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How do you deal with power compression ? To me , when heating occurs , speakers drop their output. If you do not hear it , you might have to replace your speakers !
Amplifiers that 'claim to make' twice the rated power of speaker's rated ability seem to be one of the better ways.
Too much power under the curve , for too long equals speaker replacement.
One way to combat it is by using more efficient drivers. They'll require less power for the same volume level, and thus you'll put less heat into the coils. Though this poses it's own problems, mostly space.
I didn't know what power compression was so I looked it up and figured I'd post it here.
From JBL's website:
"What is "power compression"? Speaker voice coils are made of copper or aluminum. As these voice coils increase in temperature during normal operation, the DC resistance of the voice coil increases. Greater voice coil resistance means less power transfer from the amplifier. As a result, the speaker will not play as loud when it's "warmed up" as it did when it was "cold". Some speakers may exhibit 3 to 6 dB of power compression. This means that power compression can have the same effect as taking away half of your PA!"
JBL pays close attention to reducing power compression with some rather unique magnet geometry, etc. Back in the 90's I think it was Community that did forced air cooling.