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Speaker Asylum General speaker questions for audio and home theater. |
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Speaker Asylum General speaker questions for audio and home theater. |
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In Reply to: Re: How is speaker sensitivity categorized? posted by Khorn on February 27, 2000 at 13:40:16:
I would have to agree with your basic "divisions", but would break it down a bit further. Having speakers on both ends of the spectrum can really demonstrate to a newcomer just how important different sensitivities are when trying to build a matched system. Below are some observations that i have made over the years. Obviously, these are generalizations and this info is geared for those that are less experienced. With as many hits last month as Rod stated, we've obviously picked up a much bigger / newer crowd.Speakers below 85 dB's 1 watt / 1 meter should be categorized as "difficult to drive" and not just "low efficiency". Even with gobs of power, most speakers at this level just won't play loud unless utterly rammed with power. They may sound fine for most reasonable listening levels, but will tend to compress or squash dynamics pretty drastically when trying to achieve greater volume levels ( in most cases ). It takes a BIG amp to push these up to concert level and most aren't up to the task. Defintely not for someone that likes to crank up the volume.
86 - 89 dB's at 1w / 1m should be considered low sensitivity. This is the dwelling place of many sealed speakers and smaller "monitor" type speakers. Like the lower sensitivity speakers above, most will not "raise the roof" unless fed tons of power. At this level, all but a few will sound smeared and lose detail at a linear rate. The more power you feed them, the less signal integrity is retained. There are exceptions to this rule, but these would still not be my choice for a system based on a low powered amp unless used strictly for low to medium level listening. This is not to say that there are not TONS of good sounding speakers in this category.
90 - 94 dB's at 1w / 1m is medium efficiency. Many mid to large sized speakers and most bass reflex / ported speakers will fall into this category. Most will have a hard time getting above 93 dB's or so, but a few will do 94. The 94's are far less common than models that will actually do 91 - 93 dB's, but aren't quite sensitive enough to make it into the "high" sensitivity category. Kind of walking the fence.
It won't take a gob of power to drive these to what most people would consider high listening levels. A 40 - 60 wpc receiver can rock the house pretty easily with most speakers that will fall into this category. They will have the ability to play louder a little cleaner than less efficient speakers and will do it with less heat build-up ( longer lifespan ) in both the electronics and speakers themselves. This typically will result in their ability to maintain their tonal characteristics without as much smearing when hitting the volume control.
Speakers that offer 95 dB's and up at 1w / 1m are quite efficient. Most of these will be larger speakers using multiple arrays of drivers or some type of horn loading. Just a few watts ( literally ) can really make some of these speakers roar. Once you've reached this sensitivity level, most any amp can drive the speakers to good volume. This is not to say that there isn't a BIG difference between 95 dB speakers and 104 dB speakers, but it just doesn't seem as drastic as going from 86 dB speakers up to 95 dB speakers. It is the same volume ratio ( 9 dB's ), but you might not believe it by watching your volume control
High volumes are no problem with speakers like these, as the speakers typically have more dynamic headroom than less efficient models. The amp also doesn't smear or saturate as much, since the speaker is converting a higher percentage of the electrical signal into acoustic output. This gives one the ability to choose a very high quality amp ( even if it's VERY low power output ) and let it coast for most of the operation. This is one of the reasons that many SET / low power tube users gravitate towards high efficiency speakers.The higher the SPL that the speakers generate at 1 watt simply means that you can TYPICALLY get away with running less power. A system with very high sensitivity speakers with a reasonable amount of power will typically sound much cleaner and more open than a system with a big amp pushing low sensitivity speakers. While the medium sized amp / high sensitivity speakers are coasting and drawing power only on the peaks, the bigger amp has to muscle the in-efficient speakers up to the same listening level. Like you, the harder that the amp and speakers work, the more that they sweat.
Keep in mind that different impedances or "Ohms" change the speakers sensitivity. Make sure that the "nominal" or average impedance of the speakers under comparison are relatively close when comparing specs, otherwise your expectations may be drastically different than the results that you get. Another thing to remember is that MOST speakers DO NOT live up to their published specs when it comes to sensitivity, especially when averaged across the frequency range covered. Whether the manufacturer used slightly different measuring techniques or are just a plain optimistic bullshitter, you may need to compensate for this factor by using a slightly larger amp than planned.
All of the above are reasons that we keep reinforcing the idea of in-home trial of components and building a system that compliments each other. Many component systems and speakers may sound HEAVENLY together, but just don't have the output / dynamic range that may be required at times. You might not believe the difference that swapping a component in a system can have until you experience it first hand. Sean
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Follow Ups
- Re: How is speaker sensitivity categorized? - Sean 15:43:08 02/28/00 (1)
- Re: speaker sensitivity, dbw and such. - Khorn 04:18:02 02/29/00 (0)
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