How to understand if an amplifier or speaker is not coping?

Question

Mobile devices

I'm trying to assemble my bluetooth speaker from the components found in my garage.
Somehow, by sound, you can understand the problem in the amplifier or in the dynamics?

Answer 1

As far as I understand, you are worried about the "clipping" type distortions, as in this picture, right?

Indeed, their source can be both an amplifier (power-limited, as in the picture) and a speaker (if it is much weaker than the amplifier, then at high volume its diffuser starts to walk "from lock to lock", and it sounds almost the same ). In the second case, the amplifier continues to produce a normal clean signal, and this can be used to understand who is "not coping" .
Take an oscilloscope, apply a test sinusoidal signal to the amplifier, and increase its level, bring it to clearly audible distortion. With an oscilloscope, see the type of signal at the output (on the speaker). If there is a pure sine wave - the speaker is to blame for the distortion, it is rather weak. If at the output the sinusoid begins to be limited (as in the picture) - the amplifier is to blame.
If you do not have an oscilloscope, it can be replaced by a computer sound card and any "virtual oscilloscope" program (there are many of them, there are also free ones).

Answer 2

Connect a known "good" speaker to the amplifier, say from a car.
Connect speaker to car radio.
Draw conclusions.