Can we increase dynamics?

There are a number of plug-ins for Audacity. Haven't used them myself. From what I've understood so far, there are two basic types, peak and full spectrum. The latter makes louder louder and quieter quieter but is also associated with what's called "breathing". Compression algorithms have gotten complex over the last couple decades. Restoring to origional is overly optimistic.

http://forum.audacityteam.org/index.php

Ngjockey, Looks like it might be more complicated than I anticipated. Perhaps it is not worth to invest a lot of money in hardware but rather play with programs (keeping original file intact, as Al suggested).

It's very possible that the reason the JBL speaker blew out was due to lack of amplifier power which caused severe clipping distortion causing the woofer to distort.

In other words, the more dynamic range you have the more amplifier power you need... every time you increase volume just 3dB your amp has to double the power delivery to play without distortion or clipping. If it can't then you'll be blowing your speakers.

And as the dynamic range increases the average level decreases... so in order to maintain the same average level the volume will need to be raised... again necessitating more power.

I bet you thought this was going to be easy! Good Luck.

Plato, I don't listen very loud but it is important observation. I will be careful with expanded files. I will likely only experiment but can see some other applications for "Sound Forge", like removing noise from few old recordings. I learned something new today.

There are any number of hardware or software expanders available. The software ones are typically far more flexible. However, an expander can never truly undue the compression/limiting applied to modern recordings. You will be able to gain a few dBs in dynamic range, but it's unlikely that it will sound any more natural than before processing.