Speaker wattage question


I'm new here, so I hope I'm posting this in the appropriate forum.
I am running KEF LS50's with a Parasound Integrated amp. The amp is rated at 165 WPC @ 8 ohms. The speakers are rated for 25-100 watts (and are possibly lower than 8 ohms according to some sources).
If pushed, do I risk damaging a driver, or will I simply get clipping?
Any help appreciated and please pardon my ignorance on something I'm sure is common knowledge.
chrisg1000

The power recommendation given by the manufacturer is just a rough guide of the kind of amplifier that should be used with the speaker.  Those numbers do not necessarily mean that the speaker is capable of operating at sustained levels as high as the top wattage rating.  The top end number is probably chosen to limit the possibility of damage even from short term events, such as a loud accidental pop, and I highly doubt that a speaker like the LS50 can take 100 watts for anything but the shortest period of time.  I would not want to put too powerful an amp on a speaker for fear that some event might cause such accidental large transients that could damage the speaker even though I would never actually try to run the speaker anywhere near the full output of the amp.

While it is most common to damage speakers with sustained levels of high output (overheating the voice coil), one can also damage speakers with very strong short-term transients.  I recently spoke with someone who damaged a tweeter by playing a classical recording that had extremely wide dynamic range (I have a few of these, and they come with a warning about the dynamic range), while not playing them at a very high average volume.

As to the idea that one is more likely to damage a tweeter with an underpowered amp driven into clipping than by excessive clean power from a too powerful amp, I spoke with a manufacturer who said that, by far, there are more instances of damage from use of too powerful amps than from clipping underpowered amps. 

I would personally stick with amps more toward the lower end of the recommended power range because I don't do that much loud listening and I find that lower-powered amps tend to sound better than higher powered amps, provided that the speakers are suitable for the lower-powered gear. 

My speakers are rated 15 watt - 200 watt. Before I was using 60 watt amp, now using 120 watt, and it is definitely better, though the quality of the current amp is higher as well. I sometimes listen to jazz/rock fusion at relatively high volume for couple of hours straight - nothing happens. The amp feels very relaxed and so do the speakers. In the case of the speakers that I have I wouldn't want to stay closer to the 15 watts than to 200 watts.
That math is too complicated for me. But the question was not about the precise figures but about real life situation and the position of the volume control. Anyway, I guess that this is the kind of situation when you cannot just rely on your hearing not to damage the speakers.
It appears that as it is often the case there is no general answer, it all depends on the particular application. One thing is certain though - when choosing speakers first choose quality drivers not nice cabinets and fancy crossover work.
That math is too complicated for me. But the question was not about the precise figures but about real life situation and the position of the volume control.
sorry. I thought i had simplified it as much as i could. 
Well, one thing you could do it measure the SPL at your listening position with a RadioShack SPL (or any other) meter & see at what volume knob setting you are getting 91dB SPL average (which corresponds to 10W), 101dB SPL average (which corresponds to 100W) & what the peaks are at each of those volume knob settings. That will tell you how much you can crank it up & be safe with your speakers.

One thing is certain though - when choosing speakers first choose quality drivers not nice cabinets and fancy crossover work.
mostly true. Remember that cross-over networks can make or destroy your speaker. I.E. you could have quality drivers in your speaker but a really crappy, current hogging x-over driving those quality drivers & you will end up with an overall shitty speaker.
In the end, the quality drivers, the x-over & the cabinets are all tied together. It's difficult to separate them as individual pieces. Another example - you could have quality drivers, a 1st-rate x-over network but your cabinets side-walls could be weak & resonate too much w/ the music. Once again, the result will be shitty (with too much bass boom/overhang) & you would have wasted your $$ on quality drivers + x-over in an ill-designed cabinet.
All 3 items you wrote need to work in compliment w/ each other for the speaker to be sounding its best.
Yeah for sure don't buy a fancy speaker cabinet when you know that the drivers aren't top quality. 
Of course, all three elements must come together to make good speaker, but drivers come first, that's the start.
Hi all, I know 165 watts sounds like a lot but it is not a huge amount.

The way to think about this in my opinion is in dB.

100 watts into 8 ohms is a 20 dB amplifier  referenced to 1 watt of power and you add that 20 dB to the 1 watt efficiency of your speakers.  
When talking power 3 db is twice the power so 165 watts is close to 23 dB added to the 1 watt efficiency of your speakers.
a 1000 watt amp is 30dB of power.
So if you decide 1 watt is the reference power level
Then 10* log of (RMS wattage of your amp) is how many dB it adds to the 1 watt efficiency or sensitivity of your speakers.
If you do that with your 165 watt amp you come up with 22.16 dB added to say 90 dB for a total sound pressure level of 112.16 dB at 1 meter.

General rule of thumb if your speakers sound clear you aren't putting in too much power if they sound distorted you should turn it down and see what is going on.


This is how JBL determines maximum power level and it is run for 8 hours to sense failure not distortion.
https://www.jblpro.com/pub/technote/spkpwfaq.pdf

other companies may do it differently.