Wolf_Garcia 4-5-2017Regarding the latter possibility, I once had a small signal tube in my VAC tube power amp suddenly short out (as I subsequently determined with my tube tester), while I was listening to music. The result was a fearsomely loud static-type noise. I shut down the amp within about 5 seconds, with no harm done to anything. But if I had not been in the room and able to take quick action at the time, and if my speakers were not rated to be able to handle much more power than the amp is capable of delivering, it certainly seems conceivable to me that a tweeter could have been taken out.
...it would seem that the preamp just stops working when a tube blows, and isn’t likely to dump anything beyond (maybe) some noise into the amp which I suppose could stress the speakers.
And it would seem conceivable that something similar could happen in the case of a tube preamp/solid state amp combo, unless an automute function in the particular preamp design would be protective as Cleeds mentioned.
Regards,
-- Al