Ime preserving dynamics has to do with minimizing those things that cause compression, namely voice coil heating, subsequent magnet heating, flux modulation, and mechanical system non-linearities.
Voice coil heating causes rapid-onset thermal modulation due to the rise in resistance as the voice coil heats up, and then the voice coil heats up the adjacent magnet, and the magnet loses strength until it cools back down. The magnetic flux in the voice coil also modulates the strength of the permanent magnetic field a bit as the two interact. And suspension systems can go non-linear at high excursion, which can also drive the voice coil outside its linear range.
Woofers and tweeters were mentioned in the original post - it is not uncommon for woofers and tweeters (and mids) to have different power compression characteristics, resulting in a change in tonal balance as the speaker gets pushed to higher sound pressure levels.
One solution is to use drivers that will be operated well below their rated thermal power handling even on peaks. For instance Klipschorns are theoretically capable of something like 125 dB, so even on 112 dB peaks they are only seeing 1/20th of their rated power.
Duke
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