Analysis of potential speaker damage due to clipping

[amirm]

This seems to be a tier 2 debating topic in forums. Can a clipping and hence underpowered amp damage tweeters? There are theories as to why it could and arguments as to why it couldn't. This article by Jim Lesurf is the best analysis of this topic I have seen by far:

https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scots_Guide/audio/clipping/page1.html

He covers all the scenarios both using simplistic signals and music. It is complete coverage of the topic to the point that I can't add anything to it whatsoever. It is written for technical people though so understanding it may be difficult. If so, you may want to read the hypothesis and conclusions. If you don't want to read it, I will summarize by saying that he leaves the door open for almost all of the scenarios to do damage. But also helps dismiss some others as not being plausible.

Here he is in his own words:

In general, therefore, it seems quite plausible to assume that damage may sometimes occur due to any one of the following mechanisms, or various combination of them:

• HF creation by clipping of the LF.
  
• Rise in the HF level of the original signal which – although limited by clipping by an amount similar to that which occurs at LF – rises to a high level.
  
• Leakage of LF power.
  
• Non-thermal effects due to an increase in the peak displacement or accelerations.
  

The main conclusion is that there is no obvious reason indicated by the analysis why we should either rule out any of the above factors entirely, or to assume that only one of them is always (or usually) a sole or primary cause. Which is in practice a more common cause, or whether they tend usually to act together, would be hard to say without more information on typical systems and musical waveforms in order to do a relevant statistical analysis, etc.