Best speakers for looks & sound < 1000

I was thinking along the same lines as what Blkadr has to say. There may be something wrong with your amplification. I have never blown a cone LF driver and have used both the Phase Linear 400 and Hafler 500 amps and made spaced out errors with them as well. There are some drivers that are very fragile such as the ones that were used in the Spica line as this is their reputation. I do not know if this is the case with the Morel drivers. Repair sounds like the way to go unless you are bored with your current speakers and would like to start fresh. I would also have your amp checked out or at the very least contact the manufacturer and explain your experience. I was going to suggest blowing up another pair of throw away speakers, as a test, if you have any available, but this may damage or further damage the amplifier. There is a custom among American male youths to perform such tests on green plastic army men. It is probably advisable not to carry this form of testing on, into the world of hifi, though I have witnessed adult audiophiles doing this very same thing. The manufacturer of your speakers may also be able to shed some light on this tragedy. I do not know if British brands are readily available in you trade zone. But if they are and you would like new speakers you may want to check out Spendor, Harbeth, Castle Acoustics, Kelly Transducers, B & W and Linn (Scotland) also Coincident and Renaud.

Cant go wrong with Acoustat or Martin Logans or eros. Sound fantatsic,plus have a very high WAF appeal. But will need high current and wattage to drive properly. Just my opinion and thoughts.

Yo Fresh, I checked out the Image website and read some of the reviews of the Image speakers. Your Kiwi mates have a decidedly Aussie sense of humor. The Image speaker line looks great...I would like to hear a pair of the 403's or the 404's but alas no dealers locally. I don't think the problem is the speakers. I think that your amp/preamp is passing DC to your speakers when you turn off the mute feature. To check out this theory, have your amp/preamp checked on an oscilloscope. You might be covered under warranty on the 6 hour old speakers...if not the drivers are available from www.madisound.com. If you replace the drivers and want to protect them from future (inadvertant) mute button misadventures, try wiring a fuse in series with the speaker system. To calculate the size of the fuse, take the rated power handling capacity of the speakers (150 watts for the Morel MW265 or MW266) and use the power formula P= I^2 * R to get the fuse size. If your driver is 4 ohms then it would be 6.1 amps, if it is 8 ohms then it would be 4.3 amps. Use a fast blow 12 volt fuse in 1 amp lower size than calculations indicate and your Morels will be protected...and we all know how important it is to protect our Morels.