Will using VLC destroy my speakers?

Speakers are electro mechanical devices, and as with all such devices they can be damaged if too much force (power) is applied to them. Manufacturers / designers are in an awkward position. Yes, as some answerers have pointed out, the manufacturer could design their speakers so they can't be damaged by excessive signals, and they do this. But they are already designing to achieve best sound quality, weight, cost, reliability. The issue with using VLC on these computers is not the maximum level of the signal, but the rate of change of sound level which is getting applied. At above 100% volume, VLC only works because it tries to force the speaker cone / piezo surface etc beyond the maximum designed position by forcing the speaker to drive beyond a designed rate to achieve a beyond designed position. 100% volume is a maximum for a reason and designers have put a great deal of effort into producing something to reliably operate to this maximum level with a high enough quality of sound. Any software trying to achieve volumes in excess of 100% are creating an extremely distorted top end sound which will be different for every single speaker design out there with the only "advantage" being that the sound may have more power than the speaker can handle and the designer has allowed for. Yes, these manufacturers could design there sound systems so that they survive being mistreated by people who don't understand what they are doing but that would be at the expense of sound quality, weight and/or price for every other user who doesn't mistreat their equipment. If the sound isn't loud enough for you when you turn it up to full volume just plug in amplified speakers which are loud enough. If anyone should be sued then it is the writers / designers / suppliers of the VLC for providing software which tries to get more than 100% volume from all computer hardware.  That is the action which is grossly negligent / irresponsible and worthy of punishment.

What ever the underlying reason be, the fact is almost all the laptop manufacturers are discouraging customers to use VLC esp. for laptops. Be it HP Dell or Lenovo. Quote HP Customer Service '' The speakers won't be covered under standard warranty if Players like VLC that have a feature of sound amplification are found to be installed on the customer's system at the time of inspection by the Registered Engineer. That said they may still be covered under the Accidental Damage Protection Cover if purchased by the Customer'' When I talked to an engineer of HP he said in complaints of speakers the first thing we check is the registry of the Windows for any current or previous installation of such softwares. So there is a simple workaround uninstall vlc before handing your system to the service centre. Make sure to clean the registry and orphan files as well

Dell is making a fool of consumers. In reality any OS, be it Windows or Linux does not support amplification over 100% of what the sound output driver supports(even if you set a volume of 200% in VLC). In the worst case VLC outputs a distorted saturated square signal, but still the resultant output does not(and cannot) go beyond the driver's capacity. In reality, the speakers that Dell and HP put in their hardware do not support their own driver's output. So it's more a fault of the laptop manufacturer than any software

If the Speaker is very sensitive and if it is in Laptop, Yes. I am one standing victim still ! VLC provides option to amplify volume range above 100% in that case it happens. And it is not in every laptop or speaker, it happens only with certain speaker which are more sensitive. I have a ALTEC LANSING speaker, and within a year i bought my HP Laptop, I lost my speakers while watching a movie and trying to increase the sound above 100% but the inverse happened. To be precise, the problem is with quality of Speakers which are very much sensitive and not with VLC. This is something like a CD/DVD drive which are very much sensitive that will not read a CD/DVD even with some minor scratches. But still some other CD/DVD Player could read it well (Even Onida advertised their player in the manner they could play very well even if the CD or DVD is almost completely damaged). It is insane to blame on VLC.

Two months after buying my DELL laptop, one of its speakers got crashed while watching film in VLC. I was lucky enough that the laptop was in guarantee period and I got it replaced for free. It's prudent not to play VLC at 200% volume.

Not at all possible!! If you set the volume above 100%, the signal will simply distort and get clipped at the maximum supported speaker output level. In NO way can this destroy/spoil ur speakers. I think its time you file a case in the Consumer court against DELL, that ought to set them right :)

If u're using an old version of VLC,  there's an option to increase the sound volume to 400%. This does harm  ur speakers especially of laptops. In fact HP voids warranty on ur  laptop speakers if they find u're using VLC!

I am owning Dell inspiron 7520 SE, Even i faced the same speaker issue when i ask to Dell support team they says that we could not able to provide warranty for the speakers when you use third party software like VLC as the output from VLC player is high when compared to other media players. I told  if it is true you should have mentioned it before in your website but you have not mentioned any where in your websites regarding this issues but now when the speaker gets damaged and when i was about to claim warranty for my speakers you are telling like this. I have also provided them a link to check there own website regarding this issue http://www.dell.com/support/Article/in/en/04/557836/EN I asked whether you have mentioned any thing like that we should not use VLC media player or Using VLC media player will void warranty for speaker systems. Instead, you have mentioned if you use VLC media player what we should do, so ast to prevent damage to speaker system (ie) we need to update the current audio and BIOS drivers so that it will prevent damage to speakers when using this types of software's.But the service team told even it is right you could not able to claim warranty for the speakers. Very Very worst and poor service support from dell which i never expect it before. From this i have planned not to buy any dell product hereafter. Plz forward this message and the link to all your friends and relatives so that they could able to know about the poor service offered by dell and stop buying it.

Unlike others, I would rather disagree. Yes, it is true that, playing audio in 200% volume damage one's speaker. How do I know, well I am writing this post from my dell inspiron n5010 whose speaker has been damage by listening to dubstep (I love skrillex) in 2x volume. However if you do it once in a while, it won't be any problem but if you playing songs on double volume for weeks than your speaker will be damage. And laptop manufacture has nothing to do with that.  I have nothing against VLC. Actually I love this open source media player. But truth is, going beyond limits, always has it's cost. P.S : Big MNC like DELL, can't simply put anything on their t&c without testing it.