[throwaway789657]

Do you know where I could learn about the unreliability and downsides of what I'm suggesting? Somehow all of the other electronic gear I own is tolerant of anything short of a lightning strike (and for that, there's surge protectors, which are not that expensive). I'd love to learn more about why speakers aren't the same.

[unparagoned]

A speaker is a simple component that needs to be driven properly. What you are suggesting is combining the driver with the speaker bit. It's better to keep them separate. If you tried to integrate some protection to the actual speaker, then there is no way to do that without significant costs or sacrificing sound quality. Anything you do add in would probably fail at a greater chance than the chance of someone blowing the speaker