Will my speakers be damaged if I use

Don't worry about to much power! Just use some common sense with the volume control. In the past I used a pair PSB 400's with a Parasound HCA 1200 II (220 wpc) at some pretty rediculous levels and never damaged a thing. Now that I have enough space again, my Carver Amazings are back in place. If high power killed speakers I'd have holes dug all over the lawn from years of doing this.

Three of the above responses recommend that you go ahead and use an amp with a power rating significantly above your speaker manufacturer's receommended limit. These people are not entirely wrong. Yes, amplifier clipping can damage tweeters. Yes, the sound of your woofer bottoming is a very audible alarm telling you to turn down the volume. So, if you take these people advice, will you be sitting back and enjoying music, or listening for potential woofer damage? Will you consciously limit the volume -- just to be careful? Will there be some records you won't play because you're concerned about their low frequency output? Contact the speaker manufacturer and tell them what you're contemplating. See if they have a recommendation.

This is the classic audiophile question. As stated above, in the vast majority of cases, speakers are damaged by an underpowered amp, as opposed to an overpowered one. When the amplifier is driven into clipping, it puts out a square wave(a "clipped" sinewave), which is extremely destructive. A lot of electrical components in other industries are life tested by square wave testing. In a speaker, the voice coil of the tweeter gets fried. Too much power bottoms out lower frequency drivers(as Rockvirgo stated), and you will sure turn down the volume fast. Don't worry about the amp being too powerful for the speakers.

If ya run a low power amp into any given speaker, when it clips the excessive runaway energy will melt your drivers, especially tweeters. With too much power, you'll surpass the physical limits of the drivers, exceed their excursions, whap the voice coils against their stops, and tear the cones to shreads. Just listen, you'll hear when something's going out of spec. In general I'd rather have too much than too little. The rule of thumb is: buy the most powerful amp you can afford up to the rated limit specified by the speaker maker. But don't sweat it, maybe discovering and marking the upper limit on your level control with a pencil or a lil piece of tape is the answer. Keep the battery in your smoke alarm fresh! :-)

Alruhl is right...an amp "capable" of 200 watts output does not mean it drives speakers continuously at that level. It means more power available when the dynamics in the music require more power, i.e. crecsendos, heavy bass counts, ect. Unless you like your music very loud, and I mean above 105db—extremely loud for a normal home environment and nowhere close to the decibal level a full 200 watts of power can attain—your speakers will never see more than approxiamately three to five watts continous and ten to 15 watts during dynamic passages. (Remember a speakers sensitivity is in decibals and is measured with a one watt input at one meter away...an 89db sensitive speaker means the sound level one meter from the speaker driven by one watt is 89 decibals). My figures are from memory...any exact figures would be appreciated...I have a chart on wattage input to decibal level output but have not been able to locate.

No, they will not. Speakers get damaged by running low power amps too hard and clipping them, not by having too much power. You really can't have too much power, it only equals better control and higher threshold before clipping, which is what causes damage.

Although it is unlikely that your proposition will result in damage, why take the risk? Listening to music is supposed to be enjoyable. Worrying about whether your amp will destroy you speaker will make this activity less enjoyable.