PA Distortion vs Speaker Distortion?

[tbryanh]

What are the sonic differences between overdriving the power amp and overdriving the speaker?

[R.G.]

At the risk of being flippant, one is an apple, the other is an orange. Speakers being what they are, I don't think that there is any concise way to say what a speaker distortion sounds like. There are many.

Likewise, power amps distort in different ways depending on the circuit and components.

[Amp Kat]

Then theres the situation where the amp is putting out more wattage then the speaker can handle and it distorts but that's just down right nasty distortion buzz.