your original argument is that a "cheap" speaker that is rated for 100W, which is theoretical, will not be able to handle a true 100W due to it being a cheap speaker.
my point is that you are under the assumption that just because you hook a speaker up to an amp that is rated to supply 100W, that the speaker will actually draw 100W, which is not usually the case not matter how the gains are set. gains have little to do with power. the speakers electrical resistance is what mostly determines the power output of most amplifiers. a speaker does not have a static resistance, its impedance goes up and down depending on the frequency it has to play and also depending on its engineering.
so with that being said, you can hook a 100Wrms speaker up to a 300W rms amplifier and probably still be ok and distortion free DEPENDING ON THE FREQUENCY BAND that you make the speaker play.
each speaker has its own impedance curve depending on how it is engineered but in general as the frequency goes lower the speaker's impedance drops. and, as the impedance drops the amplifier is going to deliver more power (ohm's law) assuming the voltage stays constant.
so you see now that the ratings on amps and speakers are mostly for show because everything is relative to the resistance of the speaker and its resistance is relative to the frequency it is trying to reproduce. a 4 ohm speaker will hardly ever see 4 ohms while playing music.
i like your hugely exaggerated examples of comparing botched medical procedures to setting an amp, honestly MOST amps are not set correctly. there are no qualifications for being an audio installer and you dont have to go to school for it, i should know
even my amps are probably a little off because i set mine by ear. its honestly not that serious to be a little off with your gains because your gain has nothing to do with how much power you get out of an amp.
in my opinion, the reason why cheap speakers are more often blown by their rated power or less is because they are part of a cheap basic system where these speakers are expected to reproduce every frequency and arent being supplemented with a sub woofer or filtered of harmful low frequencies outside of the rated frequency response by a crossover. so even on normal power these speakers which are already poorly designed are also being tortured with low frequencies. these frequencies put stress on the speaker mechanically and electrically at the same time. the speaker has to move farther than it is designed to in order to reproduce the low frequencies AND the low frequencies present a lower resistance to the amp thus it draws more and more power from the amp. if the speaker doesnt have enough cooling features, which cheap speakers usually dont, it causes a run-away effect of lower and lower resistance from a hot coil and then POP! the speaker is no more. the only thing that can save the speaker is to turn it off for a while and let it cool.
a cheap speaker will last longer being powered with its rated power, assuming its ratings are accurate, as long as it is being filtered from frequencies that it is not designed to play.