Can a power amp have too much power, risking damage to a speaker?

Thanks iad for nuancing this discussion!
I'm no longer worried about. having an over-powered amp, as long as it's clean power driving my speakers and as long as I don't drive my hearing to deafness. 

For my latter concern, I'd advise all to monitor ambient listening SPL with audiometer. I keep my general listening between 60- and 70-dBA and listen to music up into the 80s dBA-- dependent on the genre. For home theater, we set to between 70- and 80-dBA for most dialogue, but expect transient peaks into and beyond 90dBA. 

@joelepo glad to hear you are happy with your setup now

I never mesaured it, I should try

@joelepo 

Exactly right- don’t worry unless you really crank it up to hearing injuring levels and beyond.  Congrats on saving your hearing.  

      +1s...to all that mentioned more speakers being damaged by underpowered amps, driven into distortion/clipping, taking out tweeters and: then mids.

       When I had my shoppe, in Winter Park, Florida; that's what I saw the most, having four major colleges, so close by.     Especially: the beginning of the week, after their parties.

        I stocked a variety of Zener diodes and heat sinks, that I made limiters with, to protect 'em and they'd still melt the adhesives (used as witness), at which point: bigger amps were provided.

        Typically: the only woofers that came in and needed reconing or replacement, were from the multitude of musicians, live music venues and the Navy base's E-Club disco (4 Cerwin-Vega 15" 3 ways and two Flame Linear 700s), in the Orlando area.

         I was one of Central Florida's  warranty stations, for Cerwin-Vega, Altec-Lansing, Gollehon, EV and JBL's Pro lines and could offer 24 hour service, for most of those. 

                            Pros like that.  Keeps 'em in business, making music.

          I'd still be there, enjoying that aspect of the hobby, but for a stinking sinkhole, opening up twenty feet from my property. 

                                                 Oh well!    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

                                                    Happy listening!

If you crank up the volume beyond the speaker’s capababilities for an extended period, then you’ll likely blow the speaker. However, typically it’s an underpowered amp that goes into clipping that will destroy the speaker. More power is better, but must be used judiciously.