No way - you built Crate amps?! I have very fond memories of Crate. For me, they were very ‘80s. They were in all the guitar shops, they were pretty loud (good for playing Quiet Riot songs with, lol) and they were fairly inexpensive.
You are correct about everything you stated. This will just be a low cost project for practice and maybe recording.
Last year, I built a wired stereo enclosure for my iPad out of a $20.00 wine box and used two $4.00 speakers and a $20.00 amp. I plugged in my iPad and played some subwoofer bass demos...you wouldn’t believe the bass response. Too loud, and the voice coils will burn out but at a low volume, the bass is ridiculous. The box is sealed and the little 4” speakers don’t move that much but somehow the bass is there! (Just not very loud).
That little project sort of inspired me. Heck, I could just plug my bass into it and see how it sounds, come to think of it but I’d rather make the next one a tad bigger and power it with my bass amp.