Any way I could have damaged my speakers?

I was having a ground issue with my tt and was wiggling the inter connects. I had the volume up to hear and one channel came off the tt.  I grounded the pin to the ring with my finger and got a super high pitched sound and blew both tweeters.  Scanspeak 2908 be domes,  $1100 a pair.  Everything off when working with cables.  Don't risk it!!!

Thanks for all the responses. It's interesting to hear everyone's take and different experiences and nice to hear that I'm not the only one who's made this mistake before.

@almarg ... Holy sh**t... What a technical explanation of what happened. A lot times in life, things happen that can't be explained or you think they can't be explained but you certainly did in this instance.

This happened with my favorite speakers that I've ever had so I'm just happy they're fine.

@almarg  "If the amp is powered up when that is done, as it was in this case, that could easily result in a brief transient being applied to the speakers corresponding to the amp’s maximum power capability, at an arbitrary combination of frequencies. With most of that power very possibly being in the treble region, where the power handling capability of the speaker is probably lowest. "

Could be that my saving grace was that I have a decware amp that only delivers slightly over 2 watts per channel?

Could be that my saving grace was that I have a decware amp that only delivers slightly over 2 watts per channel?

No question about it. It’s hard to envision a speaker that could be harmed by a 2 watt tube amp, even if the speaker is highly efficient (which I presume it is), and regardless of what part of the frequency spectrum that 2 watts occupies.

Generally speaking, though, I suppose it would be at least slightly possible that some amps might themselves suffer damage as a result of being briefly but severely overdriven, with a contributing factor perhaps being arcing of the tubes that could occur. But in general I would expect that possibility to be slight, due to the brief nature of the transient, and it certainly doesn’t appear to have happened in this case.

Best regards,
-- Al

I’ve done it with amps at 650 wpc.

Woofers under more than a horsepower of transient stress....tend to look like the eyes on a highway kill run over in the middle by a transport. (film- total recall)