Do Audiophiles blow speakers?

I'm guilty too of frying 1 tweeter in my Green Mountain 3-way floorstanders. These are 1st order xover speakers & a lot of energy leaks into each driver. I was trying to break them in but about 40 hrs of loud music (atleast 95dB SPL sitting 9 ft away. I was NOT listening, of course!), 1 tweeter just stopped working altogether! :-)
Well, I certainly learned what the limit these speakers is & certainly respect the fact that 1st-order xover speakers cannot be played too loud for too long.

>>I guess that critical listening is when you drive your system to a critical level of loudness .<<

I hope you're kidding.

Tafka steve, remind me not to invite you over -- you seem to have some pretty bad luck ;-)

I have blown my woofers (big Montana WAS 15") twice! Once was because straight dc went into them (there are no caps in my signal path) when a power relay went bad. The other time was volume related! Oh well. I had a blast and now know how to replace speaker components.

I tend to listen to concert DVDs at "realistic" listening levels. Using a Marantz SR-18 receiver I've blown the bass driver on a pair of Alon IVs. The cones just became seperated, so not really a blow-out. I've also rattled the cabinets loose on a pair of Klipsch KLF-30s. The 30s were known for having faulty cabinets, so I'm not sure these were my fault either. Some criticize others for listening to music at higher volumes. But, just as personal preferences vary between speakers (ex: some love Klipsch, other despise them) so do preferences for listening levels.

Only when we change interconnects or speaker wires with the amp on.

I guess that critical listening is when you drive your system to a critical level of loudness ...

Fried a tweeter in my Forrests with VTL MB100 and Nikko Alpha400 in biamped setup.

My history of abuse:

Blew both woofers on a pair of Rogers LS3/5A's with a Quatre 250C.

Blew both woofers on a pair of Vandersteen IIA's with a pair of PS Audio IIc bridged monoblocks.

Blew a friend's AR-3A midrange with a Sansui AU-11000.

Cooked both tweeters on JBL L-166's with a Hafler XL-600.

Wasted 3 midrange drivers and 3 tweeters over the course of 7 years while owning Thiel CS3.6's with Krell's KSA-150 and MDA-300.

Sent a Wilson Watt 3 woofer to the cemetary with a Spectral DMA-180.

Arc'ed an E-stat panel to an early grave with a Krell FPB-600.

I don't think lack of amp power was a problem in any of these cases. Haven't blown anything on my B&W N801's yet, but tomorrow is another day.

Kids, loudness kills, so play it safe and buy a 2A3 SET amp.