What happens when an amp or sub blows?

Question

What exactly happens when an amp or subwoofers "blow"? Do they explode? catch on fire? just kinda wondering...

Answer 1

amp wont blow it will cut off, fuses will blow, subs will sound horribly bad before they melt and smoke up :)

Answer 2

Duh  NO more music!!

Answer 3

feel like an idiot at first because your buddy just told you not to do that!  in the sub, usually the voice coils heat up and end up melting resulting in some smoke that smells really bad.  usually no fire occurs, depening on how much power you have... but an amp with tons of power will generally be built well enough to be able to cut itself off before the amp is affected.  

Amps can catch on fire, this is generally by faulty wiring or messing up the ohm load...  should blow a fuse before the amp goes bad