Were My Speakers Damaged ?

I guess another thing is what they sounded like before.If they were in storage for a while,it may be hard to remember exactly how they sounded.I don't want to say they are froze in place without knowing for sure.Any friends familiar with them may be able to tell.I wish I could give you better advice.

This is interesting because of a few things. A 20dB difference may not be that much if it was say in the range of 50>70 or 60>80. A lot depends on the amp, as some may clip much sooner than others, even in the mid to upper 80's which could cause some damage. Also, the AR's may be old enough to have previously unnoticed surround damage, but that too depends on their vintage & if any repair work had been done. Same thing applies to the crossovers (age wise). Those original pots were pretty crappy & could also be a problem, as they developed "dead spots" because they usually stayed in the same position for years.

OK, things to check. With everything turned off & no ambient noise, gently press the woofer cones in to see if you can hear any scraping noise. Play something you are familiar with & use a piece of cardboard big enough to cover up the other drivers while you listen to one at a time. Does it sound like it should? Not a scientific test but it should give you enough info to get started on making some decisions. Change the spkrs. from left to right (unless you have a mono switch) to see if you can tell any differences.

You could also play the speakers on a different system to test them.

The easiest way to check the woofers and midranges is to gently touch them while they are playing to see if they move in and out. The woofers should be obvious just by looking at them while the speakers are playing.

AR speakers are very robust, however, while they are playing very softly put your ear up against the grill cloth next to each driver and listen for anything untoward....no sound coming from them, or garbled sound coming from them

An overheated voice coil can cause the thin varnish on the wire coil to bubble and fill the gap between the coil and the magnet and bind. Woofers can be checked by carefully pushing the cone in and out, taking care to push evenly on both sides of the dust cap while feeling/listening for a scraping sound or a rough place in the cone movement. A woofer with restricted movement can sound thin.