paranoid listener-damaging speakers?

On a small two way when it sounds really "loud" then there is usually distortion either on the system or the recording. It is not well known but undistorted music can be played much louder without fatigue or sounding loud than distorted music many modern pop/rock CD's are badly distorted from audio compression -they sound harsh and loud at modest SPLs.

I'M NO EXPERT. BUT IF YOU HEAR DISTORTION, TURN THE VOLUME DOWN. IT'S ALWAYS BETTER TO FIND THE SOURCE AND MAKE ANY NECESSARY CORRECTIONS BEFORE PERMENANT DAMAGE IS DONE. IMHO- DISTORTION IS LIKE A TOOTH ACHE. ADD YOUR OWN CLICHE'S HERE...

I would worry more about damaging your ears. Eton drivers are only $200 each or so. Your ears are priceless. As a rough estimate, try talking at a normal volume level, as if you were talking to someone else in the room. If you can't hear your own voise very well, the music is really loud.
As for your speakers, it is very frequency dependent. The more very low frequency content, the less loud you can play them before they reach their limits. there are at least 2 ways to damage a speaker - emlting the voice coil and bottoming out the voice coil. I'm not swure there's a good way to tell your overheating the voice coil until it's too late. If you hear a buzzing sound or a loud crack on loud deep bass notes, your hitting the voice coil against the magnets, and are at risk of bending the voice coil and ruining the speaker.

When you hear distortion at a loud volume, turn it down a bit to see if you hear the same distortion. If you do, it's the recording. If you don't, you're over driving something in your system.

Not able to shed any further light on your question, but Shadorne's point put something into focus that had been perplexing me for awhile.

"It is not well known but undistorted music can be played much louder without fatigue".

I had recently converted my little entry level Arcam/Magnepan system to a biamp system through an active crossover. Despite the documented gains in power efficiency's (no passive crossovers, etc.) I found myself listening comfortably and enjoyably at much higher levels as judged by the level of attenuation at the preamp.

I had noted the fact, but didn't understand the dynamic. Shadorne's statement just rang so true and explains my observations. Distortion, whether on the recording or in the playback system, really is a factor in percieved volume.

In my case, the distortion was from overdriving the little amplifiers in a non-active system and from the passive crossovers in the speakers. Free of that distortion, I enjoy much higher volumes for longer periods. Put on a highly compressed or poorly recorded track (yes, I do also love mainstream/pop rock like U2 and Audioslave) and I am reaching for the remote to turn down the volume.

Jim S.