When does speaker distortion become audible?

Hi BIF, what does it take in your mind to come up with nonsensical lines like this,
"Sustained listening at 100 db will rupture the organs in small animals and damage one's hearing."

And not put a smiley face after it:)

"If the first 100db suck, why continue?"
PHP143

YEs, since no system/speaker delivers a perfect reproduction, there is always distortion of various types.

It's the end result as a whole how that is delivered to and registers with the listener that really matters. If listening to music live sounds good but a recording at home does not, that is due to the distortions inherent in the reproduction.

Which ones matter most though and can be practically addressed, and how? That's the key. WHen it sounds "good enough", the distortions have been tamed sufficiently.

The trap is thinking that this can be achieved to satisfaction in all cases all the time via putting the right system in place. It can't. All recordings have distortions as well. Those producing the recordings play the same game as the listeners in terms of how to make things sound their best. Its all an art based on science, but not pure science. More like how to produce a Monet or Rockwell work of art through technology than a distortion free reproduction.

Amazing how well it all can work out in the end these days with modern technology! It'll never be perfect/distortion free though. The trend over time is positive though, in other words better technology = less distortion. So just learn to choose your distortions wisely! :^)

I'm kind of shocked no one seems to pay particular notice to the distortion at higher volumes (on almost all systems). Shirley, you realize that that distortion is not supposed to be there. Hel-loo!!

Frankly, don't call me Shirly (lol, that almost got posted wrong...the "r" is right next to the "t".

I've been trying to pick up on what you're saying, Geoff, but haven't heard it yet (which might be a blessing really).

I wonder sometimes if you got bat ears, Geoff, and I don't mean that as insult.

"According to Robert Lee of Acoustic Zen speakers operating at power higher than 10W can get 10-12% of distortion. Most of it comes from the woofer and is less audible."

I remember reading some posts a while back (a few years maybe) regarding the implementation of subs in a two channel system. Some claimed that inserting an external crossover or using the sub's internal crossover would dilute the signal path and therefore create unnecessary distortion. The counter argument claimed that a proper setup with a sub would do just the opposite and actually reduce distortion. Now I think I better understand the counter argument since the woofers generate as much as 10-12% distortion.