Hopefully somebody will come along and do a better job explaining this than I'm fixing to but there are a few things you need to be aware of. I own L100t3's and I've powered them with several high powered SS amps up to 350wpc. I can't imagine throwing a full 400 watts at them as I never came close to juicing mine with full power ( I have meters on my Soundcraftsmen MA5002/285wpc and Phase Linear 700B/350wpc). You're going to be getting excruciating db output at a fraction of your amp's rated power. If you intend to listen at levels 100 db or less (100 db is crankin' out some serious volume) you should have zero concern wrt whether the 400 watt power handling rating of the speakers is continuous or not because you'll be nowhere close to it given the 91db sensitivity rating of the speakers. Basically that means at 1 watt of power ouput from the amp the output volume from the speakers is 91 db when measured three meters in front of the speaker. To put a little perspective on this extended exposure to volumes above 90db can cause permanent hearing damage. And like has been mentioned before you're at greater risk doing damage crankin the volume with a lower power output, lower quality amp than if you have an amp with an ample supply of high quality, clean power. In the Mac you have an ample supply of clean power (provided it's working properly) so your chances of damaging drivers even at very high listening levels are low.
The issue you had with the woofer spider tearing is likely a result of continuous or sudden extreme over excursion of the driver. The "popping" noise you heard is the same as a shock absorber on a motorcycle bottoming out. The cone/spider has simply reached the max extension of its range of travel. When you hear this happening you need to back off the bass on the tone control or EQ or disengage the loudness switch if you have it on. If you don't have tone controls, EQ, or loudness and you're getting the popping noise you need to turn it down until you hear the popping stop. If you don't have it turned up loud and you're still getting the popping the music is likely mixed with extraordinarily high levels of LF and you're just going to have to turn it down until you don't hear the "popping" any more. The 2214 woofer in the L100t's will provide some serious bass before it starts "popping". If you're not getting good, strong bass from your 100t's at medium to loud listening levels when sitting in your listening position and your woofers are "popping" you more than likely have issues with your rooms acoustics....and this is not uncommon at all (happened to me).
So, do you have tone controls, EQ, or loudness on your preamp and if so where do you usually have the controls set? Do you listen at volumes that would make it impossible to conduct a conversation with someone sitting next to you without raising your voice? Do you hear stronger LF response (bass) from the speakers when your standing in areas of the room other than your listening position?
- Michael