There is no debate regarding what the author of the article is saying. It is true that speaker damage is brought about by too much SPL or input power as it mechanically rips the speakers, and putting "too much power, beyond the limits of what the speakers can take" puts too much thermal or over-heating, literally burning the coil. As I mentioned in my post in the thread, there are several factors to consider regarding speaker-amp matching and this can be one of them. This is aside from understanding matters like impedance, damping factors, connection and connectors, wire gauge, the math that goes along with it, etc. But for the novice, I would advice the simpler, most accepted and practiced procedure by countless practitioners so as not to muddle the situation. I am quoting here an advice from Sweetwater (
http://www.sweetwater.com/shop/live-sound/power-amplifiers/buying-guide.php) regarding amp-speaker matching, as follows:
Matching Amps to SpeakersTapco's J-1400 offers 1400W @ 4 ohms (bridged)
"When you're matching a Power Amp to a PA Speaker, a good rule of thumb is to
pick an amplifier that can deliver power equal to twice the speaker's continuous IEC power rating. This means that a speaker with
a "nominal impedance" of 8 Ohms and a continuous IEC power rating of 350 watts will require an amplifier that can produce 700 watts into an 8 Ohm load. For a stereo pair of speakers, the amplifier should be rated at 700 watts per channel into 8 Ohms. A quality professional loudspeaker can handle transient peaks in excess of its rated power if the amplifier can deliver those peaks without distortion."
"Using an amp with some extra "headroom" will help assure that only clean, undistorted power gets to your speakers. Some professional amplifiers are designed so they have additional headroom. These amps can cleanly reproduce transient peaks that exceed their rated power. In this case select a model with an output power rating equal to the continuous IEC power rating of the speaker. Consult the amplifier manufacturer or owner's manual to learn more."
"In some applications, such as critical listening in a studio environment, it is important to maintain peak transient capability. For these applications,
use an amplifier that can deliver 6db (or four times as much) more power than the continuous IEC power rating."
"If budget restraints or legacy equipment
force you to use an amplifier with less power, extreme care should be taken to see that the amplifier is not driven into clipping. It may surprise you to learn that low power can result in damage to your speaker or system. "
The important thing is that the speaker-amp match should be "ideal," that is, the operation of the amp is "cool" because of enough headroom, thus, avoiding distortion, which is the killer. The on-going ideal match up is that the amp should be "about twice the power of the speaker." You can go even go higher if you want to, as long as you do not go beyond the limit of what the speakers can handle, otherwise, you will go to a situation as described by the author of the article.
FWIW
