Heat/Efficency of Speakers

Ok, assuming I only require 2W of power at the speaker:
Class A will dissipate heat equal to its power consumption
Class AB/D will consume a tad over their idle power consumption with D being closer yo idle than AB.
Correct?

Maximizing my speaker efficency is my first priority. Also correct?

Red funeral,
As others have pointed out,  the amplifier is by far the greater contributor of heat in the room. Find a class D amplifier that in your opinion sounds good and go in that direction. 
Charles 

Your friend must pull his hair out at your inability to accept a simple, experienced answer. He is right, but you seem determined to prove your thought process, even though it has little operational  applicability.  A simple question resolves the problem, "Does this amplifier run hot?" Beyond that all the hypotheticals are meaningless. 

It reminds me of the story of two men who are in a hot air ballon and become lost. They see a small town, lower their altitude and ask someone on the ground, "Where are we?" The helpful citizen yells back, "You are in a hot air ballon!" Technically correct, and completely useless information. If I may be so bold, you are seeking technical information witch is fairly useless to success in building the audio system (i.e. cool running) you desire. :(

Class A and tube amps typically run warm to hot, but there are exceptions
Class A/B you can find hot ones, medium and cool running ones
Class D never runs hot; at least I have never encountered one which runs hot

Of course, all this has little to do with sound quality, which ranges up and down among all classes of amps. I suggest that seeking an amp which operates with the least percentage of heat loss is a grand way to build a mediocre sounding audio system. 

A discussion of maximizing one's speaker efficiency also has nearly zero relation to the question of how hot a room becomes with use of a certain class or model of amp. :(

You are way overthinking the issue, and it seems you struggle to accept simple, straightforward advice from experienced persons. I wish you success. 

Uh, maybe I am missing something here.  According to the law of conservation of mass and energy, any energy taken from the outlet will be conserved.  That energy must either remain as energy or be converted to mass, which is extremely unlikely.  What form does the energy take?  It could be retained as potential energy (also unlikely, unless you are charging a battery) or remain as some form of kinetic energy.  When a source of audible energy stops, the sound quickly stops.  Where does it go? It does not cease to exist, but it continues in a form of energy which is not audible, i.e., heat. The OP can simplify his problem by simply selecting active components that draw the least amount of current, since all of the current that is drawn is quickly converted to heat.   Have I got something wrong here?  Its been about 44 years since my last physics class.   

I was previously running a 10W tube amplifier in this room(4xel84 tubes) with 96db speakers. This was bearable in two hour doses this last summer. My friend assures me any Class D amplifier and many AB amps would have no such heating problems and says it’s class not wattage that is my issue. Before I move to a different amplifier technology(and swap speakers, these voiced for SE tube partnering) I want to understand this issue fully. I’m unconcerned with power usage and only care about the heat.

To add some perspective to this, I would suspect that your 4 x EL84 amp was biased in class AB, and under typical usage conditions was probably consuming something roughly in the area of 60 to 75 watts. If so, the amount of heat put into the room would be essentially no different than the amount of heat that would be put into the room by a 60 or 75 watt incandescent light bulb. (Although if the light bulb is located on the ceiling a greater fraction of its heat output would go toward warming the ceiling rather than warming the air in the room). That doesn’t seem to me to be a large amount, and even if you were to reduce it to say 10 watts by choosing some class D amp, and a compatible speaker, I’m not sure it would make a great deal of difference in your comfort level.

Regards,
-- Al