is the one to fry.
